Re: GRUB/GRUB2 and gzip

[Robert Millan]

On Tue, Nov 06, 2007 at 04:25:06PM -0600, Heath S wrote:
> The GRUB legacy manual states:
> 
>  Support automatic decompression
> 
> Can decompress files which were compressed by gzip. This function is both
> automatic and transparent to the user (i.e. all functions operate upon the
> uncompressed contents of the specified files). This greatly reduces a file
> size and loading time, a particularly great benefit for floppies.
> 
> It is conceivable that some kernel modules should be loaded in a compressed
> state, so a different module-loading command can be specified to avoid
> uncompressing the modules.
> 
> I'm sure GRUB2 will support this and I know GRUB legacy does. My question is
> what version of gzip is this compatible with? I'm not familiar with all of
> the gzip versions and the impact of changes therein but how are these
> changes handled by GRUB/GRUB2? Does GRUB/GRUB2 have its own way of
> uncompressing the kernel image that is independent of the gzip version?

AFAIK there's only one gzip version as such (GNU zip), and there are some
clones.  I think it's safe to expect that clones are always format-compatible
with the original GNU implementation.

Btw, GRUB 2 already supports gzip files, see io/gzio.c.

-- 
Robert Millan

<GPLv2> I know my rights; I want my phone call!
<DRM> What use is a phone call, if you are unable to speak?
(as seen on /.)