[OpenBIOS] Multiple APIs for ELF file handling

[Mark Cave-Ayland]

Blue Swirl wrote:

>>  Okay - in that case I'll rip it out. Just as a side question, what could I
>> use to test that I haven't broken the ELF code in QEMU? I'm guessing I could
>> test using something like the FC12 bootable CD for each platform (x86, PPC
>> and SPARC64) to check?
> 
> I think SILO and BSD loaders are still using a.out and Solaris uses FCode.

Right - I now have an experimental patch available which moves all of 
the loaders except linux_load.c into libopenbios/ and refactors 
everything else accordingly. I suspect if other people were to help out, 
we could do a similar thing with the Linux loader too as the overall 
code looks similar.

The good parts of the patch are that it consolidates a lot of code that 
was split across multiple arch/ directories into one place and so a lot 
of duplicate code can be ripped out. This also has the advantage of 
being able to offer several loaders across multiple architectures very 
easily.

The bad news is that while I can compile across the entire range of 
platforms, there are still some remaining issues. For example, my 
SPARC64 Milax ISO test now crashes which will require some digging. 
However, at the moment it's quite a large patch and part of me feels I 
should commit what I've got so that other people can get eyeballs on 
this and help out.

Anyone feel strongly either way? I've attached what I have so far.

Mark.

-- 
Mark Cave-Ayland - Senior Technical Architect
PostgreSQL - PostGIS
Sirius Corporation plc - control through freedom
http://www.siriusit.co.uk
t: +44 870 608 0063

Sirius Labs: http://www.siriusit.co.uk/labs
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