Re: [PATCH] build 32-bit Linux loader as `linux', rename legacy loader to `linux16'

[Robert Millan]

On Mon, Mar 30, 2009 at 05:51:22PM -0400, Pavel Roskin wrote:
> On Tue, 2009-03-31 at 01:06 +0900, Yoshinori K. Okuji wrote:
> > On Monday 30 March 2009 23:35:52 phcoder wrote:
> > > I confirm. I suppose that this check and message is bypassed with 32-bit
> > > loading mode. IMO grub2 should provide an equivlent of this check. We
> > > already have cpuid code. Does anyone know how to determine if kernel is
> > > i386 or amd64?
> > 
> > I don't know any reliable way. Some candidates:
> > 
> > - The ramdisk max value. On 32-bit, initrd may not be loaded onto over 2GB. 
> > This is hard to change in Linux, so we can expect that this will not 
> > change. 
> 
> If we are circumventing the standard Linux bootloader, perhaps we should
> communicate this to the Linux developers.

This is not circumvention. We're using a 32-bit interface that's part of their
boot protocol specification (i.e. they promised not to break it).  The only
caveat is that so far it's only used on EFI and on coreboot, it hasn't been
so widespread, and therefore not so widely tested yet.

-- 
Robert Millan

  The DRM opt-in fallacy: "Your data belongs to us. We will decide when (and
  how) you may access your data; but nobody's threatening your freedom: we
  still allow you to remove your data and not access it at all."