[syslinux] extlinux troubles....

[Ady Ady]

> Fine, I will do it all again and use some tool like 'script' to log
> every single byte, but it'll be a few days before I can email that to
> you since it takes overnight to zero out the drive to ensure no old
> data will interfere, and copying the data from the old drive to the
> new one is also rather slow.
> 
> For the record, I did RTFM.  It has no complete examples for _ANY_ use
> case, and you know it.  The man page has no examples at all, and
> 'extlinux.txt' only has tiny, out-of-context snippets which assume the
> hard disk you want to install upon is either hda or sda, and you know
> that too.  For a poster who insists on absolute perfection, I'm
> shocked you find that paltry level of documentation adequate.
 
 
>From your reply, I think you are assuming too many things, and 
misreading others. So, I'll use my own time to try to clarify some (not 
all) of the above.

The documentation is, indeed, far, far, too-far away from adequate. 
This is one of the reasons I am trying to help (you). This is not my 
job, I don't have any task assigned to me regarding anything about The 
Syslinux Project, and I am not responsible for the level / clarity / 
completeness of documentation.

Since the docs are not good enough, I was trying to help you overcome 
such situation. Instead of ignoring your request for help, I was 
actually pointing you to the specific potential problems. I was not 
trying to be demeaning, patronize, offend or insult in any way, but 
rather to be helpful. Other people might instead say "RTFM" (and say 
nothing else), or completely ignore you.

The documentation says nothing specific about your particular situation 
/ case; true. IMHO, it is not needed, and you are free to disagree. But 
I owe you nothing, so I won't get here and now into justifying my 
opinion. Just in case there is some misunderstanding, I do not 
represent The Syslinux Project in any official (nor unofficial) way, 
and these are all my own words and only mine.

Now, regarding the actual on-topic issue...

I hinted about some documents - the wiki in this case - being available 
regarding your questions, whereas you keep claiming that there is none. 
My point was that, wherever you searched for the info before, 
apparently you didn't find the "best" there is (and please note, the 
"best" in this case is completely subjective, and not to be confused 
with "adequate" nor "perfect" nor "good-enough").

Twice already I either hinted or explicitly wrote some points of 
"classic" misunderstandings and typos (in a hurry, from users that, 
understandably, only want to solve their issues ASAP) for you to 
double-check. The wiki, with all its shortcomings, is pretty clear 
about where the *mbr*.bin files are supposed to be written / copied / 
transferred to. It also includes the expected (and correct) file names 
of the configuration files, more than once.

In addition to reading some documents (maybe) "on-the-fly" (instead of 
paying attention to some relevant details), you skipped answering to 
some of my questions and, apparently, you ignored my initial hints 
about frequent points of problems. You also ignored my request to avoid 
top-posting when writing to the mailing list. Nothing terrible but, see 
the pattern?

BTW, I am not sure you should refer to "you" in your email; you are 
sending your emails to the mailing list (and rightly so), _not to me_ 
(and rightly so). I hope that by using the word "you", you meant "the 
mailing list", and, if so, then I guess that's OK.

The clarity of documentation (or rather, lack thereof) should not be an 
excuse to disregard the already-existing info, especially when relevant 
items are being highlighted in an email reply.

If my prior emails were (mis)interpreted as some kind of "demand for 
perfection", then that was a mere misreading. My _attempt_ to explain 
things clearly (although, perhaps I am failing more than I thought), 
being meticulous (maybe), pointing to potential typical problems and 
mentioning items in the original email (with your request for help) 
that might trigger some thoughts (such as "hmm, that sounds 
like...")... All that, was my sincere attempt to 
help.

Good luck,
Ady.