[syslinux] [PATCH 3/3] syslinux: support isolinux configuration files
Pete Batard
pete at akeo.ie
Tue Feb 14 06:05:46 PST 2012
This one is the most critical for my app, but also possibly the most
controversial to integrate.
A few applications that convert isolinux ISOs to bootable USB, including
mine, copy the ISO content to a VFAT formatted partition and then add
syslinux to make it bootable.
This would work great... if isolinux and syslinux shared the same
defaults when it comes to configuration files.
Unfortunately, isolinux requires an isolinux.cfg in /boot/isolinux,
/isolinux or /, whereas syslinux requires a syslinux.cfg in
/boot/syslinux, /syslinux or /.
Therefore, my proposal is to add the isolinux config and config dirs to
the syslinux searcheable locations, so that the process of bootable ISO
-> bootable USB can be made easier.
My limited testing with recent Linux image seems to indicate that doing
just that works quite well, and thus I plan to use an ldlinux.sys that
has been patched in such a way. However, I would prefer if an official
ldlinux.sys could be used.
I also haven't found a good answer on why isolinux and syslinux require
the use of isolated config repositories.
I can understand why having separate config directory can be useful for
the creation of hybrid images, that work for both disk and ISO, and why
they may require different init. But in that case, I don't exactly see
why directory precedence rules couldn't be applied: if syslinux then
look first in syslinux expected dirs and fallback to isolinux ones, if
isolinux than look first in isolinux expected dirs, then fallback to
syslinux ones.
The only discussion I was able to locate with regards to cfg location
was in December 2005, but didn't seem to answer that question.
In this patch, the extra config and directories for isolinux are being
added after the existing ones (including /) so I believe it should be
fairly safe for existing syslinux users. Precedence rules should avoid
issues of a syslinux.cfg being overridden by an existing isolinux.cfg
whereas that wasn't the case in earlier versions.
The only problem I can remotely see is if someone produced weird image
with an isolinux.cfg in /syslinux/ but placed their actual syslinux.cfg
in / for some reason. But I fail to see why anyone would create an image
like that except by mistake, as it wouldn't be bootable as an ISO.
Regards,
/Pete
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