From mboxrd@z Thu Jan  1 00:00:00 1970
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	<3ccc01397290ed4a848e13f90c878e7e@proxima.alt.za>
Date: Sun, 17 Aug 2014 14:39:43 -0400
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From: cherry <lunaria21@gmail.com>
To: Fans of the OS Plan 9 from Bell Labs <9fans@9fans.net>
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Subject: Re: [9fans] Loongson port, and 64 bit MIPS
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On Sun, Aug 17, 2014 at 1:24 AM,  <lucio@proxima.alt.za> wrote:
>> This kernel has an in-kernel bzfs including binaries like sam, acme
>> and the compiler (so it is a little big in size).
>
> This is valiant (not dissimilar in intent from miller's 9pi) and
> useful, but in my opinion you'll get a lot more support from people
> who like me are willing to build the system from scratch.
Of course. Thank you :)

>
> There are three issues that strike me here: 1.  if I understand the
> 9front-loader, you have built something that resembles it;
I am not sure, probably not. Not familiar with 9front's loader. In my
case, the kernel image is ELF which the bootloader recognizes. The
boot process all come from /sys/src/9/boot from the Labs.

> 2.  if you
> did, it would be nice to converge your version and theirs (I remember
> you did a lot of work building the bzroot that 9front (and 9pi) may
> want to adopt
Yes, I did build the bzroot. My intention was to boot the machine even
before the ethernet or disk driver was done. It turned out to be very
helpful for me to write the driver and fix issues at that early stage.
Now it used as a "live" image for people to start with, before
building everything. Maybe turn it into a installation image in the
future.

It basically resembles the Labs' pc live/installation image, 9pcflop.
I just don't need to do the tricks for putting everything into a
floppy.

> 3.  more specifically, your understanding of how a
> boot image is build could benefit the way 9pi is constructed as well.
>
> The above is from discussions we have had and not yet validated by
> careful investigation of the actual release sources.  In any case, I
> believe that all plan 9 distributions have an opportunity with 9pi and
> 9ln to consider a commonly maintained installation process.  Maybe all
> it takes is more documentation, but more likely just a little more
> effort.
Yes, any advice is welcomed.

Thanks,
- cherry