Hello Mr. Takehiro,
Before all, using official /boot/loader is the most stable
method to boot recent FreeBSD kernels, and I don't think
it's time for GRUB developpers to write codes supporting
direct boot of recent FreeBSD.
However, thinking why GRUB can't and how to do is interesting...
In fact, GRUB is more flexible and the commandline interface
is far better than /boot/loader, so I want to use GRUB for
direct boot, if possible :-). Mr. Takehiro, why you challenge?
--
In the official boot procedure of FreeBSD, it seems that
/boot/loader reads the disklabel, and gets the root device
in "ASCII string" format, and rewrites the built-in root
device specification in the kernel.
At present, GRUB tells the root device by hex-numerical
expression, and to tell ATA device, GRUB has to know
the number - as bsd_evil_hack.
It's not good idea that increasing bsd_evil_hack to
include explicit ATA device number - because GRUB
developpers will be always asked to add such evil_hack
more and more, when some OS creates new devices.
Does FreeBSD have any rule to specify the major number
of devices? If FreeBSD has, is it compatible other
4.4BSD-children? If so, bsd_evil_hack can be improved
Rather, rewriting the built-in kernel parameter can be
expected - but it's the task of FreeBSD kernel experts.
suzuki
