Greetings, all.
I've uploaded a modified CRUX 2.4 ISO here:
http://jaeger.morpheus.net/proxy/crux/temp/crux-2.4-e1.isohttp://jaeger.morpheus.net/proxy/crux/temp/crux-2.4-e1.md5
I'd like people to test it and let me know if you have any problems.
Please note, this is NOT an updated ISO, it does NOT have updated
packages on it. I am NOT interested in knowing if you do a full install
using it. What I *AM* interested in is whether or not you encounter any
problems during the *boot* sequence.
This ISO has a heavily retouched version of the boot script that
improves cdrom/disk support as well as offers a few nifty options. Among
these are the ability to control which types of storage modules get
loaded, how long the device settling timeout is, and whether to load IDE
or SATA drivers first for those few cases where it matters (more on that
a bit later.) Some more info and examples follow:
The module loading options look like this: noide, noscsi, nosata, nousb,
nofirewire. You can specify any combination of them, space-separated, on
the command line when booting. For example, "CRUX noide nofirewire"
would cause the CD to boot without loading IDE or FireWire modules. If
your machine has only SCSI devices or SATA devices, this might be
something you'd use. Another example, "CRUX noscsi nosata" would cause
the CD to skip the SCSI and SATA modules, for a machine with only IDE
devices. Specifying all of them at once, like so: "CRUX noide noscsi
nosata nofirewire nousb" would cause the CD to boot but load no modules
at all. This is NOT likely to be what you want but it's doable.
If you want to influence the order of SATA/IDE modules you can either
boot with the default (no options) or add the "sata" or "libata" option.
They are functionally equivalent, use whichever one you feel like
typing. What the "sata" or "libata" option does is tell the CD to load
SATA modules *before* the IDE modules. Most of the time this has little
effect but in the case of hardware controllers that are supported by
both an SATA and an IDE module, such as some of the Intel PIIX series,
it will cause the SATA modules to load first, resulting in /dev/sdX
devices for disks and /dev/srX devices for cdroms.
In addition to the above, this ISO supports the legacy rescue option,
root=/dev/XXX, simply because many users don't seem to be as comfortable
with the new initramfs. You can rescue a system using EITHER method.
This one just makes it behave more like the previous CRUX releases. For
example, booting the CD on a system that's already got CRUX installed to
/dev/hda2 like so: "CRUX root=/dev/hda2" would cause the CD to try to
mount /dev/hda2 before switching to it as the new root, instead of using
the tmpfs on the CD.
Also, you can configure the amount of time the boot script waits for
controller devices to settle. Usually this doesn't mean much unless you
have USB or SCSI disks but if you need to tweak it from the default (10
seconds), specify devicetimeout=X like so: "CRUX devicetimeout=30",
which will make the boot script pause for 30 seconds to let devices
settle. Generally 10 seconds is more than enough.
I've also added a bit more error-checking to the ISO. If, for example,
you try to use the root= option to rescue a partition that doesn't
exist, the boot script will attempt to mount it and check for /sbin/init
(rudimentary but useful check) and if it's not found or can't be mounted
it falls back to mounting the cdrom as before.
If you really feel like it, all of these options can be combined. "CRUX
root=/dev/sda4 libata noscsi noide nofirewire devicetimeout=15" is
perfectly valid.
I would especially like to hear feedback from VMWare users. This ISO's
kernel should support both the BusLogic and LSI Logic controllers that
VMWare uses for SCSI disks in guest operating systems. Please let me
know if you find out otherwise.
If you have any questions, feel free to ask.
Matt
--
Matt Housh, jaeger@freenode/#crux
