Package: syslinux
Version: 3:4.05+dfsg-6+deb7u2
Severity: normal
Tags: upstream
After installing Syslinux on a USB flashdrive:
syslinux -d /boot/syslinux/ -i /dev/sde1
as described here:
http://www.syslinux.org/wiki/index.php/SYSLINUX#Linux
-- I found that "dosfsck", from the dosfstools package, isn't happy
about it:
# dosfsck /dev/sde1
dosfsck 3.0.13, 30 Jun 2012, FAT32, LFN
There are differences between boot sector and its backup.
Differences: (offset:original/backup)
...
This doesn't seem to prevent booting from the partition, but such errors
are disconcerting, and presumably the backup is there for a reason.
There is some discussion of the technical issues involved here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File_Allocation_Table#Technical_design
For FAT32 file systems, the reserved sectors include a File System
Information Sector at logical sector 1 and a Backup Boot Sector at
logical sector 6. While many other vendors have continued to utilize
a single-sector setup (logical sector 0 only) for the bootstrap
loader, Microsoft's boot sector code has grown to spawn over logical
sectors 0 and 2 since the introduction of FAT32, with logical sector
0 depending on sub-routines in logical sector 2. The Backup Boot
Sector area consists of three logical sectors 6, 7, and 8 as well.
-- but the basic problem seems clear enough. If Syslinux writes its
bootloader code into the VFAT boot sector, shouldn't it write a
duplicate copy into the backup area?
I have attached a copy of the first 32 (512-byte) sectors of the
flashdrive partition in question, in case anybody wants to investigate
this problem in detail, although it shouldn't be difficult to replicate.
-- Ian Bruce
-- System Information:
Debian Release: wheezy/sid
APT prefers testing
APT policy: (990, 'testing'), (500, 'stable-updates'), (500, 'unstable'),
(500, 'stable')
Architecture: amd64 (x86_64)
Kernel: Linux 3.2.0-4-amd64 (SMP w/1 CPU core)
Locale: LANG=en_CA.UTF-8, LC_CTYPE=en_CA.UTF-8 (charmap=UTF-8)
Shell: /bin/sh linked to /bin/dash
Versions of packages syslinux depends on:
ii libc6 2.13-38
ii libuuid1 2.20.1-5.3
ii syslinux-common 3:4.05+dfsg-6+deb7u2
Versions of packages syslinux recommends:
ii mtools 4.0.17-1
Versions of packages syslinux suggests:
ii dosfstools 3.0.13-1
ii os-prober 1.42
-- no debconf information
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