Re: Initrd support & ext2fs bugfix

[Johan Rydberg]

Jeroen Dekkers <address@hidden> wrote:

:       * loader/i386/pc/linux.c (pupa_rescue_cmd_linux): Check whether
:       pupa_file_read fails.
:       (pupa_rescue_cmd_initrd): Implement.

I've been thinking about PUPA a bit lately.  The loaders go into sysdep
directories as of now.  This will result in a lot of duplicated code when
PUPA gets ported to other platforms.  Though, it minimizes the need for
ifdefs for a perticular platform (which is a good thing, IMHO. )  

Most of the code in a ELF loader is generic.  The only platform-dep code
is validity checks and the invoktion of the kernel.

As soon as PUPA gets ported to, for example, PowerPC, new constrains will
be put on the loader.  On the PPC platform, the bootloader must pass the
entry point to the IEEE 1275:1994 firmware.  So if the loader is generic,
there must be a hook for this.

Say that there is a PUPA module that implements OpenFirmware, then that
needs to pass its entry point to the loaded kernel.  So there is need 
for hooks for that aswell.

So what do you say.  Is it worth it to make (some) loaders generic?

-- 
Johan Rydberg, Free Software Developer, Sweden
http://rtmk.sf.net | http://www.nongnu.org/guss/

Playing Makaveli Ft Scarface - Smile for Tha Moment