#3227 Issue open: What comes after SYSLINUX? Support modern PXE booting via iPXE¶
schlomo opened issue at 2024-05-21 08:26:¶
Discussed in https://github.com/rear/rear/discussions/3099¶
Originally posted by **@robertdahlem** December 4, 2023
Hi,
Syslinux seems to be pretty much abandoned: last official binary from
Oct 2014, last testing binary from Mar 2016, last commit Feb 2019.
Rear supports OUTPUT=PXE, which I like that very much because it allows
me to prepare a complete backup environment und to use it by simply
booting the system from the network.
But OUTPUT=PXE heavily depends on Syslinux and seems to have no future,
especially with all the UEFI stuff coming up.
What is the preferred way to replace OUTPUT=PXE to produce a network
bootable backup environment? Is there any replacement yet?
I read nice things about [iPXE](https://ipxe.org) (hint, hint :-).
schlomo commented at 2024-05-21 08:32:¶
@robertdahlem the OUTPUT=PXE mode actually only creates a pxelinux
configuration. You can also use OUTPUT=RAMDISK to get the same kernel
and initrd without that to use in your own PXE boot environment.
I agree with you that pxelinux is dated and that ReaR could benefit from better support for modern PXE booting, but - to be honest - this is something that will have to be developed by people who make use of it, either as a contribution or as professional support engagement. That would be the only way to ensure that it actually works, because there would be sufficient testing done.
[Export of Github issue for rear/rear.]