>    Date: Thu, 24 Oct 1996 01:21:04 -0400
>    From: Chris G Demetriou <Chris_G_Demetriou@ux2.sp.cs.cmu.edu>
> 
>    Or, were you saying that different sparc architectures could use
>    the same boot blocks?
> 
> Yes, this is what I meant, sorry.  I have seen code for that can be
> used for a single boot block on both sun4c and sun4m at the very
> least.

So, NetBSD uses the same source code on all of the sparc architectures
for the boot blocks, and even the same binary.  the problem is, from
what I can tell, when installed the primary boot block must have its
a.out header stripped off on the sun4.  (Note that that analysis of
the difference between 4c/4m and 4 comes from spending a minute or two
looking at the NetBSD 'installboot' source code.)

Therefore, the boot block looks different _on disk_ between the 4 and
4c/4m...  And so you can't move a disk between a sun4 and a sun4 or
sun4m without changing the boot block.

(From the looks of it, the reqirements of the 4c amd the 4m are the
same...  but this still shoots the "can easily move a disk between all
the different architectures" argument out of the water.)


chris