[UPDATE] New Boot-Loader Menu -- version 1.1

[John Baldwin]

On Tuesday, May 03, 2011 4:47:26 pm Devin Teske wrote:
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: John Baldwin [mailto:jhb at freebsd.org]
> > Sent: Tuesday, May 03, 2011 1:36 PM
> > To: Devin Teske
> > Cc: freebsd-hackers at freebsd.org
> > Subject: Re: [UPDATE] New Boot-Loader Menu -- version 1.1
> > 
> > On Tuesday, May 03, 2011 4:17:23 pm Devin Teske wrote:
> > > > -----Original Message-----
> > > > From: John Baldwin [mailto:jhb at freebsd.org]
> > > > Sent: Tuesday, May 03, 2011 12:20 PM
> > > > To: Devin Teske
> > > > Cc: freebsd-hackers at freebsd.org
> > > > Subject: Re: [UPDATE] New Boot-Loader Menu -- version 1.1
> > > >
> > > > On Tuesday, May 03, 2011 2:57:34 pm Devin Teske wrote:
> > > > > > From: John Baldwin [mailto:jhb at freebsd.org]
> > > > > > Sent: Tuesday, May 03, 2011 10:33 AM
> > > > > > To: Devin Teske
> > > > > > Cc: freebsd-hackers at freebsd.org; Olivier SMEDTS
> > > > > > Subject: Re: [UPDATE] New Boot-Loader Menu -- version 1.1
> > > > > >
> > > > > > On Tuesday, May 03, 2011 12:31:14 pm Devin Teske wrote:
> > > > > > >
> > > > > > > On May 3, 2011, at 4:45 AM, John Baldwin wrote:
> > > > > > >
> > > > > > > > On Monday, May 02, 2011 8:48:31 pm Devin Teske wrote:
> > > > > > > > > This version (1.1) works nearly identically to the
> > > > > > > > > standard menu that ships with FreeBSD in that it detects
> > > > > > > > > whether ACPI is enabled (truth be told, I actually re-used the
> > "acpienabled?"
> > > > > > > > > function verbatim from /boot/beastie.4th by Scott Long and
> > > > > > > > > Aleksander Fafula). The ACPI detection of my boot loader
> > > > > > > > > (version
> > > > > > > > > 1.1 or higher) should be identical to the detection of the
> > > > > > > > > current boot-loader.
> > > > > > >
> > > > > > > Ugh. By "current", I meant 8.1-RELEASE (wasn't expecting this
> > > > > > > stuff to be different in HEAD, which it is).
> > > > > > >
> > > > > > >
> > > > > > > > Err, note that the acpienabled stuff is all different in
> > > > > > > > HEAD than in 7/8 since acpi.ko no longer exists.  You should
> > > > > > > > use the scheme from HEAD for handling ACPI present vs ACPI
> > enabled/disabled.
> > > > > > > >
> > > > > > > > --
> > > > > > > > John Baldwin
> > > > > > >
> > > > > > >
> > > > > > > Ok, I see the new "acpipresent?" word (which replaces the
> "arch-i386"
> > > > > > > environment-test). Does this imply that we're going to support
> > > > > > > ACPI on
> > > > > > > non-i386 platforms (or already do)?
> > > > > >
> > > > > > amd64 and ia64 have always supported ACPI.  ia64 effectively requires
> it.
> > > > > > However, "hint.acpi.0.rsdp" is set by biosacpi.c in the i386
> > > > > > loader bits, so other platforms will not set it, so the
> > > > > > arch-i386 test is no longer
> > > > > needed.
> > > > >
> > > > > If "hint.acpi.0.rsdp" is only set in the i386 pieces, wouldn't
> > > > > that imply that the "acpipresent?" would return FALSE on IA64?
> > > >
> > > > Yes.  Right now the ACPI menu item is not displayed on ia64 and it
> > > > never has been.  You can't actually boot IA64 with ACPI disabled, so
> > > > there's no reason
> > > for it
> > > > to be in the menu.
> > >
> > > This raises a concern for my menu. Unlike the current menu, which
> > > blanks-out menuitem #2 for IA64, I've chosen instead to insert an
> > > inoperative menuitem with the text "ACPI Support: N/A".
> > 
> > Hmm, I think you should just leave the menu item blank or not listed.  It
> doesn't
> > make sense to see a knob about ACPI support on a ppc box for example, and
> > other platforms may grow platform-specific knobs in the future as well.
> > 
> > The current menu item is only blank as a hack to avoid renumbering the items.
> > If you are already changing that around, then I'd just leave it out altogether
> > unless ACPI is detected by the loader.
> > 
> 
> I too avoid renumbering of the items.
> 
> Having never actually booted a PPC or IA64 FreeBSD installation... is it the
> case that the numbers displayed jump from 1 to 3 (no blank line in-between 1 and
> 3, correct)?

Actually, I think PPC/IA64, etc. do not display the ACPI menu item at all and
they are numbered differently from i386 and amd64.  The ACPI menu item is only
blank if ACPI is not present on i386 and amd64.

-- 
John Baldwin