For creators of Linux distributions:
Syslinux is a notoriously hard program to debug, since it runs outside
of any operating system, and has a tendency to expose BIOS and
hardware bugs on various systems. Therefore, I would appreciate if
you would resist the temptation of recompiling the Syslinux bootloader
itself (ldlinux.asm) if at all possible. If you do that, I will have
to refer any bug reports I receive back to the respective distributor.
However, I have no such concerns about recompiling the installer
programs, and in fact, with both libc 5 and libc 6 in common use in
the Linux world today I understand if you wish to relink the
Linux-based installer against your system version of libc. Therefore
a special makefile targets "make installer" has been included with the
Syslinux distribution, starting with version 1.42.
To rebuild the installer programs *only*, starting from a freshly
untarred distribution copy of Syslinux, do:
make clean
make installer
If you want to remove all intermediate files, including the ones
obtained from assembling ldlinux.asm and which are included in the
distribution, do "make spotless".
I appreciate your assistance in this matter.
H. Peter Anvin