Ok, i've been thinking here about the best way to explain how Chameleon looks for files and it's not easy.. it requires a long post
so, i'm gonna stick to the essentials and just point were each file is looked at, atm (RC4 & RC5).
First some notions:
Chameleon looks for files in two volumes,
boot volume and
default/selected volume, on the
boot device, being:
- boot device = whatever you have set on the BIOS or choose, to be the first
boot device (a local HD, etc...).
- boot volume = partition were the booter is installed.
The paths for this volume begin with bt(0,0).
-
default/selected volume = determined by Chameleon if no default value is provided, usually the Active or
first bootable partition on the
boot device.
This becomes the
selected volume once we press Enter to boot.
The paths for this volume begin with /.
-
boot volume =
default/selected volume, when the booter is installed to the
default/selected volume.
In this situation, both / and bt(0,0)/ point to the same place.
The paths the booter looks at are different for each file, mainly due to the role each file plays on the boot process, but
not only
These paths are:
kernel: it's always loaded from the default/selected volume; override is possible.
Boot.plist: look
here for a insight.
drivers: here things are bit more complicated; there are some "rules";
If there is a ramdisk mounted, it will be the first path searched:
rd(0,0)/Extra/
Next is
default/selected volume:
/Extra/
Then, if no files are found on
default/selected volume,
search the
boot volume:
first on OS specific folders:
e.g. bt(0,0)/Extra/10.5/
next on Extra's root:
bt(0,0)/Extra/
dsdt.aml: there are changes between RC4 and RC5; override is possible.
RC4: current folder (this was removed on RC5 recently)
/Extra/dsdt.aml
bt(0,0)/Extra/dsdt.aml
RC5: /Extra/dsdt.aml
/
bt(0,0)/Extra/dsdt.aml
smbios.plist: there are changes between RC4 and RC5; override is possible.
RC4: same as dsdt.
RC5: it's always loaded from the default/selected volume.
Otherwise specified, paths are checked by the order shown, first found is used.
Hope this can clear some doubts.
Now, about the topic's theme, how about doing it the opposite way? hum
Ditch /Extra path, leave it just for user override and search for files only on
boot volume!?