* Grover, Andrew <andrew.grover@intel.com> on Tue, Dec 18, 2001:

> > From: Alexander Viro [mailto:viro@math.psu.edu]
> > On Tue, 18 Dec 2001, Grover, Andrew wrote:
> > > GRUB 0.90 does this today.
> > ... and I'm quite sure that EMACS could do it easily.  Let's not talk
> > about GNU bloatware, OK?
> 
> I don't think this is bloatware, especially considering there really isn't
> any cost for having a full-featured bootloader - all its footprint gets
> reclaimed, after all. I respect lilo and its cousins, but they make things
> harder than they have to be. Why maintain a reduced level of functionality
> (software emaciation?) when better alternatives are available?
> 

Available for what?  SuperH?  MIPS?  IA-64?  Your precious GRUB and
Multiboot "standard" are only ever useful on the x86 architecture, so you
would propose a x86-specific global change that doesn't benefit the rest of
the other kernel archs?  Bloat for the sake of?

> 
> > IOW, we are backwards compatible with old
> > loaders.
> 
> No progress will ever be made if we cater to the lowest common denominator.
> 

The i386.

M. R.