[syslinux] Using NIC-Specific Information to Choose a Config-File

[Ady]

> Good day, Ady.
> 
> I don't quite understand what your proposal would do.  What should it do
> with the VVVVDDDD?  I think you're on to something with the label idea, but
> I'm not sure how it might work to make use of VVVVDDDD.
> 
> One thing I did think about recently was that it might be handy to specify a
> fall-back config-file, in case the VVVVDDDD config-file isn't found.
> 
> Thanks for the feed-back.
> 
> - Shao Miller
> 

Well, what I understood from your original email (and it is very 
possible I have misunderstood it) is that you have one first stage in 
one first config file containing a label entry in the format of:

[quote]

LABEL install
     COM32 nictype.c32
     APPEND --config

and then the computers will load a config-file whose name is 
VVVVDDDD, 
where VVVV is the vendor ID and DDDD is the device ID.

[/quote]

For each VVVVDDDD available value, there should be the respective 
VVVVDDDD config file, right?

So depending on the specific VVVVDDDD value, your proposed module is 
selecting a second stage in a second config file. If there are, say, 
10 possible VVVVDDDD values that are relevant in a certain situation, 
then at least 11 config files are necessary.

So, instead of having 11 separated config files, why not have 11 
labels in the same config file? Instead of each file being named with 
its correspondent VVVVDDDD value, have 10 labels with each VVVVDDDD 
value, all in the same config file.

The second stage would be included in each label entry, in the same 
config file.

Your first proposal (if I understood correctly), "reads" the specific 
VVVVDDDD value from the specific hardware and points directly to the 
respective config file.

Instead I am saying, "read" the specific VVVVDDDD value and point to 
the respective label inside the same first-stage config file.

And in case separated config files are still wanted, each VVVVDDDD 
label in the first config file would use config[.c32] (or something 
equivalent) to point to each respective new config file. In such 
case, the second stage would be located in separated config files, as 
in your original proposal.

Moreover, this new proposal shouldn't cancel your first one. A 
specific APPEND line for nictype.c32 could select whether the second 
stage is located in a label inside the same config file, or located 
in a separated config files. For a "few" optional VVVVDDDD values, 
the label selection (in one config file) might be simpler to 
maintain. In other circumstances, using separated (and possibly 
independent) config files might be more adequate.

[optional]
Although probably "too much"... Depending on how much you would want 
to develop the possible options, a combination of labels and/or 
config files could be selected depending on the specific VVVVDDDD 
being read.

Or someone in the future could request to base the selection (of 
specific label or specific config files) not on VVVVDDDD values, but 
on VVVV only (or on DDDD only).
[/optional]

Hopefully I was clearer now. I shall repeat that maybe I 
misunderstood the original situation or your proposed solution.

Best Regards,
Ady