Mailing List Archive: syslinux: users

Task wishlist (was Re: SYSLINUX 3.70-pre1: development release)

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hpa at zytor

Feb 28, 2008, 12:47 PM

Post #1 of 9 (9424 views)
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Task wishlist (was Re: SYSLINUX 3.70-pre1: development release)

Luciano Rocha wrote:
>
> That is interesting. Myself, I've given some thought, but not much time,
> to:
>
> 1. make syslinux a mini-os, with some basic operations (dir and file
> ops, mem alloc, and line input/output). The loader would load a standard
> elf file, and the current features would be implemented as shared
> libraries.
>

Well, #1 is halfway there. I don't do directory reads or file writes
(writing disk is *much* harder than reading), and I would prefer to not
go down that route.

One thing I'd like to do is to support multiple "COMELF" modules which
can call each other; similar to the way kernel modules work in Linux.
The main piece of technology for that is an ELF dynamic linker, which
obviously have been implemented hundreds of times, but making one work
in a specific environment can easily be as much work as writing one from
scratch.

> 2. add support for intel-vt/amd-v to memdisk, to allow emulation of
> devices even under linux/windows.
>
> 3. com32 module for loading linux kernels directly from rpms or debs,
> with the option of keeping the contents of the package as part of the
> initramfs.
>
> Of the three, the last is the simpler and less intrusive, so I've been
> playing with it when I can. But lately I'm just battling with the
> current buildsystem trying to build syslinux with a cross-compiler on my
> OS X powerpc.
>
> I'd suggest a list on the wiki of tasks that you believe are simple
> enough for someone without much knowledge of syslinux internals, and
> maybe compile a list of more arduous task for participation in google's
> summer of code.

That's a thought. I started something up at:

http://syslinux.zytor.com/wiki/Help_wanted

Right now it's pretty disorganized. As usual with the wiki, I wouldn't
mind help organizing it!

-hpa

-hpa

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hpa at zytor

Feb 28, 2008, 12:56 PM

Post #2 of 9 (9082 views)
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Re: Task wishlist (was Re: SYSLINUX 3.70-pre1: development release) [In reply to]

H. Peter Anvin wrote:
>
> http://syslinux.zytor.com/wiki/Help_wanted
>
> Right now it's pretty disorganized. As usual with the wiki, I wouldn't
> mind help organizing it!
>

Looks like the URL is:

http://syslinux.zytor.com/wiki/index.php/Help_wanted

I don't know why the /index.php bit is in there. I'd like to figure out
how to get rid of it.

-hpa

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murali at google

Feb 28, 2008, 1:34 PM

Post #3 of 9 (9088 views)
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Re: Task wishlist (was Re: SYSLINUX 3.70-pre1: development release) [In reply to]

Why not apply to "google summer of code" as a mentor?

- Murali

On Thu, Feb 28, 2008 at 12:56 PM, H. Peter Anvin <hpa [at] zytor> wrote:
> H. Peter Anvin wrote:
> >
> > http://syslinux.zytor.com/wiki/Help_wanted
> >
> > Right now it's pretty disorganized. As usual with the wiki, I wouldn't
> > mind help organizing it!
> >
>
> Looks like the URL is:
>
> http://syslinux.zytor.com/wiki/index.php/Help_wanted
>
> I don't know why the /index.php bit is in there. I'd like to figure out
> how to get rid of it.
>
>
>
> -hpa
>
> _______________________________________________
> SYSLINUX mailing list
> Submissions to SYSLINUX [at] zytor
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>
>

--
Murali

கற்றது கை மண் அளவு, கல்லாதது உலகளவு
(What we know is only a handful, what we dont is the rest of the world)
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hpa at zytor

Feb 28, 2008, 1:41 PM

Post #4 of 9 (9074 views)
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Re: Task wishlist (was Re: SYSLINUX 3.70-pre1: development release) [In reply to]

Murali (முரளி கணபதி) wrote:
> Why not apply to "google summer of code" as a mentor?
>
> - Murali

Hey, didn't realize you were at Google now!

