[OpenIndiana-discuss] Can we abandon wanboot?

[Gary Mills]

I've previously posted this message to the illumos developers mailing
list.  If you've already responded there, there's no need to do so
again.

I'm assisting Alexander Pyhalov in upgrading illumos to a newer
version of openssl.  In particular, I'm building openssl on the SPARC
platform.  The build is more complicated on that platform because, in
addition to the usual openssl libraries and utilities, it also creates
the standalone wanboot executable.

Does illumos really need wanboot?  It's used only to perform one type
of a network boot on SPARC machines.  There are actually several
different types.  `boot net:rarp' is the traditional one.  It requires
a RARP server and downloads the inetboot executable from a TFTP
server.  `boot net:dhcp' is newer, requiring a DHCP server instead.
According to the boot man page, it also downloads the inetboot
executable if the DHCP server provides a file name.

If instead the DHCP server provides an HTTP URL, it will use HTTP to
download the wanboot executable from a web server.  Building this
file will no longer be possible if we choose to abandon wanboot on
illumos.

I should emphasise that wanboot is not part of illumos.  The OS will
boot perfectly well from a local disk or a DVD without it.  `wanboot'
is only a file that's installed on a web server.

As you can probably tell by now, I'd like to abandon the wanboot
portion of the openssl build on the SPARC platform.  Doing this will
make the x86 and SPARC builds almost identical.  Before I do this,
I want to consult the illumos developers.  What should we do?

-- 
-Gary Mills-		-refurb-		-Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada-