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Re: BOOPT bootfile
On Thu, Jan 30, 2003 at 08:15:55AM -0700, Gary D. Thomas wrote:
> > > Do you want RedBoot to use the information in the bootp reply
> > > to download in image from a server and then execute that image?
> > >
> > > If so, as far as i know, RedBoot does not support this. You
> > > could add this though.
> >
> > I added this two years ago. I submitted a patch, but the patch
> > was declined. Those in charge said that some non-existent
> > features in boot scripts were "the right way" to do things.
> > Meanwhile, those script features are still (AFAIK) non-existent.
>
> Alas, it's sad how some things just never got to happen (...long
> story, don't want to go there)
We all know how that goes.
> > > Reboot understands SREC and ELF images and supports getting an
> > > image from TFTP. All you need to add it code to extract the
> > > filename and server name from the bootp reply and then control
> > > the tftp client code and jump into the image after it has been
> > > loaded.
> >
> > FWIW, the patch I submitted is at
> >
> > http://sources.redhat.com/ml/ecos-discuss/2001-03/msg00227.html
> >
> > The patch assumes the downloaded file is in SREC format. The
> > version I actually ship assumes it's a binary file (saves quite
> > a bit on download time).
>
> I've looked at this patch again and I still think that there are
> [slightly] better ways to handle this. I've a little time now, so
> maybe I can actually make it happen this time.
One obvious improvement would be to auto-detect the filetype. I
thought about it, but decided it would be simpler to only allow
one file type, and just tell customers to always convert the
app into a binary image. That's worked out fine [Except for
the one customer who claims there's no way to do DHCP/TFTP with
a W2K host. I never did figure out what his damage was.]
Another option I was thinking about would be to treat the
downloaded file as a script rather than an application That way
you could do just put
load foobar.bin
go
into the file pointed to by BOOTP/DHCP
--
Grant Edwards
grante@visi.com
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