From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Message-ID: <004201c16c99$c3504ba0$2248dec2@falken> From: "Chris Hollis-Locke" To: <9fans@cse.psu.edu> References: <20011113195826.27824199BB@mail.cse.psu.edu> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Subject: [9fans] Startup kernel thoughts Date: Tue, 13 Nov 2001 23:19:53 +0000 Topicbox-Message-UUID: 21b96786-eaca-11e9-9e20-41e7f4b1d025 ----- Original Message ----- From: To: <9fans@cse.psu.edu> Sent: Tuesday, November 13, 2001 7:58 PM Subject: Re: [9fans] one reason ideas from Plan 9 didn't catch on > > The startup kernel for next release isn't going to fit on a floppy if we > don't change things. We're (jmk and I mostly) considering suggestions > for what to do. Given load-time driver linkage (I'm not sure of the value of completely 'dynamic' loading) a first step could be a probe that details a manifest of files to download and put on the install floppy. In true Plan 9 style, the manifest could be a list of rc commands for constructing the floppy (not sure how you'd get them from the target h/w to a p9 box though - probably write them back to the floppy you ran the probe from) The probe could be kept up-to-date with the available kernels/drivers, so could also be used as a "can this hardware run Plan 9?" test program. The obvious downsides are * it adds several steps to the install procedure * individual drivers are fatter, though only the required drivers are on the floppy. * god-knows who would have the time to implement/maintain it!