Re: ack! grub bug...

[Jeff Garzik]

OKUJI Yoshinori wrote:
> 
> From: Jeff Garzik <address@hidden>
> Subject: Re: ack! grub bug...
> Date: Thu, 22 Feb 2001 18:57:47 -0500
> 
> > hrm, well... the thing is, hardware is out there, and more is coming
> > out, where mem=XX simply will break on that machine.  In the case of a
> > broken bios (bad e820, etc.), the boot loader would need to pass memory
> > regions to the kernel, so IMHO having the rule "always pass mem=XX by
> > default" breaks on newer hardware.
> 
> So I said that that should be fixed in Linux. I don't change anything,
> unless you give me a good explanation of why that shouldn't be
> addressed by Linux.


Because at that point, we are working around a grub-specific problem in
the kernel, which is caused by grub working around a now-resolved kernel
problem!  :)  It's a workaround for a workaround, and that is not good
engineering.


BTW, I just got confirmation from Alan Cox that 2.2.19pre backports the
stable-for-a-while-now 2.3/2.4 ram detection code.  Note that this is
mainly a distro issue, -tangent- and related to the current discussion
but not directly affecting the discussion.  [not using mem=XX unless
required has always been policy... its just that <2.2.17 kernels have
shoddy ram detection]

        Jeff


-- 
Jeff Garzik       | "You see, in this world there's two kinds of
Building 1024     |  people, my friend: Those with loaded guns
MandrakeSoft      |  and those who dig. You dig."  --Blondie