RFC - two more pending issues for boot0

[Rink Springer]

Hi Luigi,

On Wed, Dec 03, 2008 at 01:24:46AM +0100, Luigi Rizzo wrote:
> 1. allow booting from 'DOS Extended' partitions (type 0x5 and 0xf)
>    These partition types are currently in the 'kill list' with no
>    option to override them (other than poking into the bootsector).

This looks OK to me.

> 2. preserve the 'NT Disk UID', claimed to be used in Vista as well.
> 
>    see http://www.freebsd.org/cgi/query-pr.cgi?pr=127764
> 
>    This change, even though trivial in terms of code, is a bit more
>    intrusive as it requires to move the data area in boot0, and
>    as a consequence requires a patch (though a trivial one) to
>    boot0cfg to let it recognise and manipulate the boot sector.
> 
>    I have implemented this (in a form slightly different from the PR),
>    and it can be conditionally compiled with -DNT_SERIAL ,
>    I plan to commit it, but not make it the default.
> 
>    I would like to know how useful people consider this feature.

I'd say this is something we definitely should have, and by default.
I've been bitten too much by BSD happily nuking my Vista-infested MBR,
and the more we can do to prevent it, the better - I'm pretty sure this
holds for J. Random User too.

-- 
Rink P.W. Springer                                - http://rink.nu
"Anyway boys, this is America. Just because you get more votes doesn't
 mean you win." - Fox Mulder