[syslinux] [PATCH] mboot: set boot device

[Sebastian Herbszt]

H. Peter Anvin wrote:
> On 04/04/2010 11:39 AM, Sebastian Herbszt wrote:
>> Set the boot device based on the derivative information.
...
> 
> Is this really a good idea (that is, giving the device number but not
> the partition information)?

It is at least valid for floppies. I checked grub and it set 0xffffff in that case.

> Obviously, the partition info is totally Grub-model centric, but I'm
> wondering how OSes may react to a mishmash.
> 
> -hpa

I didn't test it with any OS. I added this functionality so i could pass the
information to the luvalley hypervisor instead of using its hard coded default.
Looking at the multiboot spec i think the OS has to be careful using this information
because it might not be reliable, it says "may use this field as a hint for determining".
It doesn't sound that promising to me. If we put the correct drive in there it would be
a decent start ("hint") for the OS.

Sebastian