Re: NetBSD 5.0 and SPARCstation 5 not a lucky combination

[der Mouse <mouse%Rodents-Montreal.ORG@localhost>]

>> RASTERCONSOLE is what's set up in GENERIC for NetBSD/sparc 5.0.
>> Perhaps the next step is shutting that off, and seeing if the
>> problem persists.
> As I said, I'm new to NetBSD, so... can I use 4.0 to build a kernel
> for the 5.0 installation, with a different config?

I think this is supposed to work, but I haven't tried it myself, so I
don't actually know.  You might be able to just use 4.x to build the
5.x config and then compile with the 4.x compiler, but that's the risky
way.  While I also need to qualify it with the remark that I neither
like nor really understand the `new' build mechanisms, I think build.sh
is supposed to work to cross-build kernels if you put all the pieces in
the right places.  (I don't cross-build unless I can't help it, and so
far I've been able to avoid it, so I don't know how well that support
works.)  Reading BUILDING and build.sh should at least get you moving
in the right direction; I've been told there are also some webpages
that may help, though I haven't looked with that in mind myself.

"Cross-build" here includes cross-version as well as
cross-architecture; as I understand it, all builds are handled as cross
builds, even if the host and target arch and/or OS are the same.

> I'm not sure 5.0 will stay up long enough to build a kernel.

You might consider running with serial console.  That should sidestep
the whole writing-to-the-framebuffer question and give you a stable
machine, albeit one without a graphics head.  (Well, at least, stable
unless other bugs start causing trouble; while not impossible, it seems
unlikely to me that the bug behind this problem would disrupt operation
when using serial console.)

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