On Sat, Sep 22, 2001 at 11:04:59AM -0400, NetBSD Mailing-List wrote:
> I'm getting "bad format" when trying to boot the generic kernel for 1.5.1
> and 1.5.2.  I noticed this difference:
> 
> file netbsd-1.5.2:
> netbsd-1.5.2: ELF 32-bit MSB executable, SPARC, version 1, statically
> linked,
> not stripped
> 
> file netbsd-1.4.3:
> netbsd-1.4.3: NetBSD/sparc executable not stripped
> 
> Do I need to update my BootROM or something else?

Presumably you have compiled a 1.5.1/2 kernel on a <=1.4.3 SPARC machine
or something similar? 

It sounds like you need to install newer secondary boot program in order 
to boot the ELF kernel. This can be done with "installboot" provided you have
build the new bootblocks. I would recommend upgrading to 1.5.2 by using 
a release from ftp.netbsd.org.

(1.4 sparc used the a.out binary format. 1.5 uses the ELF binary format
which is why you are getting the "bad format" error).

best wishes,
-- 
Chris