Syslinux - Mar 2010 - gpxe + SYSLINUX menus = Fail?

I am attempting to setup a test gpxe(linux.0) http site, to test among 
other things the recent dynamic option 252 solution.

In the process of investigation I stumbled across 
http://www.etherboot.org/wiki/appnotes/authmenus which indicates the 
gpxe can launch vesamenu.c32 directly. Various other pages on 
etherboot's site indicate menu.c32/vesamenu.c32 can be used 
independently as well.

Has this changed? I have spent quite a bit of time trying to get the 
authmenus example working, and it is one failure after another.

I have tried checking syntax, trying different menu configs, all without 
success. I even took the one from 
http://syslinux.zytor.com/wiki/index.php/Menu. gpxe just outputs 
something that I can't see, then wipes the display and shows

"
ok
. ok
"

using menu.c32 in place of vesamenu.c32 actually outputs an error:
"Initial menu has no LABEL entries!
ok
. ok"


Now, if I modify the setup to fetch pxelinux.0, and have that specify 
(vesa)menu.c32, with absolutely no other changes... it works! but the 
authentication stuff breaks.

So my question is, does (vesa)menu.c32 require (g)pxelinux.0 these days?


So far I haven't tried older versions yet to see if they work. I have 
tested the php script used, etc to verify that it outputs the correct 
information, and again it works great just by replacing vesamenu.c32 
with pxelinux.0

I know I can use the auth system built into the menu system, but there 
are some really nice things to doing this the way the authmenus example 
uses. Such as being able to audit the user downloads.

If this example doesn't work any longer, is anyone using a dynamic 
system that is similar?

-Andrew

On 3/15/2010 3:36 PM, Andrew Stuart wrote:
> I am attempting to setup a test gpxe(linux.0) http site, to test among
> other things the recent dynamic option 252 solution.
>
> In the process of investigation I stumbled across
> http://www.etherboot.org/wiki/appnotes/authmenus which indicates the
> gpxe can launch vesamenu.c32 directly. Various other pages on
> etherboot's site indicate menu.c32/vesamenu.c32 can be used
> independently as well.
>
> Has this changed? I have spent quite a bit of time trying to get the
> authmenus example working, and it is one failure after another.
>
> I have tried checking syntax, trying different menu configs, all without
> success. I even took the one from
> http://syslinux.zytor.com/wiki/index.php/Menu. gpxe just outputs
> something that I can't see, then wipes the display and shows
>
> "
> ok
> . ok
> "
>
> using menu.c32 in place of vesamenu.c32 actually outputs an error:
> "Initial menu has no LABEL entries!
> ok
> . ok"
>
>
> Now, if I modify the setup to fetch pxelinux.0, and have that specify
> (vesa)menu.c32, with absolutely no other changes... it works! but the
> authentication stuff breaks.
>
> So my question is, does (vesa)menu.c32 require (g)pxelinux.0 these days?
>
--snip--

This works up to syslinux 3.82, I haven't had a chance to go between 
testing releases, but it breaks with 3.83+ (currently using 3.86-pre1)

-Andrew