David Brownlee <abs@netbsd.org> wrote on Fri,  3 Aug 2001
at 19:47:11 +0100 in <Pine.NEB.4.33.0108031945080.298-100000@localhost>:

> 	We already install biosboot, biosboot_com0, biosboot_ps2, and
> 	biosboot_resetvideo into /usr/mdec. For convenience it might
> 	make sense to compile and install a biosboot_nomenu - what do
> 	people think?

I think it shows the current mechanism is architecturally deficient.
Most of these options are not mutually exclusive. People with a serial
console may very well want no menu, or the _resetvideo feature, etc.

Adding more and more special build mechanisms like this is really not
what we want to be doing.

I think, I ideally, we would like to have one configurable boot loader,
presumably that was configurable via a small binary patch, probably done
with a supplied utility.

But we run into the problem of size limits for the bootloader, at least 
on the i386. Presumably these are fixable, but the fix is arcane.


In any case, it would seem like this discussion belongs on port-i386.

--jhawk