Compile iPXE on install

[Sebastian Roth]

For things like enabling SSL for iPXE and custom keyboard layout we need to compile “custom” iPXE binaries. Now the idea arose to move from pre-build binaries to compiling those on install time. Just starting the discussion here to see what others think about it.

[x23piracy]

@sebastian-roth how long would it take to compile those on a common system? Just thinking about how long a install would take if this is embedded.

[Sebastian Roth]

@x23piracy Compiling one iPXE binary takes less than one minute on modern CPUs. The issue is that we need to provide different binaries for legacy BIOS, UEFI and lots of varients like specific Intel binary and such. Tom and I talked about it already and we might just compile a small set of binaries to begin with. Later people can compile whatever they need using a simple script that we provide.

[x23piracy]

@sebastian-roth maybe an inital question what they need before first install and then set it as default for later updates.

[george1421]

@sebastian-roth What would be interesting to know (not sure how to capture). How many of the boot images supplied by FOG is really used? It would be a waste to build 30 drivers for every occasion if only 3 were really used.

I can see the logic to supply 4-5 iPXE drivers (undionly.kpxe, ipxe.efi, ipxe75<something>.efi and i386/ipxe.efi). Then I could see a fancy script (like the fog installer) that the user could run at a later time that could prompt for additional ipxe kernels to be build and with the proper keyboard support. It might save the answers into a file (similar to .fogsettings) so that the next time FOG is updated it will rebuild the standard 4 iPXE images plus any optional ones the user selected with the proper keyboard support. (warning: posted as a brain dump without really thinking)

[x23piracy]

@george1421 regarding to your braindump, why not a webif section where people can select from various kernels (switch on and off) maybe a button to start compiling or just the setup for the next fog update.

[george1421]

@x23piracy said in Change keyboard layout in FOG Boot Menues:

why not a webif section

I don’t know this word, webif. Can you explain?

[x23piracy]

@george1421 webif should be a known short for web interface