Hi all,
In June 2007 Jerry Nelson started a thread on this mailing list about a problem
he was seeing. The thread was
http://syslinux.zytor.com/archives/2007-June/008673.html
After several hours of searching through the list, I am still convinced that his
problem was never solved and is very valid. I recently moved from the old
syslinux config options model (all labels in 1 default config file) to having a
main menu and submenus using vesamenu.c32. The main menu points to all of the
submenus and also has a label for localboot. Each submenu has tons of labels
that fit the category of the submenu.
The problem is that not every user wants to navigate the menu structure to find
the label they want to boot, but they would rather hit escape to get the boot:
prompt and type in the memorized label like they used to in the old syslinux
model. However, hitting escape and getting the boot: prompt only recognizes the
label in the default config file and not in any of the submenu config files. I
too have tried MANY attempts at using CONFIG and INCLUDE directives, but have
been unsuccessful. Using just the INCLUDE option still dumps all of the labels
from the included file into my main menu and really makes a mess of things.
I would even be fine adding all the labels from all of the submenu config files
into the main menu config if there was any way for them not to show up in the
menu.
Please help, my forehead hurts from pounding it on the keyboard.....
Here is what my main menu config file that gets loaded by default looks like:
*****************************************************************
# Graphical Menu Config...
default vesamenu.c32
PROMPT 0
TIMEOUT 300
SAY Please enter boot label:
F1 gfx/menu-help.conf
#INCLUDE gfx/menu-all.conf
MENU BACKGROUND back.jpg
menu color title 1;37;40 #ffffffff #00000000 std
menu color border 1;37;40 #ffffffff #00000000 std
menu color tabmsg 1;31;40 #ff8fff89 #00000000 std
menu color sel 7;37;40 #ffef0bd2 #ffa3d3f8 all
menu color hotsel 7;37;40 #ffef0bd2 #ffa3d3f8 all
menu color unsel 1;31;40 #b0ffcf00 #00000000 std
menu color hotkey 1;31;40 #ffffff00 #00000000 std
menu color timeout_msg 37;40 #80ffffff #00000000 std
menu color timeout 1;31;40 #ffff0000 #00000000 std
menu color help 1;37;40 #ffffffff #00000000 std
menu color msg01 37;40 #80ffffff #00000000 std
MENU WIDTH 55
MENU MARGIN 1
MENU PASSWORDMARGIN 3
MENU ROWS 21
MENU TABMSGROW 27
MENU HELPMSGROW 28
MENU HELPMSGENDROW 28
MENU CMDLINEROW 27
MENU ENDROW 28
#MENU PASSWORDROW 27
MENU TIMEOUTROW 28
MENU TITLE Welcome to the SLED PXE / Install System
# Help menu
label help
MENU DISABLE
MENU LABEL ^F1 - Help Screen
KERNEL vesamenu.c32
APPEND gfx/menu-default gfx/menu-help.conf
LABEL harddisk
MENU DEFAULT
MENU LABEL ^Boot from local disk
localboot 1
MENU SEPARATOR
# openSuSUE menu
label opensuse
#TEXT HELP
#These are the installable openSuSE distributions
#ENDTEXT
MENU LABEL ^openSuSE Distributions
KERNEL vesamenu.c32
APPEND gfx/menu-default gfx/menu-opensuse.conf
# NLD menu
label nld
MENU LABEL ^Novell Linux Desktop Distributions
KERNEL vesamenu.c32
APPEND gfx/menu-default gfx/menu-nld.conf
# SLED menu
label sled
MENU LABEL ^SLED Distributions
KERNEL vesamenu.c32
APPEND gfx/menu-default gfx/menu-sled.conf
# SLES menu
label sles
MENU LABEL S^LES Distributions
KERNEL vesamenu.c32
