Re: netbsd-10, merging device-streams (xstreamtodev, rdbinfo)

[David Brownlee <abs%netbsd.org@localhost>]

OK, updated build with binaries

http://sync.absd.org/amiga/current/installation/misc/

modulus any negative feedback I'm going to push the changes into
NetBSD HEAD, then look to get pullups into the various branches

On Tue, 21 Mar 2023 at 18:39, David Brownlee <abs%netbsd.org@localhost> wrote:
>
> On Tue, 21 Mar 2023 at 15:32, Roc Vallès <vallesroc%gmail.com@localhost> wrote:
> >
> > On Tue, 21 Mar 2023 at 23:15, David Brownlee <abs%netbsd.org@localhost> wrote:
> > > I have another question :)
> > >
> > > xstreamtodev and xdevtostream are just streamtodev and devtostream
> > > with EXPERT_VERSION.
> > >
> > > Given that the expert versions appear to be entirely a superset (so
> > > the behave identically for all basic supported options other than the
> > > usage string), is there any need to build and or include the basic
> > > versions? The binaries are a few 100s of bytes larger, so its not
> > > likely to be useful on the basis of memory or file size.
> > >
> > > My natural inclination would be just to default to EXPERT_VERSION on
> > > always (or even unifdef it), and have a single set of binaries. (I
> > > would also probably just want to call them streamtodev and
> > > devtostream, but I suspect we have enough years of habit using the "x"
> > > prefix that its best to keep it).
> >
> > This is very much the reasoning I applied. I am not a fan of this
> > distinction either, but thought best to avoid changing anything
> > user-facing beyond necessary.
> >
> > Without having to look outside of netbsd, the netbsd documentation
> > does say to use xstreamtodev, and existing releases of netbsd used to
> > provide only the xstreamtodev and rdbinfo binaries in the
> > /amiga/installation/misc/ directory.
>
> OK, I'll update the files in NetBSD to exclude streamtodev and
> devtostream. If you wanted to adjust the github README and source to
> only build xstreamtodev and xdevtostream I'd be entirely happy with
> that, but that's obviously not a blocker from the NetBSD side.
>
> > Tangentially related, documentation will eventually have to be updated
> > to reflect the current state of the port, as e.g. the install
> > documentation claims that it is not possible to install netbsd to
> > partitions above 32bit boundary due to xstreamtodev's limitations.
> >
> > This no longer holds true when AmigaOS has 64bit support, and while it
> > is not possible to boot netbsd in such a system with bootblocks, using
> > loadbsd to boot a kernel from AmigaOS bypasses this. Of course, my own
> > install is well above 32bit, with AmigaOS and related partitions
> > occupying the beginning of the disk.
>
> If anyone would like to look at the install notes and suggest updates,
> that's a great way to help without having to write code or anything
> else technical (hint hint to the list :)
>
> > As I understand it, it should also be possible to update the
> > bootblocks to support TD64 and possibly also NSD, but it is a
> > considerably involved task.
> >
> > With these improvements, together with the newer loadbsd, pcmcia
> > bugfix, Xorg support improvements on AGA and OCS/ECS chipsets, faster
> > decompression of package indexes and other changes, netbsd-10's amiga
> > port is looking good.
>
> I think if I can work through testing a miniroot with the sysinst
> installer we could also make the install process a lot nicer (it's
> further complicated as networking doesn't work for me in fs-uae, and I
> really need time to look at that)
>
> Thanks
>
> David