[Cbe-oss-dev] Mini Req to PS3 Linux boot loader (Re: PS3 Linux boot loader discussions)

[Hiroyuki Machida]

Hi Luca-san,

2007/2/10, Luca Barbato <lu_zero at gentoo.org>:
  :
  :
> >>  > === Minimum /etc/kboot.conf ===
> >>  >
> >>  > Bootloader needs to understand following minimum kboot.conf format.
> >>  >
> >>  > timeout=[num]
> >>  > initrd=[path1]
> >>  > root=[rootname]
> >>  > default=[label]
> >>  > [label]=[path2]  [kernel-params]
> >>  >
> >>  > - [num] is digit number; which describes value of boot
> >>  > selection time out. It's just used as hint. Boot loader
> >>  > ignore this value.
> >>  > - [label] is a label for boot entry.
> >>  > There's no alternative entry, we can omit "label" line like;
> >>  > default=[path2] [kernel-params]
> >>
> >> I think that default must be a label.
> >> When we insert multiple boot media, we have to select one of them.
> >
> >
> > From the point of view of  the minimum specification,
> > [label] looks not to be mandatory. On the other hand,
> > I agree that [label] would help implmentation.
> >
> > As you mention, in case of [label], it's expected to be uniq.
>
> there weren't discussions about using some kind of hw signature
> (depending on which hw it is) to avoid clashes around identical labels?
>
> > Do you have any idea on max length of [label]  and limitation
> > on  chars in [label], like "must be starting with alpahbet".
> >
>
> IMHO A label should be at most fit in a single console line, so 79 chars
> or even less if we assume we'd have to append the hw id in case of
> clash. IF we have enough memory to support utf8 and think about fonts
> availability, probably it could be nice, otherwise pure ascii could be a
> simple constraint that avoids implementation headache.

I think label should be consist from ascii chars upto 64 bytes, including
termination char  '\0', as minimum requirement to boot loader.