From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Received: from mailman by lists.gnu.org with archive (Exim 4.43) id 1P0fkt-0004rY-Sg for mharc-grub-devel@gnu.org; Tue, 28 Sep 2010 15:22:23 -0400 Received: from [140.186.70.92] (port=48567 helo=eggs.gnu.org) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.43) id 1P0fkr-0004qL-Py for grub-devel@gnu.org; Tue, 28 Sep 2010 15:22:22 -0400 Received: from Debian-exim by eggs.gnu.org with spam-scanned (Exim 4.69) (envelope-from ) id 1P0fko-00046h-3N for grub-devel@gnu.org; Tue, 28 Sep 2010 15:22:21 -0400 Received: from exhub016-3.exch016.msoutlookonline.net ([207.5.72.226]:27951) by eggs.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.69) (envelope-from ) id 1P0fkn-00046O-Vf for grub-devel@gnu.org; Tue, 28 Sep 2010 15:22:18 -0400 Received: from [10.1.1.235] (72.242.190.170) by SMTPX16.msoutlookonline.net (207.5.72.190) with Microsoft SMTP Server (TLS) id 8.2.234.1; Tue, 28 Sep 2010 12:22:17 -0700 Message-ID: <4CA24065.9030608@cfl.rr.com> Date: Tue, 28 Sep 2010 15:22:13 -0400 From: Phillip Susi User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.9.2.9) Gecko/20100915 Thunderbird/3.1.4 MIME-Version: 1.0 To: The development of GNU GRUB References: <20100923221923.GA21862@riva.ucam.org> <20100924002753.GE8579@caffeine.csclub.uwaterloo.ca> <197110.28172.qm@web113213.mail.gq1.yahoo.com> <20100928080423.GN21862@riva.ucam.org> <4CA23C71.9040601@gmail.com> In-Reply-To: <4CA23C71.9040601@gmail.com> X-Enigmail-Version: 1.1.1 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="UTF-8" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable X-detected-operating-system: by eggs.gnu.org: Windows 2000 SP4, XP SP1+ Cc: =?UTF-8?B?VmxhZGltaXIgJ8+GLWNvZGVyL3BoY29kZXInIFNlcmJpbmVua28=?= Subject: Re: Guidance on conflicts between GNU GRUB and proprietary software X-BeenThere: grub-devel@gnu.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list Reply-To: The development of GNU GRUB List-Id: The development of GNU GRUB List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Tue, 28 Sep 2010 19:22:22 -0000 On 9/28/2010 3:05 PM, Vladimir '=CF=86-coder/phcoder' Serbinenko wrote: > Using an embedding partition on msdos as an optional alternative (not as > replacement) to MBR gap is a clear possibility, good idea and was > proposed before but details are very unclear. Like: > - How to create such partition The same way you create any other partition? > - How does grub find it and ensures that it's an embedding partition? > Any false positive will result in data loss. Obviously no msdos type is > completely unused by now so it's not a way. There seem to be quite a few left that are at least unknown to linux fdisk. If you really want to make sure, then you can require a grub signature in the starting sector of the partition. Also this step would usually be done by the installer, which would know that the partition is a grub partition since it just created it.