[syslinux] [PATCH] git tree: libfat, chain, mtools/syslinux, menu.txt

[Gene Cumm]

On Thu, Aug 26, 2010 at 12:30, H. Peter Anvin <hpa at zytor.com> wrote:
> On 08/25/2010 08:17 PM, Gene Cumm wrote:
>>
>> Based on discussions here and IRC, I have a proposal.  For the
>> libfat-linked installers, put in a quick open/close just before the
>> first write to make sure libfat_open() is happy with the file system
>> at the relatively minor cost of the open/close.  Option "-f" would
>> activate the code I made, preserving the old behavior without it
>> (opt.force passed as new parameter to libfat_open(), ie tryForce,
>> doForce, force).  Additionally, remove "MTOOLS_SKIP_CHECK=1"  (and
>> possibly "MTOOLS_FAT_COMPATIBILITY=1") from the mtools config unless
>> -f is specified.  Also document it in usage(), doc/syslinux.txt, and
>> probably NEWS.
>>
>> Another option is to introduce a new option that gently encourages
>> some broken behavior but does not force it as hard as possible.
>>
>
> [Cc: Alain, who might have a thing or two to say about this ;)]
>
> Agreed.
>
> We do not want to drop MTOOLS_FAT_COMPATIBILITY=1: it is normal for a
> filesystem to have more FAT sectors than necessary; especially on flash
> media (for alignment).
>
> However MTOOLS_SKIP_CHECK=0 might be a good idea.
>
> There is another thing, too: I've considered whether we can drop libfat
> completely for the mtools installer specifically and simply use the
> mshowfat command to map the file; that would avoid the weird issues when
> the file is not in the root directory.
>
>        -hpa

Any status, comments, options, etc on this?  If another option were to
be considered, I'd propose "-p"/"--permissive" with the help comment
of "Be permissive on certain precautions".

-- 
-Gene