On Wed, May 30, 2001 at 01:30:05PM -0600, Brook Milligan wrote:
... 
> First, I can create bootfloppies using the provided tools (e.g., in
> /usr/src/distrib/i386/floppies) just fine.  I can also manipulate
> those tools either to include a custom kernel on my floppy or to alter
> the composition of the ramdisk.  I also understand that the size of
> the ramdisk allocated in the kernel by
> 
>     options MINIROOTSIZE=...
> 
> should match the size of the virtual device used for building the
> ramdisk.

Yup, MINIROOTSIZE=RAMDISKSPC*RAMDISKCYLS=RAMDISKSIZE (in ramdisk-*/Makefile)

[ no idea about bootblocks ]
 
> - Are there any constraints on the geometry or disklabel of the
>   ramdisk as long as the total number of sectors equals the space
>   allocated within the kernel by MINIROOTSIZE?

Not as far as I know..

> - Are there any constraints on the geometry or disklabel of the
>   virtual disk used to construct the bootable image?  For example,
>   must the disklabel used match the target device (e.g., floppy3 or
>   floppy5) to which the image will ultimately be written?  I can
>   write, for example, the rescue-tiny image created using the floppy5
>   disklabel to a 3.5" disk and successfully boot, so there would seem
>   to be no relationship between the target device and the disklabel
>   used for the image.

Not anymore AFAICT..

> - What principles must be followed in order to create a kernel/ramdisk
>   combination that will boot successfully?
> 
>   - For example, what are the important elements of the INSTALL_*
>     kernels that must be kept when deriving custom ones?

pseudo-device   md              1       # memory disk device (ramdisk)

as /dev now comes on a tar file?

Did you tinker much with ramdiskbin.conf and list?

Cheers,

Patrick