Subject: Re: Bootblocks ignore partition for kernel (plus LFS fun)
To: None <abs@mono.org>
From: Andrey Petrov <petrov@netbsd.org>
List: port-sparc64
Date: 04/01/2003 11:36:00
On Mon, Mar 31, 2003 at 12:07:07PM +0000, abs@mono.org wrote:
> 	I've just tried root on LFS on a sparc64 box, without much luck:
> 
> 	The boot blocks do not understand lfs, so I created a small sd0h
> 	partition at the start of the disk containing bootblocks and a
> 	kernel.
> 
> 	Unfortunately the bootblocks appear to be only able to load a kernel
> 	from the 'a:' partition:
> 
> 	At the 'Boot:' prompt given directly after 'boot -sa' it does not
> 	appear to matter which partition is given the boot blocks always
> 	try to load the kernel from 'a:'.
> 
> 	eg: both of the following try to load a kernel from a:
> 
> 	    Boot: /sbus@1f,0/SUNW,fas@e,8800000/sd@0,0:a/netbsd
> 	    Boot: /sbus@1f,0/SUNW,fas@e,8800000/sd@0,0:h/netbsd
> 

I'd try 'boot disk0:h -sa' to see if taht makes any difference, also
you can build ofwboot with debugging prints to see what it actually
does.

> 
> 	In order to get the kernel to boot with an lfs root I needed to
> 	have a small ffs 'a' partition and the real root on 'e', then
> 	'boot -a' and manually enter the root device (This could be
> 	avoided with a custom kernel), but then the root device is not
> 	accessible:
> 
> 	    # fsck
> 	    /dev/sd0e (Bad file descriptor)Can't stat /dev/sd0e
> 	    /dev/sd0e (Bad file descriptor)Can't stat /dev/sd0e
> 	    Can't stat /dev/sd0e: Bad file descriptor
> 	    ** /dev/rsd0a
> 	    ** File system is clean; not checking
> 	    # ls -l /dev/sd0*
> 	    ls: /dev/sd0e: Bad file descriptor
> 	    brw-r-----  1 root  operator  7, 0 Mar 31 11:44 /dev/sd0a
> 	    brw-r-----  1 root  operator  7, 1 Mar 31 11:44 /dev/sd0b
> 	    brw-r-----  1 root  operator  7, 2 Mar 31 11:44 /dev/sd0c
> 	    brw-r-----  1 root  operator  7, 3 Mar 31 11:44 /dev/sd0d
> 	    brw-r-----  1 root  operator  7, 5 Mar 31 11:44 /dev/sd0f
> 	    brw-r-----  1 root  operator  7, 6 Mar 31 11:44 /dev/sd0g
> 	    brw-r-----  1 root  operator  7, 7 Mar 31 11:44 /dev/sd0h
> 	    #
> 
> 	This is a little more than bizarre. Netbooting the bootblocks
> 	and kernel and specifying the root partition as sd0e results
> 	in fsck panicing with:
> 
> 	    Stopped in pid 9.1 (fsck) at sys_statfs+0x54: ldx [%i0 + 0 x10], %o0
> 	    db> trace
> 	    syscall(1133bed0, 9d, 0, 112f1300, 4052fb78, 4052fb74) at
> 	    syscall+0x344
> 	    syscall_setup(ffffffffffffdc6d, ffffffffffffcbf0, 212000, 406e0a80,
> 	    0, 0) at syscall_setup+0xe8
> 
> 	Netbooting with nfs root and mounting sd0e somewhere else works fine.
> 

This deserves a PR.

	Andrey