Brian C. Grayson wrote:
> 
>   Sort of.  Copying new_ffs_file to a dos partition doesn't allow
> the /msdos/new_ffs_file to be used.  Here's the exact steps:
> 
>   dd if=/dev/zero of=new_ffs_file for 4MB
>   vnconfig -c -v /dev/vnd0c new_ffs_file
>   newfs /dev/vnd0c 4mbvnd  #  disktab entry for a 4mb 4.2BSD fs
>   mount /dev/vnd0c /mnt
>     <works>
>   umount /mnt
>   vnconfig -u /dev/vnd0c
>     <Now try remounting to make sure nothing got lost in unmount/unvnconfig.>
>   vnconfig /dev/vnd0c new_ffs_file
>   mount /dev/vnd0c /mnt
>     <still works>
>   umount /mnt
>   vnconfig -u /dev/vnd0c
>   cp new_ffs_file /msdos
>   vnconfig /dev/vnd0c /msdos/new_ffs_file
>   mount /dev/vnd0c /mnt
>     <  Error here.  >
>   cksum /msdos/new_ffs_file new_ffs_file shows they are identical.

Unfortunately it doesn't work for me either under current:

System: NetBSD 1.2G (QUARTZ) #9: Thu Jul 17 13:21:01 BST 1997

quartz# dd if=/dev/zero of=new_ffs_file count=2880
2880+0 records in
2880+0 records out
1474560 bytes transferred in 1 secs (1474560 bytes/sec)
quartz# vnconfig -c -t floppy3 -v /dev/vnd0d new_ffs_file
/dev/vnd0d: 1474560 bytes on new_ffs_file using geometry 512/18/2/80
quartz# disklabel -w -r /dev/rvnd0d floppy3
quartz# newfs /dev/rvnd0a floppy3
/dev/rvnd0a:    2880 sectors in 80 cylinders of 2 tracks, 18 sectors
        1.4MB in 5 cyl groups (16 c/g, 0.28MB/g, 128 i/g)
super-block backups (for fsck -b #) at:
 32, 632, 1184, 1784, 2336,
quartz# mount /dev/vnd0a /mnt
quartz# ls /mnt
quartz# df -k /mnt
Filesystem  1K-blocks     Used    Avail Capacity  Mounted on
/dev/vnd0a       1283        0     1218     0%    /mnt
quartz# umount /mnt
quartz# vnconfig -u /dev/vnd0d
quartz# mount -t msdos /dev/sd0h /dos
quartz# cp new_ffs_file /dos/tmp
quartz# vnconfig -c -t floppy3 -v /dev/vnd0d /dos/tmp/new_ff~1
/dev/vnd0d: 1474560 bytes on /dos/tmp/new_ff~1 using geometry 512/18/2/80
quartz# mount -t ffs /dev/vnd0a /mnt
quartz# ls -l /mnt
ls: /mnt: Bad file descriptor
quartz# df -k /mnt
df: /mnt: Bad file descriptor
quartz# cksum /dos/tmp/new_ff~1
2043501955 1474560 /dos/tmp/new_ff~1
quartz# cksum new_ffs_file
2043501955 1474560 new_ffs_file

So I really don't know. Maybe someone else might have an idea - I'll
copy to current.

Good luck,

 Patrick