Debian bug report logs - #918
mkboot and image packages

Package: miscutils; Reported by: mitchell@mdd.comm.mot.com (Bill Mitchell); 158 days old.

Message received at debian-bugs:

From mdd.comm.mot.com!mitchell Mon May 29 10:17:55 1995
Return-Path: <mitchell@mdd.comm.mot.com>
Received: from pixar.com by mongo.pixar.com with smtp
	(Smail3.1.28.1 #15) id m0sG8Rv-0005kIC; Mon, 29 May 95 10:17 PDT
Received: from motgate.mot.com by pixar.com with SMTP id AA27279
  (5.67b/IDA-1.5 for debian-bugs-pipe@mongo.pixar.com); Mon, 29 May 1995 10:16:29 -0700
Received: from pobox.mot.com (pobox.mot.com [129.188.137.100]) by motgate.mot.com (8.6.11/8.6.10/MOT-3.6) with ESMTP id MAA29361 for <debian-bugs@pixar.com>; Mon, 29 May 1995 12:17:53 -0500
Received: from mdd.comm.mot.com (mdisea.mdd.comm.mot.com [138.242.64.201]) by pobox.mot.com (8.6.11/8.6.10/MOT-3.6) with SMTP id MAA14367 for <debian-bugs@pixar.com>; Mon, 29 May 1995 12:17:52 -0500
Received: from bb29c.mdd.comm.mot.com by mdd.comm.mot.com (4.1/SMI-4.1)
	id AA03527; Mon, 29 May 95 10:17:51 PDT
Received: by bb29c.mdd.comm.mot.com (4.1/SMI-4.1)
	id AA06710; Mon, 29 May 95 10:17:45 PDT
Date: Mon, 29 May 1995 10:17:44 -0700 (PDT)
From: Bill Mitchell <mitchell@mdd.comm.mot.com>
X-Sender: mitchell@bb29c
To: debian-bugs@pixar.com
Subject: Re: Bug#918: mkboot and image packages
In-Reply-To: <m0sFve3-00001FC@plato.simons-rock.edu>
Message-Id: <Pine.SUN.3.91.950529100027.6700A-100000@bb29c>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII


I know I said I'd try to shut up about this.  Before I do, let
me contribute a mkboot script which works for me.  I'm sure it
can be improved, once an agreement is reached about what the
script should do.  As written, it attempts to make LILO'd boot
diskette, or to exit with an appropriate message if that fails.

I wasn't sure about using the lilo "linear" parameter, but did
specify it.  As I understand it, "linear" allows the boot disk
to work with some hard disk geometries and partition alignments
which wouldn't work without this parameter; though I note the
caveat in /usr/doc/lilo/README-FIRST.gz that it may make the
boot floppy nonportable.

#!/bin/sh
#
# attempt to make a boot diskette, using /dev/fd0
# exit with an appropriate error message if a problem is detected

LEAF=/tmp/$$
ROOT_DEVICE=`mount | grep ' / ' | cut -d' ' -f1`

ERROR=0

if [ $ERROR = 0 ]
then
    if ! mkfs -t ext2 /dev/fd0 >/dev/null
    then
        echo ERROR:  mkfs -t ext2 /dev/fd0 failed 1>2
        ERROR=1
    fi
fi

if [ $ERROR = 0 ]
then
    if ! mkdir $LEAF
    then
        echo ERROR:  mkdir $LEAF failed 1>2
        ERROR=1
    fi
fi

if [ $ERROR = 0 ]
then
    if ! mount -t ext2 /dev/fd0 $LEAF 1>2
    then
        echo ERROR:  mount -t ext2 /dev/fd0 $LEAF failed 1>2
        ERROR=1
    fi
fi

if [ $ERROR = 0 ]
then
    for i in /vmlinuz /boot/boot.b
    do
        if ! cp $i $LEAF
        then
            echo ERROR:  cp $i $LEAF failed 1>2
            ERROR=1
            break
        fi
    done
fi

if [ $ERROR = 0 ]
then
    if ! lilo -C - <<EOF
boot=/dev/fd0
root=$ROOT_DEVICE
compact
linear
install=$LEAF/boot.b
map=$LEAF/map
backup=/dev/null
vga=normal
delay=20
image=$LEAF/vmlinuz
label=Linux
read-only
EOF
    then
        echo ERROR:  lilo failed to write boot sector 1>&2
        ERROR=1
    fi
fi

umount /dev/fd0 2>/dev/null
rmdir /tmp/$$ 2>/dev/null

exit $ERROR


mitchell@mdd.comm.mot.com (Bill Mitchell)

Acknowledgement sent to Bill Mitchell <mitchell@mdd.comm.mot.com>:
Extra info received and forwarded. Full text available.