[syslinux] Hardware detection before booting heavy weight OS

[Geert Stappers]

Previous-Subject: constants and line continuation

Op 20100713 om 16:21 schreef Dag Wieers:
> On Tue, 13 Jul 2010, Jim Cromie wrote:
>> On Fri, Jul 9, 2010 at 3:22 PM, H. Peter Anvin <hpa at zytor.com> wrote:
>>> On 07/09/2010 12:40 PM, Warren Block wrote:
>>>> If these are FAQ entries, sorry, I searched but did not find.
>>>> Maybe the wrong terms.
>>>>
>>>> Is there a way to define a constant value in a pxelinux.cfg/default
>>>> file?
>>>>
>>>>    httphost=192.168.1.1
>>>>    ...
>>>>    append fetch=http://${httphost}/...
>>>>
>>>> Line continuations: it would be slick if multiple append statements
>>>> could be used in a single menu entry, breaking up those four-screen-wide
>>>> lines.  Tried that, and backslashes, but no.
>>>
>>> Not supported in the current version, sorry, but it will happen eventually.
>>
>> is this a good application for lua ?
>>
>> if lua is 'ready' when the config is requested and downloaded,
>> the file could contain lua code that is run to produce all the
>> menus, kernels, append-lines etc.
>
> Yes, my preference would be to allow for a syslinux.lua instead of a  
> syslinux.conf that would replace the syslinux.conf.

My preference is that Syslinux stays a mean and lean bootloader.

That allows making a  syslinux.conf that contains

   kernel lua.c32
   append syslinux.lua

or more likely

   kernel lua.c32
   append preboot.lua

>
> That way you can make the menu entries and boot-options depend on:
>
>  - system information (DMI, VPD, PCI, HDD, filesystem labels, HDT info)
>  - boot conditions (eg. boot-device, syslinux version, ...)
>  - ask for certain information from the user
>
> In previous projects it would have been invaluable for projects. If for  
> provisioning you have more information you can act on at that stage, you  
> don't need to modify original vendor-supplied boot-images. Or you can  
> automatically have syslinux follow a work-flow like:
>
>  - check if I see more than one HD to make RAID and reboot
>  - perform network connectivity and hardware validation tests and reboot
>  - perform OS installation
>
> Especially if we can set and read state information (maybe using VPD or  
> MBR), each of the steps could update the state to influence what needs to 
> happen next.

I think such preboot scripts will pop-up.
Thing that worries me, is how long we will wait for each other.


Geert Stappers