[PATCH 4/7] move syslinux and isolinux directories under /boot

[Douglas McClendon]

This patch moves the /isolinux directory on the livecd to 
/boot/isolinux, and the /syslinux directory on liveusb to /boot/syslinux.

I think that this will be make the livecd appear less intimidating to 
new non-linux-guru users.  Aesthetics.

Since I don't use ppc myself, I didn't attempt to also move the /ppc dir 
to /boot/ppc on the ppc side.  But I would recommend that as well if 
possible.

-dmc

[Alexandre Magaz Graça]

En/na Douglas McClendon ha escrit:
>  This patch moves the /isolinux directory on the livecd to 
>  /boot/isolinux, and the /syslinux directory on liveusb to /boot/syslinux.
>  
>  I think that this will be make the livecd appear less intimidating to 
>  new non-linux-guru users.  Aesthetics.
>  
>  Since I don't use ppc myself, I didn't attempt to also move the /ppc dir 
>  to /boot/ppc on the ppc side.  But I would recommend that as well if 
>  possible.
>  
>  -dmc
>   
Why not to put both the isolinux and ppc files directly into the /boot 
directory? I don't see the sense of having the /boot directory containig 
only a subdirectory. You already know the boot directory holds boot 
manager files, and configuration filenames tells you what boot manager 
it uses.

Cheers,
Àlex

[Douglas McClendon]

Alexandre Magaz Graça wrote:
>  En/na Douglas McClendon ha escrit:
> > This patch moves the /isolinux directory on the livecd to 
> > /boot/isolinux, and the /syslinux directory on liveusb to /boot/syslinux.
> >
> > I think that this will be make the livecd appear less intimidating to 
> > new non-linux-guru users.  Aesthetics.
> >
> > Since I don't use ppc myself, I didn't attempt to also move the /ppc 
> > dir to /boot/ppc on the ppc side.  But I would recommend that as well 
> > if possible.
> >
> > -dmc
> >
>  
>  Why not to put both the isolinux and ppc files directly into the /boot 
>  directory? I don't see the sense of having the /boot directory containig 
>  only a subdirectory. You already know the boot directory holds boot 
>  manager files, and configuration filenames tells you what boot manager 
>  it uses. 
To my understanding, with isolinux, the two and only two choices are 
/boot/isolinux and /isolinux.  Though I have in the past put my kernel 
and initrd in /boot, with just the isolinux files under /boot/isolinux. 
  Likewise, just to put all options on the table, a decent argument can 
be made for putting /LiveOS under /boot (or just the files therein).

from /usr/share/doc/syslinux-*/syslinux.doc

     ++++ CONFIGURATION FILE ++++

All the configurable defaults in SYSLINUX can be changed by putting a
file called "syslinux.cfg" in the root directory of the boot disk.

This is a text file in either UNIX or DOS format, containing one or
more of the following items (case is insensitive for keywords; upper
case is used here to indicate that a word should be typed verbatim):

Starting with version 3.35, the configuration file can also be in
either the /boot/syslinux or /syslinux directories (searched in that
order.)  If that is the case, then all filenames are assumed to be
relative to that same directory, unless preceded with a slash or
backslash.

-------------------------------

-dmc

[Alexandre Magaz Graça]

En/na Douglas McClendon ha escrit:
>  Alexandre Magaz Graça wrote:
> > En/na Douglas McClendon ha escrit:
> >> This patch moves the /isolinux directory on the livecd to 
> >> /boot/isolinux, and the /syslinux directory on liveusb to 
> >> /boot/syslinux.
> >>
> >> I think that this will be make the livecd appear less intimidating to 
> >> new non-linux-guru users.  Aesthetics.
> >>
> >> Since I don't use ppc myself, I didn't attempt to also move the /ppc 
> >> dir to /boot/ppc on the ppc side.  But I would recommend that as well 
> >> if possible.
> >>
> >> -dmc
> >>
> >
> > Why not to put both the isolinux and ppc files directly into the /boot 
> > directory? I don't see the sense of having the /boot directory 
> > containig only a subdirectory. You already know the boot directory 
> > holds boot manager files, and configuration filenames tells you what 
> > boot manager it uses.
>  
>  To my understanding, with isolinux, the two and only two choices are 
>  /boot/isolinux and /isolinux.  Though I have in the past put my kernel 
>  and initrd in /boot, with just the isolinux files under /boot/isolinux. 
>   Likewise, just to put all options on the table, a decent argument can 
>  be made for putting /LiveOS under /boot (or just the files therein).
>  
>  from /usr/share/doc/syslinux-*/syslinux.doc
>  
>      ++++ CONFIGURATION FILE ++++
>  
>  All the configurable defaults in SYSLINUX can be changed by putting a
>  file called "syslinux.cfg" in the root directory of the boot disk.
>  
>  This is a text file in either UNIX or DOS format, containing one or
>  more of the following items (case is insensitive for keywords; upper
>  case is used here to indicate that a word should be typed verbatim):
>  
>  Starting with version 3.35, the configuration file can also be in
>  either the /boot/syslinux or /syslinux directories (searched in that
>  order.)  If that is the case, then all filenames are assumed to be
>  relative to that same directory, unless preceded with a slash or
>  backslash.
>   
Ok, then I think it's better to use /boot/syslinux.