Well, I'm considering doing that. There is a fair bit of paperwork, I
have been told, and my experience last year as a mentor was that it can
really be hit and miss depending on the student.

Plus, documentation projects are excluded, which is arguably the single
biggest thing syslinux needs right now :( Stuff that needs a primary
maintainer have similar issues.

-hpa

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murali at google

Feb 28, 2008, 3:58 PM

Post #5 of 9 (9086 views)
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Re: Task wishlist (was Re: SYSLINUX 3.70-pre1: development release) [In reply to]

How about getting a GSoC'er to implement some feature requests, and
that will give others more time to work on the documentation. I can
add a section for the config file format and the menu systems in the
wiki. As a first pass, copy paste the README files and format them
appropriately.

Regarding the quality, we could be very selective, and select somebody
only if we think they can help. Otherwise, it would be a waste of our
time and will not give the student a good experience as well.

- Murali

On Thu, Feb 28, 2008 at 1:41 PM, H. Peter Anvin <hpa [at] zytor> wrote:
> Murali (முரளி கணபதி) wrote:
> > Why not apply to "google summer of code" as a mentor?
> >
> > - Murali
>
> Hey, didn't realize you were at Google now!
>
> Well, I'm considering doing that. There is a fair bit of paperwork, I
> have been told, and my experience last year as a mentor was that it can
> really be hit and miss depending on the student.
>
> Plus, documentation projects are excluded, which is arguably the single
> biggest thing syslinux needs right now :( Stuff that needs a primary
> maintainer have similar issues.
>
> -hpa
>

--
Murali

கற்றது கை மண் அளவு, கல்லாதது உலகளவு
(What we know is only a handful, what we dont is the rest of the world)
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hpa at zytor

Feb 28, 2008, 4:07 PM

Post #6 of 9 (9096 views)
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Re: Task wishlist (was Re: SYSLINUX 3.70-pre1: development release) [In reply to]

Murali (முரளி கணபதி) wrote:
> How about getting a GSoC'er to implement some feature requests, and
> that will give others more time to work on the documentation. I can
> add a section for the config file format and the menu systems in the
> wiki. As a first pass, copy paste the README files and format them
> appropriately.
>
> Regarding the quality, we could be very selective, and select somebody
> only if we think they can help. Otherwise, it would be a waste of our
> time and will not give the student a good experience as well.

For "others" you mean me? At the moment there isn't really a whole lot
of other people contributing; for 3.36 to 3.62-pre16 there are 12
commits by other people and 389 commits from me (although I think there
is a handful which are miscredited.)

Now, that obviously doesn't include any help people have given with the
Wiki.

Part of the problem is that I really don't like writing documentation,
and since I'm chronically overcommitted (and chronically spend too much
time working on syslinux as it is) it's what gets put off.

-hpa

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murali at google

Feb 28, 2008, 4:17 PM

Post #7 of 9 (9079 views)
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Re: Task wishlist (was Re: SYSLINUX 3.70-pre1: development release) [In reply to]

I think, we should all pitch in with the documentation, and get most
things documented. Even if it is not perfect, have some documentation.
Then people will start reading the documentation, fix it / complain.

I will volunteer for the config file and menu systems documentation.

- Murali

On Thu, Feb 28, 2008 at 4:07 PM, H. Peter Anvin <hpa [at] zytor> wrote:
> Murali (முரளி கணபதி) wrote:
>
> > How about getting a GSoC'er to implement some feature requests, and
> > that will give others more time to work on the documentation. I can
> > add a section for the config file format and the menu systems in the
> > wiki. As a first pass, copy paste the README files and format them
> > appropriately.
> >
> > Regarding the quality, we could be very selective, and select somebody
> > only if we think they can help. Otherwise, it would be a waste of our
> > time and will not give the student a good experience as well.
>
> For "others" you mean me? At the moment there isn't really a whole lot
> of other people contributing; for 3.36 to 3.62-pre16 there are 12
> commits by other people and 389 commits from me (although I think there
> is a handful which are miscredited.)
>
> Now, that obviously doesn't include any help people have given with the
> Wiki.
>
> Part of the problem is that I really don't like writing documentation,
> and since I'm chronically overcommitted (and chronically spend too much
> time working on syslinux as it is) it's what gets put off.
>
> -hpa
>

