Syslinux - Nov 2013 - Sysinux 6 will not boot ISOs on BIOS (i.e. pre-UEFI) systems

On 11/24/2013 09:56 AM, Ady wrote:
>> The very early code that emits this message is *identical* between
>> Syslinux 4 and Syslinux 6.  The biggest difference is the size of
>> isolinux.bin, so it is possible that that might be the source of the
>> problem.
>>
>> 	-hpa
>   
> I wonder if isolinux.bin should be limited to max. 16 sectors (of
> 2KiB each), as that's the default limit in mkisofs "-G
> <generic_boot_image>" option.
>
> If that happens to be the case, perhaps there is some additional
> option so to reserve more sectors for the boot image?
>
> Is there any method to reduce the size of isolinux.bin?
>
> Regards,
> Ady.
Hi there,

these are the cmds I'm using now, which are working with syslinux4 just 
fine:

     xorriso -as mkisofs ${_qflag} \
             -iso-level 3 -rock -joliet \
             -max-iso9660-filenames -omit-period \
             -omit-version-number \
             -relaxed-filenames -allow-lowercase \
             -volid "${LABEL}" \
             -appid "${APPLICATION}" \
             -publisher "${PUBLISHER}" \
             -preparer "prepared by mkmiso" \
             -eltorito-boot isolinux/isolinux.bin \
             -eltorito-catalog isolinux/boot.cat \
             -no-emul-boot -boot-load-size 4 -boot-info-table \
             -isohybrid-mbr "${work_dir}/iso/isolinux/isohdpfx.bin" \
             ${_iso_efi_boot_args} \
             -output "${imgname}" \
             "${work_dir}/iso/"
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> 
> these are the cmds I'm using now, which are working with syslinux4 just
> fine:
> 
>      xorriso -as mkisofs ${_qflag} \
>              -iso-level 3 -rock -joliet \
>              -max-iso9660-filenames -omit-period \
>              -omit-version-number \
>              -relaxed-filenames -allow-lowercase \
>              -volid "${LABEL}" \
>              -appid "${APPLICATION}" \
>              -publisher "${PUBLISHER}" \
>              -preparer "prepared by mkmiso" \
>              -eltorito-boot isolinux/isolinux.bin \
>              -eltorito-catalog isolinux/boot.cat \
>              -no-emul-boot -boot-load-size 4 -boot-info-table \
>              -isohybrid-mbr
"${work_dir}/iso/isolinux/isohdpfx.bin" \
>              ${_iso_efi_boot_args} \
>              -output "${imgname}" \
>              "${work_dir}/iso/"
> 
 
Carl and Philip,

Given that you have systems that consistently failed with 
isolinux.bin 6.02, I'd like to kindly suggest testing again with the 
additional:
 -sort-weight 2 isolinux/isolinux.bin 

Note: I am posting this parameter as Gerardo did (path in relative 
notation). I am not sure if the adequate path for this parameter 
should be with or without a heading "/".

So the parameters for xorriso in Manjaroiso would look like:

xorriso -as mkisofs ${_qflag} \
        -iso-level 3 -rock -joliet \
        -max-iso9660-filenames -omit-period \
        -omit-version-number \
        -relaxed-filenames -allow-lowercase \
        -volid "${LABEL}" \
        -appid "${APPLICATION}" \
        -publisher "${PUBLISHER}" \
        -preparer "prepared by mkmiso" \
        -eltorito-boot isolinux/isolinux.bin \
        --sort-weight 2 isolinux/isolinux.bin \
        -eltorito-catalog isolinux/boot.cat \
        -no-emul-boot -boot-load-size 4 -boot-info-table \
        -isohybrid-mbr "${work_dir}/iso/isolinux/isohdpfx.bin" \
        ${_iso_efi_boot_args} \
        -output "${imgname}" \
        "${work_dir}/iso/"

If the addition of "--sort weight 2 <path_to_isolinux.bin>"
makes
those systems boot OK with Syslinux 6.02 now, it would at least be a 
valid and simple potential *workaround* for at least several cases 
that are currently failing.

Of course, finding a *solution* would be better.

For this suggested test, it would be preferable to use the current 
latest Syslinux package from Arch Linux.

Please let us know your results.

TIA,
Ady.

Hi,

unrequested xorriso support:

Ady wrote:
>  -sort-weight 2 isolinux/isolinux.bin 
> I am not sure if the adequate path for this parameter 
> should be with or without a heading "/".
Both will work in this example.
The relative address "isolinux/isolinux.bin" will get prefixed
the current working directory in the ISO image. Default at
program start is "/". 

I recommend to use absolute addressing, because the working
directory in ISO could be changed by e.g.
  xorriso -cd /my/iso/prefix -as mkisofs ...
or by a -cd command in ~/.xorrisorc.
The same advise applies to -b (aka -eltorito-boot) and
-c (aka -eltorito-catalog).


Have a nice day :)

Thomas