haiku_loader not found on latest gcc2hybrid release

[Kev]

Hi,

I just downloaded ​http://haiku-files.org/haiku/development/haiku-nightly-hrev46164-x86gcc2hybrid-raw.tar.xz and unzipped it onto a blank partition, following all the steps I normally do.

When I rebooted into it, bootman says "Loading Haiku_Nightly" and then the next line says "haiku_loader not found" with an indefinitely blinking cursor.

Is this because of something I heard about the nightlies not being caught up with the new package management stuff? I'm really uneducated about the new PM or what it means you practically can/have to do to use Haiku now.

Thanks, Kev

[anevilyak]

That won't work. Due to changes in the boot process in PM, you can't mark a partition as bootable using e.g. makebootable from a pre-PM Haiku. You'd have to do so using either a PM USB stick or live CD.

[Kev]

Does that mean, if I'm running my install procedure from a second Haiku partition (Alpha) I can copy all the files and then run the freshly copied makebootable against it instead?

[anevilyak]

Doubtful as the freshly copied makebootable executable likely depends on things that are in the new version of Haiku's libraries, which your running alpha won't have. As stated, the most reliable way to do this is simply to install from a stick or CD.

[bonefish]

I guess, you could just try the new makebootable. The runtime loader will complain, if it requires anything from the newer Haiku PM libraries. From a quick look at the change history, it doesn't look like we've changed anything PM related at least.

[Kev]

I just found out that the latest archive doesn't actually contain makebootable. /system only contains /packages but no /bin, and searching the drive for 'boot' only gives two results, neither of them makebootable.

Is this the nightlies-not-caught-up-with-PM thing?

[anevilyak]

The nightlies are fine, that's simply what a PM image winds up looking like; the OS itself resides in a package now, so that's all a non-package-aware Haiku will see.

[Kev]

Rats...so I guess that will, even once I get a PM nightly going, rule out any nightly install to HD without using a stick? Guess I'd better find a stick :)

[bonefish]

Alternatively, if you feel adventurous, you could download the current ​boot code, copy your pre-PM makebootable and replace its resource "BootCode" with the downloaded boot code. That should work like this (untested):

wget http://cgit.haiku-os.org/haiku/plain/src/system/boot/platform/bios_ia32/stage1.bin
cp /bin/makebootable makebootable.pm
xres -o makebootable.pm /bin/makebootable -a RAWT:666:BootCode stage1.bin

[Kev]

Replying to bonefish:

Alternatively, if you feel adventurous, you could download the current ​boot code, copy your pre-PM makebootable and replace its resource "BootCode" with the downloaded boot code. That should work like this (untested):

wget http://cgit.haiku-os.org/haiku/plain/src/system/boot/platform/bios_ia32/stage1.bin
cp /bin/makebootable makebootable.pm
xres -o makebootable.pm /bin/makebootable -a RAWT:666:BootCode stage1.bin

Wikkid. That totally worked. Responding on Web+ on hrev46164! Thanks!! (I went to try USB before I saw your post, and I'm glad you said something, because this old box is having lots of USB-plugged-in-equals-no-booting-past-the-BIOS troubles. Glad to still be able to use the latest Haiku on my computer!)

[mmadia]

I'm late to the party, but wanted to mention this for anyone else who stumbles upon this ticket:

​http://www.haiku-files.org/unsupported-builds/package-management-preview/makebootable.zip is a PM-enabled makebootable archive, which can be run from a pre-PM installation.

In Kev's initial install procedure, simply running this PM-enabled binary after Installer would have worked.