[yocto] hddimg vs hdddirect?

[K Richard Pixley]

On 3/16/16 21:37 , Gary Thomas wrote:
> On 03/16/2016 08:40 PM, K Richard Pixley wrote:
>> What's the intended difference between hddimg and hdddirect?
>>
>> I'm confused about the intent here. The data flow in previous releases,
>> even jethro, seems to be somewhat confused/broken so looking at the
>> source code isn't really helping here.
>>
>> Is one intended to be a simple syslinux bootable image while the other
>> is a "live" image with multiple boot choices?
>>
>> In master... How does one go about requesting either a vmdk of a live
>> image or a directly bootable vmdk?
>
> I'm not sure the difference between the .hddimg and .hdddirect.
> I tried converting a .hddimg to .vdi or .vmdk using the VBoxManage
> tool, but that didn't come up - there was a message about (paraphrased)
> "waiting for removable media to become ready"  and the boot just hung up
>
> However, I do know that .vmdk will boot easily with VirtualBox
> Just add this to your local.conf
>   IMAGE_FSTYPES += " vmdk"
>
> Note: as mentioned in the documentation, you must use += as
> IMAGE_FSTYPES_append will not do.
That hasn't worked for me yet on any branch I've tried.  Some build.  
None boot even past syslinux.  A variety of errors.

That's why I'm asking about intent and/or design.  If there's a plan, 
perhaps I can chip in.  But perhaps there is no concerted effort nor 
well known plan, in which case I can probably invent one if I can 
appreciate the relevant contexts.

In particular, *which* hdd should vmdk be an image of?  hddimg, (which 
builds and boots prior to master), or hdddirect, (which doesn't boot for 
me at all so I don't even know what it's intended to do)?  How do I get 
the old, single syslinux boot target hddimg, (the one that works), out 
of master?

--rich