[syslinux] [PATCH 0/9] linux/syslinux: support ext2/3/4 device

[Robert Yang]

On 01/06/2015 12:14 PM, Ady wrote:
>
>> On 01/01/2015 09:05 PM, Robert Yang wrote:
>>> Hello,
>>>
>>> Happy New Year!
>>>
>>> These patches make syslinux/linux support ext2/3/4, and it doesn't
>>> require the root privilege, I'd like to add a separate e2fs/syslinux, if
>>> that is more appropriate, it should be easy to do that.
>>>
>>> I put these patches on github so that you can easily get them in case
>>> you'd like to test them. (The repo's name is sys_tmp, which avoids
>>> confusing others, I will remove the repo when these patches are
>>> reviewed).
>>>
>>
>> In my opinion, linux/syslinux really should just be part of extlinux,
>> since it is exactly equivalent to mounting the filesystem, running
>> extlinux, and unmounting the filesystem.  That automatically adds
>> support for all filesystems.
>>
>> mtools/syslinux is the one that doesn't require root privileges, and
>> where libext2fs belongs.  Ideally the FAT support ought to be
>> internalized into a library, too.
>>
>> The one thing with mtools/syslinux is that some people like to compile
>> it for non-Linux platforms (how successfully, I don't know) and so
>> ext*fs support should probably be conditionalized.
>>
>> 	-hpa
>>
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>
> The use-case of linux/syslinux is that it doesn't have/need
> dependencies (other than root privileges). This is supposed to be
> useful, for instance for smaller OS installers or alike. If it were to
> be merged with the extlinux command, wouldn't this use-case change (or
> get lost)?
>
> Also, please let's not forget that most users don't rebuild Syslinux
> with specific flags, so whatever ends up being the standard, that's
> what users are "forced" to use.
>
> As I said before (but probably most members decided tl;dr), I'd rather
> see a separate installer rather than reducing the use-case alternatives

Thanks for the comments, I prefer a separate installer e2fs/syslinux now:-),
let's wait for hpa's comments.

// Robert

> (not that I have a say in the matter). If the use-cases can be maintain
> while also reducing the amount of alternative installers available for
> common users (and not having to rebuild official upstream Syslinux),
> that would be ideal.
>
> Regards,
> Ady.
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