[syslinux] binaries in syslinux-4.02.tar.bz2

[Gene Cumm]

On Mon, Sep 27, 2010 at 06:44, Alex Zeffertt
<alex.zeffertt at eu.citrix.com> wrote:
> On 22/09/10 19:15, H. Peter Anvin wrote:
>>
>> On 09/22/2010 07:55 AM, Alex Zeffertt wrote:
>>>
>>>    SYSLINUX 4.02 2010-07-21  Copyright (C) 1994-2010 H. Peter Anvin et al
>>>    boot:
>>>    Booting...
>>>    ERR: Not a Multiboot bootloader!
>>>
>>> ... whereas if I rebuild everything from source I get no output at all.
>>>
>>
>> What are you trying to boot?  If you're trying to boot a Multiboot
>> kernel you have to use mboot.c32.
>>
>>        -hpa
>>
>
> Hi,
>
> This is my extlinux.conf stanza:
>
>  kernel mboot.c32
>  append /boot/xen.gz dom0_mem=752M lowmem_emergency_pool=1M
> crashkernel=64M at 32M console= vga=mode-0x0311 --- /boot/vmlinuz-2.6-xen
> root=LABEL=root-nfsnhryc ro xencons=hvc console=hvc0 console=tty0 quiet
> vga=785 splash --- /boot/initrd-2.6-xen.img
>
> What I've found is:
>
>  1. If I use the binaries in the tarball (make install-all) then the above
> boots fine

This is always the recommended procedure, especially if you have any issues.

>  2. If I use CentOS 5.5(*) to rebuild the installer (make clean; make
> installer; make install-all) then I get a syslinux prompt and the error
> "ERR: Not a Multiboot bootloader!"

Sounds like your CentOS chroot is probably building the installers
incorrectly and this should be examined separately.  As I said before,
I think Xen thinks it was not loaded properly by a multiboot
bootloader and gives you this error.

If I get some time and space, I'm going to try this (CentOS build),
probably as a VM then a chroot under my running system.

>  3. If I use CentOS 5.5(*) to rebuild everything (make spotless; make all;
> make installer; make install-all) then I don't even get a syslinux prompt.
>
>  4. If I use Debian Lenny to rebuild everything, then booting works
> seamlessly.

Good to know.  Thanks for the info.

> (*) A fresh CentOS 5.5 chroot, but with nasm-2.09.01.
>
> In each of the above I used the same /boot/extlinux/extlinux.conf and the
> same images (xen.gz, vmlinux-2.6-xen, initrd-2.6-xen.img).
>
> From my point of view I'm now happy since I can use Lenny to build my RPM.
>  But if we knew why this was happening we could make the Makefiles more
> robust, and perhaps this would remove the necessity to include binaries in
> the source tarball.

Binaries have been included since at least 1.31 (the oldest version up
on kernel.org).  I sincerely doubt this behavior will ever change.

Whenever I use the binaries I personally compile, I always understand
that I shall be the only one supporting it.  As a result, I only use
my binaries for my testing but occasionally offer to give someone an
unofficial beta binary based on a patch that solves an exact issue
they are experiencing if an official binary is not immediately
available (stable, -pre release, or otherwise).

-- 
-Gene