Syslinux - May 2012 - installing extlinux on image files

Hi,
is there any way to install extlinux on a _not_ mounted ext4 image?

I can easily write the extlinux.sys manually to a fixed inode, and 
prepend a  prebuild mbr, but is there anything else i am missing? 
patch_file_and_bootblock does a couple of magic things, that are beyond 
me.
The devices are simple images that run in virtualbox, so do i really 
need all of the blocksize magic?

thanks.

On Wed, May 23, 2012 at 9:56 AM, aep <aep at exys.org>
wrote:
> Hi,
> is there any way to install extlinux on a _not_ mounted ext4 image?
I would be interested in this as well.
> I can easily write the extlinux.sys manually to a fixed inode, and prepend
a
> ?prebuild mbr, but is there anything else i am missing?
> patch_file_and_bootblock does a couple of magic things, that are beyond me.
> The devices are simple images that run in virtualbox, so do i really need
> all of the blocksize magic?
The images I use are for kvm, but the same principle. I don't
partititon them, one file system per image. Not having to mount would
be good, because that is one less step in my install/build process
that would require root.

On Wed, May 23, 2012 at 10:56 AM, aep <aep at exys.org>
wrote:
> Hi,
> is there any way to install extlinux on a _not_ mounted ext4 image?
Not practically.
> I can easily write the extlinux.sys manually to a fixed inode, and
prepend a
>  prebuild mbr, but is there anything else i am missing?
> patch_file_and_bootblock does a couple of magic things, that are beyond
me.

If you consider them beyond you, there is no way to just copy it in and
expect useful results.
> The devices are simple images that run in virtualbox, so do i really need
> all of the blocksize magic?
>
> thanks.
-- 
-Gene

On 05/23/2012 07:56 AM, aep wrote:
> Hi,
> is there any way to install extlinux on a _not_ mounted ext4 image?
> 
Not with the current code.

It could be done with writing an installer using libext2fs, but noone
has done that work yet.

	-hpa
-- 
H. Peter Anvin, Intel Open Source Technology Center
I work for Intel.  I don't speak on their behalf.