boot sector magic considered harmful (was: Re: PATCH: Linux high in the sky)

Werner Almesberger (almesber@lrc.epfl.ch)
Fri, 23 Feb 1996 09:08:12 +0100 (MET)

Hans Lermen <lermen@elserv.ffm.fgan.de> wrote:

> 32-bit magic + jump around + version == 7 bytes ! You see ?

Actually, it's only 4 bytes, but I agree that the boot sector is not
exactly the ideal place to waste a few more bytes for magic numbers.

First of all, there's plenty of space in setup.S and even if you want
to be ultra-paranoid, you can still check the boot signature of the
boot sector (0xaa55@0x1fe).

Albert, don't underestimate the power of magic ;-)

- Werner

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