Re: [Xen-devel] [RFC] bootloader improvements

[Tim Deegan <Tim.Deegan@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

At 17:25 +0000 on 10 Nov (1163179547), John Levon wrote:
> On Fri, Nov 10, 2006 at 11:05:27AM +0000, Tim Deegan wrote:
> > I don't understand why this is needed.  Why not just not set a
> > bootloader= option if you want the default?
> 
> I don't understand your point. The name and location of 'pygrub' should
> be an internal detail unless somebody /wants/ to use a different
> bootloader. It's a natural follow-on for the first patch.

Sorry, what I meant was, isn't not setting the bootloader option at all
equivalent to setting it to "default"?  If you want to control whether
the bootloader is called at all, there could be two config options, say,
use_bootloader (default 0) and bootloader_path (default wherever pygrub is).

> > Hmmm.  I like the idea of splitting the bootloader's suggested
> > kernel/etc from the config file's one, but I don't think the bootloader
> > should be involved in that at all.  I'd rather have Xend be able to make
> > a decision based on all the information from both sources.   This needs
> > a bit more thought generally.
> 
> Could you expand a bit more on what you mean here?

I think that it would be better not to pass the config file options into
pygrub and back out again: pygrub presumably has no business changing
those fields anyway.  In future, if pygrub supplies more configuration
options, will we have to add a command-line option for each one so it
can pass the config file versions through?  It just seems a bit messy.

Could Xend not just run the bootloader and then, say, fall back to the
values it got from the config file if it doesn't get anything from the 
bootloader?

> Why? I don't understand why replacing a hands-off method with a load of
> interactive gook is a step forward.

It would let you dual-boot a linux/Solaris guest. :)  It would mean that
if you untarred a Solaris kernel in your linux guest your Grub menu
woudn't just go away forever.  It would let you choose a "backup" Solaris
kernel if your main one got toasted.   All the usual things a boot menu
is useful for. 

Cheers,

Tim. 

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