H. Peter Anvin wrote:
> I'm proposing that the existing bzImage format be retained, but that
> the payload of the decompressor (already a gzip file) simply be
> vmlinux.gz -- i.e. a gzip compressed ELF file, notes and all. A
> pointer in the header will point to the offset of the payload (this is
> new, obviously.)
>
> The decompression stub is adjusted to expect an ELF image, instead of
> a raw binary.
It could, or just treat it as a raw binary at 1M+offset to skip the headers.
> Existing bootloaders (16- or 32-bit) simply load the bzImage the way
> they do now; new bootloaders have the option of accessing the
> vmlinux.gz directly if they either want to load it themselves or want
> to examine the notes.
OK, but that has the same problem as making the payload an ELF file:
32-bit bootloaders which simply jump to 1M will be jumping into data
rather than code - and I got the impression from taking to Eric at KS
that there are such bootloaders.
If that's not an issue, then I still think the payload should be a plain
ELF file (possibly self-decompressing, or just a plain uncompressed
vmlinux, if that's what's desired). Still think making a protected-mode
bootloader do the decompression is the wrong way to go about this; ELF
is enough.
J
-
To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in
the body of a message to [email protected]
More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html
Please read the FAQ at http://www.tux.org/lkml/
[Index of Archives]
[Kernel Newbies]
[Netfilter]
[Bugtraq]
[Photo]
[Stuff]
[Gimp]
[Yosemite News]
[MIPS Linux]
[ARM Linux]
[Linux Security]
[Linux RAID]
[Video 4 Linux]
[Linux for the blind]
[Linux Resources]