APPEND gfx/menu-default gfx/menu-sles.conf
# Novell menu
label novell
MENU LABEL O^ther Novell Distributions
KERNEL vesamenu.c32
APPEND gfx/menu-default gfx/menu-novell.conf
# Redhat menu
label redhat
MENU LABEL ^Redhat & Fedora Distributions
KERNEL vesamenu.c32
APPEND gfx/menu-default gfx/menu-redhat.conf
# Other menu
label other
MENU LABEL Ot^her Distributions
KERNEL vesamenu.c32
APPEND gfx/menu-default gfx/menu-other.conf
# Misc menu
label misc
MENU LABEL ^Misc Options & Utilities
KERNEL vesamenu.c32
APPEND gfx/menu-default gfx/menu-misc.conf
MENU SEPARATOR
# Main menu
label main
MENU LABEL M^ain Menu
KERNEL vesamenu.c32
APPEND pxelinux.cfg/gfx-default
*****************************************************************
An example of one of the submenu config files would be:
*****************************************************************
# Default boot option to use
DEFAULT vesamenu.c32
# Prompt user for selection
PROMPT 0
# Help menu
label help
MENU DISABLE
MENU LABEL F1 - Help Screen
KERNEL vesamenu.c32
APPEND gfx/menu-default gfx/menu-help.conf
# Boot Local Disk
label harddisk
MENU DEFAULT
MENU LABEL Boot from local disk
localboot 1
MENU SEPARATOR
#Options Here
# SuSE Linux 9.2 Professional - 32 Bit
label suse9.2
MENU LABEL ^A. suse9.2 - SuSE Linux 9.2 - 32 Bit
kernel kernels/suse9.2
append initrd=initrds/suse9.2.img ramdisk_size=65536 insmod=e100
install=nfs://XXX.XXX.249.243/install/suse92 splash=silent showopts
uSE Linux 9.2 Professional - 64 Bit
label suse9.2-64
MENU LABEL ^B. suse9.2-64 - SuSE Linux 9.2 - 64 Bit
kernel kernels/suse9.2-64
append initrd=initrds/suse9.2-64.img ramdisk_size=65536 insmod=e100
install=nfs://XXX.XXX.249.243/install/suse92 splash=silent showopts
# SuSE Linux 9.3 Professional - 32 Bit
label suse9.3
MENU LABEL ^C. suse9.3 - SuSE Linux 9.3 - 32 Bit
kernel kernels/suse9.3
append initrd=initrds/suse9.3.img ramdisk_size=65536
install=nfs://XXX.XXX.249.243/install/suse93 splash=silent showopts
# SuSE Linux 9.3 Professional - 64 Bit
label suse9.3-64
MENU LABEL ^D. suse9.3-64 - SuSE Linux 9.3 - 64 Bit
kernel kernels/suse9.3-64
append initrd=initrds/suse9.3-64.img ramdisk_size=65536
install=nfs://XXX.XXX.249.243/install/suse93 splash=silent showopts
# openSuSE 10.0 - 32 Bit
label suse10
MENU LABEL ^E. suse10 - openSuSE 10.0 - 32 Bit
kernel kernels/suse10
append initrd=initrds/suse10.img ramdisk_size=65536 insmod=e100
install=nfs://XXX.XXX.249.243/install/suse10 splash=silent showopts
# openSuSE 10.0 - 64 Bit
label suse10-64
MENU LABEL ^F. suse10-64 - openSuSE 10.0 - 64 Bit
kernel kernels/suse10-64
append initrd=initrds/suse10-64.img ramdisk_size=65536 insmod=e100
install=nfs://XXX.XXX.249.243/install/suse10_64 splash=silent showopts
# openSuSE 10.1 - 32 Bit
label suse10.1
MENU LABEL ^G. suse10.1 - openSuSE 10.1 - 32 Bit
kernel kernels/suse10.1
append initrd=initrds/suse10.1.img ramdisk_size=65536 insmod=e100
install=nfs://XXX.XXX.249.243/install/suse101 splash=silent showopts
# openSuSE 10.2 - 32 Bit
label suse10.2
MENU LABEL ^H. suse10.2 - openSuSE 10.2 - 32 Bit
kernel kernels/suse10.2
append initrd=initrds/suse10.2.img ramdisk_size=65536 insmod=e100
install=nfs://XXX.XXX.249.243/install/suse102 splash=silent showopts
# openSuSE 10.2 - 64 Bit
label suse10.2-64
MENU LABEL ^I. suse10.2-64 - openSuSE 10.2 - 64 Bit
kernel kernels/suse10.2-64
