Re: syslinux versions

On Wednesday, 2 December 2020 6:57:37 PM AEDT Erich Titl wrote:
> Am 02.12.2020 um 00:57 schrieb marko via leaf-user:
> > On Wednesday, 2 December 2020 10:37:43 AM AEDT Erich Titl wrote:
> >> Hi Marko
> >> 
> >> Am 01.12.2020 um 22:13 schrieb marko via leaf-user:
> >>> Is the syslinux version contained in the hdsupp package always the same
> >>> version as used to create the .c32 files in /syslinux directory of the
> >>> current version tar file?
> >>> 
> >>> I'm trying to ensure that I have consistent booting.  Syslinux version
> >>> mismatches have stopped me many times when working remotely.
> >> 
> >> We have been testing the leafinstall utility distributed with the small
> >> images extensively and we got a very good record of rebooting. The
> >> distribution of the images and tarballs all stem from the same source.
> >> 
> >> What are you trying to achive?
> >> 
> >> ET
> > 
> > Hi ET,
> > 
> > I'm ultimately trying to achieve a procedure to re-create leaf USB at a
> > remote site where limited technical expertise is available.
> 
>  From scratch?

yes, get a working bootable leaf from phone / written instructions.   No 
config, that would be copied in later.  

> 
> > 10+ years of leaf experience has shown occasional USB corruption and
> > occasional upgrade failures leaving me without a running router and no way
> > to access remotely.  There has been a time when 2 backup sticks have not
> > worked.
> > 
> > The main failure has been mis-matched syslinux version and .c32 files
> 
> I would not attribute this to the hardware, but then.

Old usb sticks are the norm, even newish re-purposed hardware will have bios 
limitation on usb stick size.  These are not really old machines and bois max 
size is 8GB.  It's hard to buy good quality small capacity USB sticks.  Plenty 
of the problems have been caused by me as well.  With mis-config, accidental 
syslinux overwrite with incorrect files etc.      


> 
> > Does the upgrade script copy any .c32 files in the syslinux dir?
> 
> Upgrade just replaces the kernel, modules and installed packages. The
> bootloader can be seen as static.

That's good, it means I should have a known boot loader and the correct .c32's 
in the hdsupp package.  

> 
> > I need to be able to tell someone to put a usb stick in a computer and run
> > a script to prepare the usb and transfer leaf base files.  They can copy
> > configdb & leaf.cfg manually to get the router working.   Mostly this
> > works, but syslinux lets lets me down and it's been difficult copy the
> > correct .c32 files via telephone instructions.
> > 
> > I don't know about leafinstall - where are the details?
> 
> There is a caveat
> 
> It only works on x86-64 because earlier (pcengines) architectures cannot
> boot from USB. So we have prepared two images mainly for this
> architecture. But if you have an existing installation which is not too
> old, aka 6.2.3 or later upgrade should work.

yes, I'm seeing upgrades working now.  

thanks & cheers

marko

> 
> cheers
> 
> ET





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