[syslinux] Improving TAILS, WAS: Module Versioning

[Ady]

> Actually, as you may have questions with some elements you'll see in the 
> log, and especially:
> 
> Detected Syslinux version: 6.03/20150819 (from '/EFI/BOOT/isolinux.bin')
> 
> So I should point out that EFI/grub is actually used by the tails people 
> to chain load EFI/Syslinux (hence the ldlinux.e64, ldlinux.c32 as well 
> as isolinux.bin one also sees in /efi/boot/).
> 
> As a result, in the previously attached log, the Syslinux version is 
> retrieved from /efi/boot/isolinux.bin rather than 
> /isolinux/isolinux.bin... which probably serves my point about some of 
> the fragility of this process, in case different 'isolinux.bin' versions 
> are being used, though this is a path processing issue that has little 
> to do with versioning.
> 
> Regards,
> 
> /Pete
 
 
This is going to sound "off-topic" in the Syslinux Mailing List; it is 
not.

I am using the ISO image from TAILS as an excuse to "tease" TAILS' devs 
and other users of Syslinux. If intrigeri (TAILS developer) "bites". 
then users reading this mailing list might learn one thing or two about 
Syslinux (6.04-pre1+).

1_ EFI/BOOT/isolinux.bin is probably a mistake (or misunderstanding) 
originated in the ISO building scripts for TAILS, as this file is 
worthless for EFI. From the list of files, probably this is not the 
only file from Syslinux that could be deleted in this ISO image.

2_ The whole EFI\BOOT\grub directory could potentially be deleted. 
IIRC, the initial intention of having both, syslinux.efi and grub.efi 
in TAILS was to _automatically_ load the adequate efi binary for each 
EFI architecture (x86 / ia32), overcoming a (prior) limitation in 
Syslinux. Syslinux 6.04-pre1 already includes a solution for this 
situation. We'll see whether intrigeri bites ;).

However, I do not see "ldlinux.e32" in the list provided by Pete, so 
perhaps TAILS' devs. have decided to just use grub.efi (and no 
chainloading)?

3_ When building the ISO image, the script(s) should rather move 
everything from the "isolinux" directory to a "syslinux" directory. The 
same goes to the cfg file name, as isolinux.bin can use "syslinux.cfg" 
just fine. Then the ISO building script should use this "syslinux/" 
path for the location of isolinux.bin. This is, of course, for BIOS, as 
"isolinux" has nothing to do with UEFI. For possible reference, 
GpartedLive and ClonezillaLive are already using this naming 
convention.


All the above steps would simplify the directory tree, would simplify 
the steps for writing a bootable USB drive using the content of the ISO 
image, would reduce the need to maintain grub.efi too (in addition to 
syslinux.efi), and would reduce the size of the resulting ISO image.

Having said that, I have not tested Syslinux 6.04-pre1 yet (nor recent 
TAILS ISO images), so the actual result of the above suggestions might 
not be a success.

Regards,
Ady.
 
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