[Jeremy Katz]

On Mon, 2007-09-24 at 12:33 +0200, Alexandre Magaz Graça wrote:
>  En/na Douglas McClendon ha escrit:
>  > This patch moves the /isolinux directory on the livecd to 
>  > /boot/isolinux, and the /syslinux directory on liveusb to /boot/syslinux.
>  > 
>  > I think that this will be make the livecd appear less intimidating to 
>  > new non-linux-guru users.  Aesthetics.
>  > 
>  > Since I don't use ppc myself, I didn't attempt to also move the /ppc dir 
>  > to /boot/ppc on the ppc side.  But I would recommend that as well if 
>  > possible.
>
>  Why not to put both the isolinux and ppc files directly into the /boot 
>  directory? I don't see the sense of having the /boot directory containig 
>  only a subdirectory. You already know the boot directory holds boot 
>  manager files, and configuration filenames tells you what boot manager 
>  it uses. 
ppc stuff has to be under a ppc directory.  Hooray for architecture
booting constraints!

Jeremy

[Jeremy Katz]

On Fri, 2007-09-21 at 05:27 -0500, Douglas McClendon wrote:
>  This patch moves the /isolinux directory on the livecd to 
>  /boot/isolinux, and the /syslinux directory on liveusb to /boot/syslinux.
>  
>  I think that this will be make the livecd appear less intimidating to 
>  new non-linux-guru users.  Aesthetics. 
So, after a little bit of thought, I decided not to apply this one.  I'm
not sure that sticking them under boot/ is really substantially better
-- if we could hide them away under LiveOS/, it would be a different
story, but as we can't, I'd rather just keep them at the top-level.
Also, this keeps consistency with the install images

Jeremy

[Douglas McClendon]

Jeremy Katz wrote:
>  On Fri, 2007-09-21 at 05:27 -0500, Douglas McClendon wrote:
> > This patch moves the /isolinux directory on the livecd to 
> > /boot/isolinux, and the /syslinux directory on liveusb to /boot/syslinux.
> >
> > I think that this will be make the livecd appear less intimidating to 
> > new non-linux-guru users.  Aesthetics.
>  
>  So, after a little bit of thought, I decided not to apply this one.  I'm
>  not sure that sticking them under boot/ is really substantially better
>  -- if we could hide them away under LiveOS/, it would be a different
>  story, but as we can't, I'd rather just keep them at the top-level.
>  Also, this keeps consistency with the install images 
Sure.  And if /ppc can't be consistent either, all the more reason.
Also, yes, +1 for the mount -t auto working on squashfs bug being filed.

The main thing was getting straggler strangely named files out of /.  I
guess since iso and syslinux have linux in the name, they are at least
relatively intuitive.  And once we have perhaps /documentation or the
like, perhaps a brief manifest/outline of the filesystem layout can be
included somewhere...

-dmc

[Jeremy Katz]

On Tue, 2007-09-25 at 20:53 -0500, Douglas McClendon wrote:
>  The main thing was getting straggler strangely named files out of /. 
> I
>  guess since iso and syslinux have linux in the name, they are at least
>  relatively intuitive.  And once we have perhaps /documentation or the
>  like, perhaps a brief manifest/outline of the filesystem layout can be
>  included somewhere... 
The intent is that there's going to be a README available in the
top-level of the CD (alongside the GPL) with the Fedora 8 release.
Having a bit of information on the layout in there sounds entirely
reasonable to me.

I'm not finding where the source for said README is off-hand, though.
It started on the wiki, but has moved to somewhere under /cvs/docs. just
not sure where and my initial stab in the dark is failing miserably

Jeremy