--
Murali

கற்றது கை மண் அளவு, கல்லாதது உலகளவு
(What we know is only a handful, what we dont is the rest of the world)
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murali at google

Feb 28, 2008, 4:18 PM

Post #8 of 9 (9088 views)
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Re: Task wishlist (was Re: SYSLINUX 3.70-pre1: development release) [In reply to]

The other advantage of helping out with documentation (at least for
me), is that it can be done in say 20 chunks of 10 minutes each, while
coding requires 2 chunks of 100 minutes, and getting one chunk of 100
minutes can be difficult.

- Murali

On Thu, Feb 28, 2008 at 4:17 PM, Murali (முரளி கணபதி) <murali [at] google> wrote:
> I think, we should all pitch in with the documentation, and get most
> things documented. Even if it is not perfect, have some documentation.
> Then people will start reading the documentation, fix it / complain.
>
> I will volunteer for the config file and menu systems documentation.
>
> - Murali
>
>
>
> On Thu, Feb 28, 2008 at 4:07 PM, H. Peter Anvin <hpa [at] zytor> wrote:
> > Murali (முரளி கணபதி) wrote:
> >
> > > How about getting a GSoC'er to implement some feature requests, and
> > > that will give others more time to work on the documentation. I can
> > > add a section for the config file format and the menu systems in the
> > > wiki. As a first pass, copy paste the README files and format them
> > > appropriately.
> > >
> > > Regarding the quality, we could be very selective, and select somebody
> > > only if we think they can help. Otherwise, it would be a waste of our
> > > time and will not give the student a good experience as well.
> >
> > For "others" you mean me? At the moment there isn't really a whole lot
> > of other people contributing; for 3.36 to 3.62-pre16 there are 12
> > commits by other people and 389 commits from me (although I think there
> > is a handful which are miscredited.)
> >
> > Now, that obviously doesn't include any help people have given with the
> > Wiki.
> >
> > Part of the problem is that I really don't like writing documentation,
> > and since I'm chronically overcommitted (and chronically spend too much
> > time working on syslinux as it is) it's what gets put off.
> >
> > -hpa
> >
>
>
>
>
>
> --
> Murali
>
> கற்றது கை மண் அளவு, கல்லாதது உலகளவு
> (What we know is only a handful, what we dont is the rest of the world)
>

--
Murali

கற்றது கை மண் அளவு, கல்லாதது உலகளவு
(What we know is only a handful, what we dont is the rest of the world)
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hpa at zytor

Feb 28, 2008, 4:57 PM

Post #9 of 9 (9087 views)
Permalink

Re: Task wishlist (was Re: SYSLINUX 3.70-pre1: development release) [In reply to]

Murali (முரளி கணபதி) wrote:
> The other advantage of helping out with documentation (at least for
> me), is that it can be done in say 20 chunks of 10 minutes each, while
> coding requires 2 chunks of 100 minutes, and getting one chunk of 100
> minutes can be difficult.
>
> - Murali
>
> On Thu, Feb 28, 2008 at 4:17 PM, Murali (முரளி கணபதி) <murali [at] google> wrote:
>> I think, we should all pitch in with the documentation, and get most
>> things documented. Even if it is not perfect, have some documentation.
>> Then people will start reading the documentation, fix it / complain.
>>
>> I will volunteer for the config file and menu systems documentation.
>>
>> - Murali
>>

Indeed.

THANK YOU!

-hpa

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