[syslinux] Syslinux-5.00-pre9

Matt Fleming matt at console-pimps.org
Thu Nov 1 14:59:46 PDT 2012


On Wed, 2012-10-31 at 21:11 +0200, Ady wrote:
> Hi Matt,
> 
> Some 5.00pre9 comments:
> 
> 1_ The "--directory" option is not working in the Win32-based 
> SYSLINUX installer. The same installer works if "--directory" is not 
> used. The nomtools Linux-based installer works correctly with 
> "--directory".

Good catch. I accidentally introduced this bug in commit bda54cb68067
("installers: Install ldlinux.c32 automatically"). I've got a fix queued
up.

> 2_ When running an installer with "--version", could the result 
> include the "complete" version ("5.00-pre9"), instead of "5.00" only?

I guess this makes sense, unless anyone knows of a historic reason that
it's done this way.

> 3_ Special combination of keys in the boot prompt are not working. 
> For example, "ctrl+v" used to give the version in the boot prompt in 
> 4.06.

Thanks. I've got a fix queued up.

> 4_ In the boot prompt, when pressing arrow keys some characters 
> (letters) are inserted. This was not happening in 5.00pre8.

Thanks. I've got a fix queued up. This bug was a result of commit
4503e6260c0 ("ldlinux: Use stdcon instead of rawcon for the console").

> 5_ When running the (Windows-based) installer with "--directory" and 
> the directory path doesn't exist in the destination device, there is 
> no (error) message. I don't expect the path to be created, but since 
> ldlinux was not installed (in any path), it shouldn't just end as if 
> the installation was successful. Either some general "error" message 
> or some "no such directory [exists]" or alike could be helpful.

Yeah, that would be a good change. Done.

> 6_ From 5.00 NEWS: 
>   ... "Split non-core functionality into ldlinux.c32"...
> I wonder; will the INITIAL CWD definition still be the location of 
> ldlinux.sys (as example for SYSLINUX)? Is there a possible case where 
> ldlinux.sys will be located in one directory, and ldlinux.c32 in 
> another? Or they must always be located in the same directory?

The installers will always install them to the same directory.

> 7_ From 5.00 NEWS: 
>   ... "reducing both disk space and runtime memory consumption."
> Interestingly, the installers are several times bigger than in 4.xx.

Right, the installers now include all of the code for ldlinux.c32, so
they will be larger. We can actually compare some hard numbers,

Syslinux 4.06:

	112K	linux/syslinux
	88K	win32/syslinux.exe
	92K	win64/syslinux64.exe

Syslinux 5.00-pre9:

	544K	linux/syslinux
	520K	win32/syslinux.exe
	524K	win64/syslinux64.exe

The bloat in 5.00-pre9 comes from the ldlinux.c32 code,

	424K	linux/ldlinuxc32_bin.o

-- 
Matt Fleming, Intel Open Source Technology Center




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