On 2/3/21 12:16 PM, Linux User #330250 wrote: > Which file systems are supported by Open Firmware? > > Keeping in mind that there are significant differences from OldWorld > (Open Firmware prior to version 3) to NewWorld (Open Firmware starting > with version 3) Macs, every Mac does support booting from a HFS volume. > But not all variants of HFS+ are supported by Open Firmware. E.g. if I > remember correctly, case sensitive variants (HFSX) and software-RAID > configurations don't work. > > https://opensource.apple.com/source/bless/bless-37/README.BOOTING
The installation CDs already HFS+. So if your machine is able to boot them, it will be able to use HFS+ for the boot partition. > BUT in the next section "New World booting from HFS+": > * New World machines (with OF 3.0+) support HFS+, ISO9660, and FAT. > > This doesn't really make sense, because it means that also FAT(16) > partitions would be able to hold an OF bootloader. I don't think FAT > supports blessing, so – even IF FAT was supported – I doubt that OF > would automatically find the correct bootloader on it... You could FAT-format and then store the bootloader path in NVRAM. You wouldn't see the boot option in the boot menu, however. > My guess is, that, should FAT actually be supported, it would be some > kind of bootinfo file. > http://www.nmia.com/~svspire/open-firmware.html > hd:8,\\bootinfo.txt > Tells the machine to use the file bootinfo.txt in the System folder on > disk partition 8 as boot instructions > > A bootinfo file looks like an XML file, with some instructions on what > to boot. See e.g. https://flylib.com/books/en/3.126.1.47/1/ > > And /MAYBE/ there is a default filename always looked for by Open > Firmware... It that bootinfo file includes an os-badge, it sould even > pop up in the graphical boot selection ("OS picker", the one you get > when holding the Alt key i.e. Option key after the chime; see also: > https://flylib.com/books/en/3.126.1.46/1/). > > > My point being: In theory we could even use a FAT partition to boot > Linux on a PowerMac. In practice I think that HFS is the best option – > not HFS+, not FAT. > > > In order to create a new HFS partition I would simply use older versions > of mkfs.hfs. mkfs.hfs no longer supports Legacy HFS [1]. > BUT, one "bug" of this has always been, even with an older version of > the Apple diskdev_cmds, that the option "-h hfs" was always needed. > Therefor, those two command do the same to create an HFS+ volume: > * mkfs.hfsplus /dev/sdxn > * mkfs.hfs /dev/sdxn > And these always create a "legacy" HFS volume: > * mkfs.hfs -h hfs /dev/sdxn > * mkfs.hfsplus -h hfs /dev/sdxn > > In other words, the symlink mkfs.hfs doesn't make it create a HFS > volume, and the symlink mkfs.hfsplus doesn't make it create a HFS+ > volume, it solely depends on the "-h hfs" commandline option, or not. No, they don't. Again, Apple removed Legacy HFS support from mkfs.hfs. If someone actually wants to step up and help me, then please wipe up a patch to bring HFS Legacy support back to hfsprogs. Adrian > [1] https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=973911 -- .''`. John Paul Adrian Glaubitz : :' : Debian Developer - glaub...@debian.org `. `' Freie Universitaet Berlin - glaub...@physik.fu-berlin.de `- GPG: 62FF 8A75 84E0 2956 9546 0006 7426 3B37 F5B5 F913
