Re: Setting the root partition for boot

[Matt Wallis <mattw%madmonks.org@localhost>]

Hi Martin,

> On 11 Sep 2026, at 21:51, Martin Husemann <martin%duskware.de@localhost> wrote:
> ofwboot loads the kernel by using OpenFirmware calls, so the naming must be
> in OF notation. How this information is then passed to the kernel is a
> completely different thing, but using OF phandles to identify devices
> is the easiest way. You do not want to read the source of poor x86 that
> deals with this topic for BIOS boot (where no such natural mechanism exists).

Ah, I clearly didn’t think that through, of course if we’re telling it where to find the kernel, we must still be in OF world.

So we load ofwboot.xcf and give it the OF partition ID and it has just enough understanding of FFS (which OF doesn’t have) to find the kernel and execute it.

OK, thanks.

Matt.