Syslinux - Dec 2004 - SYSLINUX 3.00-pre8: Let's try this release thing again

Okay, spending the time to dot t's and cross i's (or something like 
that), I think I have something now that can be called 3.00-worthy, so 
let's call it a release candidate.

Changes over the earlier 3.00 prereleases:

- -m and -a options now supported by the DOS installer.
- PXELINUX now allows IP addresses, FQDNs, and truncated hostnames when 
specifying an alternate TFTP server (hostnames without dots get the 
DHCP-provided local domain name appended.)
- Simple menu system now support hotkeys, see README.menu for details.
- Add an API function to do hostname resolution.

Please grab this one and try to break it, pretty please.

All changes over 2.13 so far:

Changes in 3.00:
         * SYSLINUX: Support FAT32 and EDD.  As an unfortunate
           consequence, LDLINUX.SYS is no longer an ordinary file; it
           is block-mapped at install time, which means it can only be
           written using the syslinux installers.
         * SYSLINUX: Reorganize the source code for the installers;
           each one of the installers (dos, win32, unix, mtools) is now
           built in its own subdirectory.  In particular, "mtools" is
           the unprivileged installer which uses mtools; "unix" is the
           privileged installer which uses system calls.
         * SYSLINUX: Completely rewritten DOS installer in C.
         * ALL: "label" statement information is now stored in a
           compressed format, which means that a lot more labels are
           permitted (500-1000 in a typical configuration, but depends
           on the complexity.)
         * EXTLINUX: New derivative, which boots from an ext2/ext3
           filesystem.
         * SYSLINUX: The DOS and Win32 installers can now optionally
           write the boot sector to a file instead of the real boot
           sector.  This is not supported in the Linux installers,
           however.
         * ALL: New NOESCAPE command, disables the "hold down the Shift
           key to display the prompt" behaviour.
         * New simple menu system, as an alternative to the advanced
           menu system already present.  See README.menu for details.
         * PXELINUX: Filenames can now be prefixed with an IP address
           or DNS name plus :: (e.g. 192.0.2.1::filename or
           server.domain.com::filename), which downloads a file from an
           alternate TFTP server, or just a :: (e.g. ::filename), which
           suppresses the common pathname prefix.  See pxelinux.doc.
         * SYSLINUX: Add an -m option to the DOS and Win32 installers
           to write an MBR and -a to mark the partition SYSLINUX is
           being installed on active.

	-hpa

HPA, thanks for the 'write bootsector to file' feature.
Small additional feature request for Syslinux 3.xx:
-make MDSKCHK able to obtain a variable which tells which Syslinux variant
booted the MEMDISK.

BOOTLDR=SYSLINUX for example

suggested values (Memdisk can be booted from different bootloaders):
*SYSLINUX
*ISOLINUX
*PXELINUX
*UNKNOWN

MDISKCHK can already obtain BOOT_IMAGE and INITRD.

Reason for my request is that I boot a certain disk image through either
Syslinux or Isolinux, and I'd like to know which one was used.

This probably requires some changes to both the Memdisk and Isolinux code
though..

Bernd


----------------------------------------------------------------
Op deze e-mail zijn de volgende voorwaarden van toepassing:

http://www.fontys.nl/disclaimer

The above disclaimer applies to this e-mail message.
----------------------------------------------------------------

Another feature request: compatibility with ancient systems (8086, 80286), at
least for LOCALBOOT and for KERNEL filename.BSS
(local boot and loading a DOS bootsectorfile).

This would allow me to use Syslinux as the primary bootloader on a bootdisk
which needs to be compatible with even 8086/80286 (386+ specific stuff ofcourse
allowed, but set apart).

I'm not able to test it though :(
No suitable emulator, no ancient computer.

Currently I'd have to do something like this (didn't test bootsectorfile
support/implementation of Syslinux installer yet!) to install a special
bootloader called MetaKern, which loads a bootsector (appended to itself)

SYSLINUX A: C:\SYSLINUX.BIN
COPY /B C:\METACORE.BIN + C:\SYSLINUX.BIN + C:\METABOOT.BOT A:\METAKERN.SYS
SYS C: A: /BOOTONLY /K METAKERN.SYS

I'd rather do only something like SYSLINUX A: , but that would require
support of the mentioned ancient x86 platforms.

Bernd


----------------------------------------------------------------
Op deze e-mail zijn de volgende voorwaarden van toepassing:

http://www.fontys.nl/disclaimer

The above disclaimer applies to this e-mail message.
----------------------------------------------------------------

trivial feature request for a following version of Syslinux installers:
not only search current directory for LDLINUX.SYS, but also the parent directory
of syslinux.exe/.com

Reason: LDLINUX.SYS seems to be required file, and Syslinux installer must be
able to find it. However, each installer now is in its own subdirectory, meaning
that the installer won't find the required file in its own directory.

I hope I'm not making myself ridiculous here - I still have to try using the
installer. That's easy enough, but it also forces me to repatch another
installer (for those ancient computers I mentioned) that will boot Syslinux or a
bootsectorfile directly.

The block-mapped stuff means any defragging/resizing of filesystem will probably
make Syslinux not boot again. Is the old installation way still *optionally*
available (SYSLINUX -BACKWARDSCOMPATIBLE A:) somehow?:
No blockmapping, no unbootable bootloader upon defrag/resize,but unfortunately
also no FAT32, no extended compatibility.

thanks very much again for the bootsectorfile writing. it reduces complexity of
my batchfiles very much (dump bootsector, then use syslinux, then obtain
syslinux bootsector, then restore original bootsector, then use syslinux
bootsector in the bootloader that I use)

Bernd


----------------------------------------------------------------
Op deze e-mail zijn de volgende voorwaarden van toepassing:

http://www.fontys.nl/disclaimer

The above disclaimer applies to this e-mail message.
----------------------------------------------------------------

Thanks, good to know that the contents is inside the installer, as well as your
custom/specific bootsector.

I'll try DOS's SYSTEM attribute and see if for example WinImage leaves
it alone. Otherwise I'll have a feature request to the author of WinImage :)


----------------------------------------------------------------
Op deze e-mail zijn de volgende voorwaarden van toepassing:

http://www.fontys.nl/disclaimer

The above disclaimer applies to this e-mail message.
----------------------------------------------------------------