>> I've now analysed the code, and the enclosed patch does a large
>> part of what is necessary for the kernel loaders to support
>> kernels over 1023k in size, but it doesn't do all of it. I'd
>> like your comments on the patch so far, and also on what's left
>> to do.
>> First, whilst the patch to build.c that you suggested will allow
>> the kernel to compile ok with `make bzImage`, the resulting
>> kernel will be unstable and most probably will not work at all.
>> The reason for this is that the current kernel loader uses the
>> value of a 16-bit unsigned int in the boot sector as the number
>> of 16-byte paragraphs of kernel source to load, thus only
>> supporting kernels of not more than 0xFFFF0 (1,048,560) bytes in
>> size. Worse still, the value stored in this word is the lower 16
>> bits of the calculated value, so if the kernel was, say,
>> 0x107630 (1,078,832) bytes ( in size, the stored value would be
>> 0x00763 paragraphs, or about 30k !!!
> The kernel would work fine, *unless* you use the pathetically old
> bootsect.S loader.
True. Am I right in thinking that LILO still uses it?
> However, fixing that bug is a plus.
Do you think there's any chance my patch as posted in the previous
email will get in the kernel, will I need to repost it when the rest
of the patch is finished and that bug is eradicated, or should I just
forget about it as being something that's not worth doing?
Best wishes from Riley.
+----------------------------------------------------------------------+
| There is something frustrating about the quality and speed of Linux |
| development, ie., the quality is too high and the speed is too high, |
| in other words, I can implement this XXXX feature, but I bet someone |
| else has already done so and is just about to release their patch. |
+----------------------------------------------------------------------+
* ftp://ftp.MemAlpha.cx/pub/rhw/Linux
* http://www.MemAlpha.cx/kernel.versions.html
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