Kernel partition

Kernel partition

[Felix Radensky]

Hi,

I'd like to create 2 partitions on my flash disk: kernel partition
(where kernel image resides)
and normal ext2 partition. I was thinking of using fdisk and creating an
ext2 partition at
some offset from the start of the disk, thus reserving space for kernel
partition. Will this
work, or some other technique is required ?

TIA.

Felix.

Re: Kernel partition

[David Woodhouse]

felix@allot.com said:
>  I'd like to create 2 partitions on my flash disk: kernel partition
> (where kernel image resides) and normal ext2 partition. I was thinking
> of using fdisk and creating an ext2 partition at some offset from the
> start of the disk, thus reserving space for kernel partition. Will
> this work, or some other technique is required ? 

No. You can't just put an ext2 filesystem on flash - at least not safely. 
You need either a translation layer to pretend to be a normal block device, 
or more usefully a real filesystem designed for use on flash, like JFFS2.

--
dwmw2

Re: Kernel partition

[Felix Radensky]

Hi,

Thanks, David. I know I need some translation layer, and I have a driver
that provides it. My concern is disk partitioning. Will the method I described

work ? Will I be able to use dd to copy kernel image to kernel partition on
block
device ?

TIA.

Felix.

David Woodhouse wrote:

> felix@allot.com said:
> >  I'd like to create 2 partitions on my flash disk: kernel partition
> > (where kernel image resides) and normal ext2 partition. I was thinking
> > of using fdisk and creating an ext2 partition at some offset from the
> > start of the disk, thus reserving space for kernel partition. Will
> > this work, or some other technique is required ?
>
> No. You can't just put an ext2 filesystem on flash - at least not safely.
> You need either a translation layer to pretend to be a normal block device,
> or more usefully a real filesystem designed for use on flash, like JFFS2.
>
> --
> dwmw2

Re: Kernel partition

[David Woodhouse]

felix@allot.com said:
>  Thanks, David. I know I need some translation layer, and I have a
> driver that provides it. My concern is disk partitioning. Will the
> method I described

> work ? Will I be able to use dd to copy kernel image to kernel
> partition on block device ?

That depends on your translation layer - I assume that'll work. Your 
translation layer code must use the gendisk mess to get partitioning to 
work. Persuading your bootloader to understand your translation layer
and the partitioning within it, and hence to load the kernel from it, is a 
different matter.

--
dwmw2