Re: Making a bootable multi-OS DVD with bootmanager

[fu <fu@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Oliver Fromme wrote:
> Hi,
>
> I'm currently in the process of creating the master image
> for a DVD-ROM (DVD9) that will contain FreeBSD 5.3-Release.
> As a special bonus I would like to include a current stable
> snapshot of DragonFly, too (Matt announced that he's going
> to make a new one this weekend, so that would be perfect).
>
> This opens up several problems.
>
> First, I don't want to mix all the files in the root direc-
> tory on the DVD.  That would be an ugly mess, and it might
> lead to subtle problems.  As far as FreeBSD is concerned,
> sysinstall supports looking into several subdirectories if
> it cannot find its installation files in the root, so I can
> put all FreeBSD stuff into a subdirectory called "FreeBSD"
> or "5.3-RELEASE".
>
> Does the DragonFly installer support something like that,
> too?  Unfortunately, I don't have spare hardware available
> right now, so I cannot test it.
>
> Second, I would like to install a bootmanager on the DVD
> so users can select whether they want to install FreeBSD
> or DragonFly.  I'm currently evaluating two possibilities:
>
>  - GRUB:  http://www.gnu.org/software/grub/
>  - CD Shell:  http://www.cdshell.org/
>
> According to the docs, both of them should be able to do
> what I want.  For FreeBSD, GRUB can load /boot/loader
> and start the FreeBSD bootstrap process from there (or,
> if that fails, maybe it can chain-load /boot/cdboot).
> I still have to test that, though.  CD Shell is supposed
> to do it similarly.  It has some additional interesting
> features, particularly it can boot memtest86+ from DVD,
> which would be nice to have (as a third option in the
> bootmanager menu).
>
> Now the question is, do GRUB or CD Shell support DragonFly?
> Has someone already done something like that?  Does it
> work?  I would be very greatful for any hint or advice.
>
> Best regards
>    Oliver
You can use Grub, I have many times , but the cool thing is the BSD boot 
loader boots just about everything and doesn`t require a degree in 
Grubology.  For Grub, Chainloader +1 will hand it to the partition to 
boot DFly, or Plan9, or what ever.
 What about kernel selection in Linux and such with BSD loader?
Grub to the Root linux part,  BSD to the MBR and you`re groovin`,
roll it up, and your ready to ride.