Re: Xen boot strangeness (Was: Re: [SOLVED] Re: Xen 4.18.5_20250521nb0 not ELF binary (Was: Re: EFI and Xen))

[Chuck Zmudzinski <frchuckz%gmail.com@localhost>]

On 5/29/2025 3:23 PM, Manuel Bouyer wrote:
> On Thu, May 29, 2025 at 03:01:50PM -0400, Chuck Zmudzinski wrote:
>> [...]

> 
> This is because the userconf command from the boot loader doens't make it
> to the dom0 kernel.
> Remember that when booting Xen; Xen is the kernel and XEN3_DOM0 a module.
> I don't know if multiboot allows passing extended informations to a module.

So can you confirm the only way to invoke userconf when booting NetBSD DOM0
as a module is by passing -c on the NetBSD command line and that it is
not possible to invoke userconf from a setting in boot.cfg? 

> 
>> When I pass bootdev=dk12 in boot.cfg, the bootloader strangely tries dk1 as root
>> (which is wrong) and correctly detects dk11 as the dump device. But it never
>> gives me the chance to enter the correct root device and instead tries to load
>> init which of course it cannot find the NetBSD init on dk1 because dk1 is not
>> the correct NetBSD root device. In fact on this box a Linux distro is installed
>> on dk1, as evidenced by the filesystem type detected on dk1: ext2fs.
> 
> Hum this could be a bug is the boot argiment parsing. I don't have more than
> 9 partitions on my disks and root=dkX works in my case.

I think Greg has already chimed in agreement with this opinion.

> 
>> 
>> Here is where it stops to ask me for init, but it never gave me
>> the chance to enter the correct root device of dk12. Of course it
> 
> Yes, it was given a root device, it won't ask again.

But when I gave it the bootdev of wd1 in boot.cfg, it did ask again and
I was able to tell it to use dk12 after it realized wd1a was not the root
device. But when I gate it dk12 as the bootdev in boot.cfg, you are
correct, it does not ask again. So why the difference depending on what I
give it as the bootdev in boot.cfg?

Chuck Zmudzinski