Re: Softraid bootloader size allowance
On Wed, Jul 03, 2019 at 08:17:09PM +0200, Otto Moerbeek wrote: > > Well, the question I had is: can I just make that whole block bigger. > > Thus making the partition lead-in bigger. Is there a reason that whole > > area can't just be enlarged? > > > > I'm rebuilding on a single-disk system an OpenBSD 6.5 with > > SR_BOOT_LOADER_SIZE > > set to 1024. Then I'll see how that behaves when I try to build a raid1 > > and install onto it. > > I think that would break existing softraid setups. You cannot do such > things without being backward compatible. Yeah. I suppose I should've realized that issue when I first asked the question. Clear now. So, the bigger "how can we fix this so that a debugging ofwboot could be installed on sparc64" is a larger and more complicated question. In the short term, I'm going to produce an odd-ball system on my own where I can load the debugging ofwboot to try to diagnose my own issue. But, I think we should think about the larger issue of there being an obvious need for bootloaders, at least in some architectures, being larger than 160kb. Any idea how we could allow for that in softraid, while not mucking up existing installations? - Chris
Re: Softraid bootloader size allowance
On Wed, Jul 03, 2019 at 02:05:24PM -0400, Chris Ross wrote: > On Wed, Jul 03, 2019 at 04:20:59PM +0200, Christian Weisgerber wrote: > > Chris Ross: > > > > > Is there a hard reason SR_BOOT_LOADER_SIZE cannot be raised to sometime > > > larger, perhaps 1024 (instead of the current 320) ? > > > > That size is part of the disk layout. > > > > Looking at , the layout of a softraid partition > > is this: > > > > 16 sectors, unused (potential disklabel, boot block) > > + 64 sectors softraid metadata > > + 320 sectors boot loader space > > + 128 sectors boot block space > > followed by the actual data > > > > The boot block space is of dubious usefulness and unused as far as > > I can tell, so I guess it could be reused to modestly extend the > > boot loader space if there ever were a pressing reason. > > Well, the question I had is: can I just make that whole block bigger. > Thus making the partition lead-in bigger. Is there a reason that whole > area can't just be enlarged? > > I'm rebuilding on a single-disk system an OpenBSD 6.5 with SR_BOOT_LOADER_SIZE > set to 1024. Then I'll see how that behaves when I try to build a raid1 > and install onto it. > > For the case I had, I was teying to load a ~250mb boot loader, so 448 > sectors wouldn't be enough for me. > >- Chris > I think that would break existing softraid setups. You cannot do such things without being backward compatible. -Otto
Re: Softraid bootloader size allowance
On Wed, Jul 03, 2019 at 04:20:59PM +0200, Christian Weisgerber wrote: > Chris Ross: > > > Is there a hard reason SR_BOOT_LOADER_SIZE cannot be raised to sometime > > larger, perhaps 1024 (instead of the current 320) ? > > That size is part of the disk layout. > > Looking at , the layout of a softraid partition > is this: > > 16 sectors, unused (potential disklabel, boot block) > + 64 sectors softraid metadata > + 320 sectors boot loader space > + 128 sectors boot block space > followed by the actual data > > The boot block space is of dubious usefulness and unused as far as > I can tell, so I guess it could be reused to modestly extend the > boot loader space if there ever were a pressing reason. Well, the question I had is: can I just make that whole block bigger. Thus making the partition lead-in bigger. Is there a reason that whole area can't just be enlarged? I'm rebuilding on a single-disk system an OpenBSD 6.5 with SR_BOOT_LOADER_SIZE set to 1024. Then I'll see how that behaves when I try to build a raid1 and install onto it. For the case I had, I was teying to load a ~250mb boot loader, so 448 sectors wouldn't be enough for me. - Chris
Re: Softraid bootloader size allowance
Chris Ross: > Is there a hard reason SR_BOOT_LOADER_SIZE cannot be raised to sometime > larger, perhaps 1024 (instead of the current 320) ? That size is part of the disk layout. Looking at , the layout of a softraid partition is this: 16 sectors, unused (potential disklabel, boot block) + 64 sectors softraid metadata + 320 sectors boot loader space + 128 sectors boot block space followed by the actual data The boot block space is of dubious usefulness and unused as far as I can tell, so I guess it could be reused to modestly extend the boot loader space if there ever were a pressing reason. -- Christian "naddy" Weisgerber na...@mips.inka.de
Softraid bootloader size allowance
Hey there. I thought to put this here, instead of openbsd-misc, as it's a suggestion more than a question I think. Let me know if a more discussion mailer would be better. Following troubles I've been having getting a sparc64 to boot from a softraid mirror (https://marc.info/?l=openbsd-sparc=156200105500984=2), I noticed something I think is a limitation of softraid, and would like some feedback or to suggest a change. As noted in that email above, I think I see that softraid allows for a 160kb bootloader. But, the sparc64 ofwboot is around 100kb unless you build it with the various bits of debugging enabled, at which point the one I tried to load was nearly 250kb. Unless I'm doing something wrong, or misunderstanding a hard limit I think I see in softraid, I'd like to suggest we allow softraid to allow for a larger bootloader. Is there a hard reason SR_BOOT_LOADER_SIZE cannot be raised to sometime larger, perhaps 1024 (instead of the current 320) ? - Chris
