> Date: Fri, 14 Jun 1996 11:19:31 -0400
> From: Chris G Demetriou <Chris_G_Demetriou@ux2.sp.cs.cmu.edu>

> > I believe "options GENERIC" has to go hand in hand with what I think
> > I've heard called "generic swap". If your "config netbsd" line says
> > "config netbsd swap generic", you must have "options GENERIC",
> > otherwise you must not.
> > 
> > I beg forgiveness if my 1.1-based understanding of the situation reeks
> > of anachronism. It's possible this is all changed in -current, but I
> > doubt it.
> 
> This is true, but only of ports with broken root- and swap-setting
> code.  8-)
> 
> Some ports, at least the sparc and the alpha, don't need 'options
> GENERIC' with 'swap generic', and on the alpha 'options GENERIC'
> has no meaning whatsoever.  (i'm not sure about the sparc port, but
> i'd guess that GENERIC has no meaning there, either.)
> chris

I understand the desire to have all kernels be able to set the
root to whatever you booted from, however, I also find it useful
to be able to turn that off, at least for the particular case of
a kernel designed to use a built-in ramdisk root.  In that case,
there is little point in keeping the setroot() code in there.
(The root should always be the ramdisk, otherwise you should
boot some other kernel without the built-in ramdisk.)

My preference is to keep the GENERIC option in almost every
kernel (including most of those not named GENERIC) to cause
inclusion of the setroot() feature, and turn off that option
only in some very special cases.

Gordon