Re: port-vax/60478: releng testbed is busted on VAX

["Andreas Gustafsson via gnats" <gnats-admin%NetBSD.org@localhost>]

The following reply was made to PR port-vax/60478; it has been noted by GNATS.

From: Andreas Gustafsson <gson%gson.org@localhost>
To: Robert Elz <kre%NetBSD.org@localhost>
Cc: gnats-bugs%netbsd.org@localhost,
    campbell+netbsd%mumble.net@localhost
Subject: Re: port-vax/60478: releng testbed is busted on VAX
Date: Sat, 25 Jul 2026 10:29:58 +0300

 Robert Elz wrote:
 > Agreed, though in this case it wasn't tests failing, but the install.
 
 As I see it, it was a failed test of the install :)
 
 >   | And when different ports behave differently, it's usually because
 >   | of actual differences between the ports that will also manifest
 >   | outside the testbed environment.
 > 
 > It could be that, but this all failed very early in the install process
 > (as in, nothing really ever got installed).
 
 These are not really even install failures, they are failures of the
 boot process that happen when booting the install media (but may or
 may not be limited to install media).
 
 >   | I have kicked off a couple of builds to narrow down when the new
 >   | error appeared.
 > 
 > Thanks again for that (and as I said above, I did see the result).
 
 Thank you for reverting the shell change quickly so that the two
 issues did not overlap. :)
 
 > I'd still appreciate knowing if there is any difference at all between
 > the way anita is run on amd64 (and vax perhaps) and on i386 ?   I'm not
 > suggesting anything is wrong, or needs changing, I'm just looking to
 > understand the code paths inside sh.   If one perhaps uses ptys and the
 > other pipes or something, that might explain things - at least it would
 > give me somewhere to look.   On the other hand, if the two use identical
 > configs, then it must be something about the way init or /etc/rc works,
 > or how the kernel sets up the state of the world when a single user shell
 > is to be invoked.   But I'd prefer to work from how it all starts, and that
 > is from anita.
 
 Anita does not run "on" the amd64/i386/vax system being tested; it
 runs on a host system and boots an unmodified NetBSD system in a
 virtual (or sometimes physical) guest machine.  Apart from the obvious
 differences in architecture, the guest machines will also differ in
 other ways such as the amount of memory and disk, but they are all
 executing the standard NetBSD boot process of their respective port.
 Anita does not itself run any shell commands on the guest machine as
 part of the boot or install.
 
 PS.  I am replying to your NetBSD.org address because my mail server
 185.55.84.130 is unable to reach the munnari.oz.au mail server 202.29.151.3.
 -- 
 Andreas Gustafsson, gson%gson.org@localhost