On Sun, 3 May 2009 09:39:23 -0700 Don Jackson

wrote:
> On May 3, 2009, at 9:15 AM, Thomas Pfaff wrote:

quoted text
>

> > On Sun, 3 May 2009 08:45:55 -0700

> > "J.C. Roberts"  wrote:

> >> Thirdly, it should be removed. The new installer destined for 4.6

> >> already does the right thing, so the i386\amd64 specific etc/

> >> boot.conf

> >> hack is redundant and leads to confusion.

> >

> > Hmm, how should I specify that I want to use com0 as console then?

>

> Agreed, boot.conf is VERY useful.

>

> Another important use is to reboot into another temporary kernel.  I

> use this to boot into a YAIFO-like installer, so I can easily re-

> install a running machine from the network without

> having to much with BIOS setting for pxeboot, etc.  And if this

> process fails for some reason (before you reformat your disks :-) ),

> it is good to have the regular kernels sitting around for recovery

> purposes.

>

> Don

I never said the boot.conf was not useful. I said the i386\amd64 hack

for loading kernels is redundant and leads to confusion.
The new installer (destined for 4.6) in snapshots *already* picks the

right kernel (GENERIC or GENERIC.MP) for the system, and installs it

as /bsd.
On all archs, when you wish to boot to a different on-disk kernel you

cab do it either by copying/moving kernel file to /bsd, and/or

specifying the kernel file at boot time `boot /mybsd.custom.hack`
When you treat i386\amd64 differently with the boot.conf kernel

designation feature, you are not only making things less portable, but

worse, you're showing a bias towards what many consider to be a flawed

system design.
Now, let's say you are using the /etc/boot.conf hack to boot to bsd.mp,

and you go to update your stable system running an MP kernel. You read

the FAQ and follow the directions for installing a new kernel and

rebooting before building the whole system.
When you do `make install` in your ../compile/GENERIC.MP/ directory,

the newly built kernel gets installed as /bsd
You supposedly reboot to your new kernel... and guess what? --Due to

your boot.conf hack you're still running your *old* /bsd.mp kernel

rather than your newly built /bsd kernel.
If your subsequent build of the whole system fails with some mysterious

error due to booting to the old kernel, and you start yammering on misc@

about reading/following the FAQ, you're still wrong because you weren't

paying attention.
Tricky, confusing situations like the above should not be allowed to

happen. It's a design flaw, and especially so since it's a hack to

support an unnecessary feature for particular architecture. 
--

J.C. Roberts