append initrd=initrds/suse10.2-64.img ramdisk_size=65536 insmod=e100
install=nfs://XXX.XXX.249.243/install/suse102_64 splash=silent showopts
# openSuSE 10.3 - 32 Bit
label suse10.3
MENU LABEL ^J. suse10.3 - openSuSE 10.3 - 32 Bit
kernel kernels/suse10.3
append initrd=initrds/suse10.3.img ramdisk_size=65536 insmod=e100
install=nfs://XXX.XXX.249.243/install/suse103 splash=silent showopts
# openSuSE 10.3 - 64 Bit
label suse10.3-64
MENU LABEL ^K. suse10.3-64 - openSuSE 10.3 - 64 Bit
kernel kernels/suse10.3-64
append initrd=initrds/suse10.3-64.img ramdisk_size=65536 insmod=e100
install=nfs://XXX.XXX.249.243/install/suse103_64 splash=silent showopts
# openSuSE 11.0 - 32 Bit
label suse11
MENU LABEL ^L. suse11 - openSuSE 11.0 - 32 Bit
kernel kernels/suse11
append initrd=initrds/suse11.img ramdisk_size=65536 insmod=e100
install=nfs://XXX.XXX.249.243/install/suse11 splash=silent showopts
MENU SEPARATOR
# Return to Main Menu
LABEL MainMenu
MENU LABEL Main Menu
KERNEL vesamenu.c32
APPEND pxelinux.cfg/gfx-default
******************************************************************
Thanks in advance for any help in solving this little configuration dilema.
-Bryan
Bryan Perry wrote:> Hi all, > > In June 2007 Jerry Nelson started a thread on this mailing list about a problem he was seeing. The thread was http://syslinux.zytor.com/archives/2007-June/008673.html > > After several hours of searching through the list, I am still convinced that his problem was never solved and is very valid. I recently moved from the old syslinux config options model (all labels in 1 default config file) to having a main menu and submenus using vesamenu.c32. The main menu points to all of the submenus and also has a label for localboot. Each submenu has tons of labels that fit the category of the submenu. > > The problem is that not every user wants to navigate the menu structure to find the label they want to boot, but they would rather hit escape to get the boot: prompt and type in the memorized label like they used to in the old syslinux model. However, hitting escape and getting the boot: prompt only recognizes the label in the default config file and not in any of the submenu config files. I too have tried MANY attempts at using CONFIG and INCLUDE directives, but have been unsuccessful. Using just the INCLUDE option still dumps all of the labels from the included file into my main menu and really makes a mess of things. > > I would even be fine adding all the labels from all of the submenu config files into the main menu config if there was any way for them not to show up in the menu. > > Please help, my forehead hurts from pounding it on the keyboard..... >It is ugly, but there is a way to do it (I have plans for a much cleaner implementation, but I'm being way too busy unfortunately.) This is how: have your main configuration file contain: ------------- # This is where we start the menu tree... default vesamenu.c32 main.cfg include main.cfg include submenu1.cfg include submenu2.cfg include submenu3.cfg -------------- The trick is that the root of the menu tree doesn't actually have to be your main configuration file (the one that's read by the CLI.) Thus, you can have the main configuration file include ALL your submenus, and therefore seeing all the labels (at least up to the 64K limit in the CLI.) -hpa