From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Return-Path: X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.4.2 (2018-09-13) on inbox.vuxu.org X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-0.8 required=5.0 tests=HEADER_FROM_DIFFERENT_DOMAINS, MAILING_LIST_MULTI,RCVD_IN_DNSWL_NONE autolearn=ham autolearn_force=no version=3.4.2 Received: from minnie.tuhs.org (minnie.tuhs.org [45.79.103.53]) by inbox.vuxu.org (OpenSMTPD) with ESMTP id c38fbb16 for ; Sat, 10 Aug 2019 00:23:43 +0000 (UTC) Received: by minnie.tuhs.org (Postfix, from userid 112) id EF2DF9471D; Sat, 10 Aug 2019 10:23:42 +1000 (AEST) Received: from minnie.tuhs.org (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by minnie.tuhs.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 9B34293D09; Sat, 10 Aug 2019 10:23:14 +1000 (AEST) Received: by minnie.tuhs.org (Postfix, from userid 112) id 2F48693D09; Sat, 10 Aug 2019 10:23:12 +1000 (AEST) Received: from outgoing.mit.edu (outgoing-auth-1.mit.edu [18.9.28.11]) by minnie.tuhs.org (Postfix) with ESMTPS id 5863193D08 for ; Sat, 10 Aug 2019 10:23:11 +1000 (AEST) Received: from callcc.thunk.org (guestnat-104-133-0-107.corp.google.com [104.133.0.107] (may be forged)) (authenticated bits=0) (User authenticated as tytso@ATHENA.MIT.EDU) by outgoing.mit.edu (8.14.7/8.12.4) with ESMTP id x7A0N8Ru013832 (version=TLSv1/SSLv3 cipher=DHE-RSA-AES256-GCM-SHA384 bits=256 verify=NOT); Fri, 9 Aug 2019 20:23:09 -0400 Received: by callcc.thunk.org (Postfix, from userid 15806) id 908104218EF; Fri, 9 Aug 2019 20:23:08 -0400 (EDT) Date: Fri, 9 Aug 2019 20:23:08 -0400 From: "Theodore Y. Ts'o" To: Grant Taylor Message-ID: <20190810002308.GB8368@mit.edu> References: <7236c9d4-40af-bc49-8aee-5c32d869d2eb@spamtrap.tnetconsulting.net> <20190808133124.GA3340@mit.edu> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8 Content-Disposition: inline Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit In-Reply-To: User-Agent: Mutt/1.10.1 (2018-07-13) Subject: Re: [TUHS] Pre-init initialization X-BeenThere: tuhs@minnie.tuhs.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.26 Precedence: list List-Id: The Unix Heritage Society mailing list List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , Cc: tuhs@minnie.tuhs.org Errors-To: tuhs-bounces@minnie.tuhs.org Sender: "TUHS" On Thu, Aug 08, 2019 at 07:52:04PM -0600, Grant Taylor via TUHS wrote: > That's before my time. If I remember correctly, by the time I was creating > boot+root disks it was the kernel plus something—I don't remember if it was > an initramfs or an initrd—concatenated together. I also remember having to > use a utility to update the kernel to tell it where the something started. > Which was really based on how big the kernel was as padding before the > something started. That was probably 2. on Slackware in '99. In 1993 Fred van Kempen (who did the original Linux TCP stack before I got rewritten by Alan Cox's Net-2 stack) added a patch to the ramdisk code which so the root file system would be loaded from a second floppy into the ramdisk. That was because he wanted to fit more into stuff into the root file system, and by using a second floppy, the full 1.44MB could be used for the root file system in the ramdisk. As I recall the kernel was also getting bigger than 512k, too. In '95, Slackware started releasing on CD-ROM's, and while there may have been boot/root floppies, I suspect more and more they were used as rescue media, since installing from a CD-ROM was *way* more convenient. I'm guesing what you were doing was creating a kernel plus initramfs which was sufficient to mount a root file system elsewhere as an emergency "boot this failsafe kernel off the floppy", perhaps? I don't think a kernel+initramfs on a single 1.44MB floppy would have been sufficient for use as an install medium by '99. Or were you making an emergency USB thumb-drive as a rescue device, maybe? Cheers, - Ted