asmod4n wrote:
… bootloader and a kernel image on hfs+ to boot afaik, at least the bless command lets you think that.
In recent months I've been thinking along the same lines.
It seems to me that
Coriolis Systems takes a gold standard approach to resizing and moving partitions, to allow an additional
Apple_Boot slice – akin to
OS X Recovery. Alongside the familiar apps and utilities provided by Apple, there appear the Coriolis apps. For example, the Coriolis slice installed to a 16 GB USB flash drive with FileVault 2:
- Code: Select all
macbookpro08-centrim:~ gjp22$ diskutil list /dev/disk12 && diskutil mount readonly /dev/disk12s4 && diskutil info /dev/disk12s4 && diskutil list disk13
/dev/disk12
#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER
0: GUID_partition_scheme *15.9 GB disk12
1: EFI 209.7 MB disk12s1
2: Apple_CoreStorage 14.4 GB disk12s2
3: Apple_Boot Recovery HD 650.0 MB disk12s3
4: Apple_Boot Coriolis Recovery HD 650.0 MB disk12s4
Volume Coriolis Recovery HD on /dev/disk12s4 mounted
Device Identifier: disk12s4
Device Node: /dev/disk12s4
Part of Whole: disk12
Device / Media Name: Coriolis Recovery HD
Volume Name: Coriolis Recovery HD
Escaped with Unicode: Coriolis%FF%FE%20%00Recovery%FF%FE%20%00HD
Mounted: Yes
Mount Point: /Volumes/Coriolis Recovery HD
Escaped with Unicode: /Volumes/Coriolis%FF%FE%20%00Recovery%FF%FE%20%00HD
File System Personality: HFS+
Type (Bundle): hfs
Name (User Visible): Mac OS Extended
Owners: Disabled
Partition Type: Apple_Boot
OS Can Be Installed: No
Media Type: Generic
Protocol: USB
SMART Status: Not Supported
Volume UUID: 5461E5FB-911A-33F3-976D-91CBAF193356
Total Size: 650.0 MB (650002432 Bytes) (exactly 1269536 512-Byte-Blocks)
Volume Free Space: 108.6 MB (108605440 Bytes) (exactly 212120 512-Byte-Blocks)
Device Block Size: 512 Bytes
Read-Only Media: No
Read-Only Volume: Yes
Ejectable: Yes
Whole: No
Internal: No
/dev/disk13
#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER
0: Apple_HFS Mountain Lion template *14.1 GB disk13
Back to ZEVO. I lack developer knowledge, but I
guess that for
initial
boot from an Apple_Boot slice to be followed by
boot from a ZEVO zfs_pool_proxy slice, the Apple_Boot slice must include:
- file system plug-in
- file system kernel extension
- IOKit driver.
(Reference:
Installation –
What gets Installed?)
An additional slice for this ZEVO purpose need not be as large as Apple's slice for OS X Recovery.
(Side note: I know very little about third party bootloaders. Minimal use of OSX86 stuff to allow Lion and Mountain Lion in VirtualBox, that's about it.)