Created attachment 288211 [details] ebuild to compile fixed syslinux All syslinux 4.xx versions (tested up to 4.04) seems to contain a bug, that causes a crash in early phase of syslinux boot from an usb stick. This is always possible to reproduce, but only on certain hw (atom based embedded board). Version 3.86 of syslinux always works with that hw. When syslinux 4.xx is used to setup bootable usb stick (which works on general desktop pc), that usb stick does not work with embedded atom based board. Screen is garbaged, flickering and the system hangs, instead of loading the image to be booted. Dissecting syslinux source code reveals, that the problem is within core/fs/cache.c function cache_init(), where seems to be an invalid pointer used to store an initial value - following patch fixes the problem by commenting out the offending line, that seems not to be needed anyway: --- syslinux-4.04/core/fs/cache.c-orig 2011-04-18 23:24:17.000000000 +0200 +++ syslinux-4.04/core/fs/cache.c 2011-09-29 10:54:46.000000000 +0200 @@ -40,7 +40,9 @@ void cache_init(struct device *dev, int cache = dev->cache_head + 1; /* First cache descriptor */ head->prev = &cache[dev->cache_entries-1]; - head->next->prev = dev->cache_head; + /* following line crashes on some hw - NULL dereference? */ + /* head->next->prev = dev->cache_head; */ + /* it should not be needed anyway, since following loop does it too */ head->block = -1; head->data = NULL; With that patch, syslinux works perfectly on the atom based embedded board as well as on general pc. Attached ebuild with changes to force recompilation using the above patch. I wanted to report this to upstream, but both syslinux.zytor.com and syslinux.org seems to be down.
The syslinux servers were turned off following the kernel.org compromise. For now, the best way to contact hpa is via #syslinux on irc.freenode.net But I think the servers should be back soon.
I think the syslinux infrastructure is mostly running again, so you can send your patch to the mailing list. If the patch is ack'ed upstream we can include it in the next ebuild revision.
I send that in October 2011: http://www.syslinux.org/archives/2011-October/016960.html still no reply. Asking for ack/nack from upstream here: http://www.syslinux.org/archives/2012-February/017327.html
I've been notified by someone on #syslinux, that this bug can be closed with 4.06 being released, per: http://www.syslinux.org/archives/2012-October/018346.html
Thanks, marking as FIXED.
