Yeah, NetBSD/sparc - at least last time I looked at the code - doesn't
   understand native NetBSD disklabels, only SunOS-style disklabels.  IMO
   this is a lose (you need a SunOS-style label on your boot disk, but not
   on any others, unless they're shared with non-NetBSD OSes).

just to verify i understand you, you're saying "netbsd/sparc needs a sunos
disklabel on the boot disk, but can handle bsd or sunos disklabels on
other disks" ?

if so:  yes.  if not:  no.  see above.


the requirement for the bootdisk to be a sunos disklabel is that the prom
says so.  it won't understand a bsd disklabel...  anyone for a forth hack?

:-)