Re: Debugging/fixing a kernel stalled not crashing

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

>> If it's an issue picking up the root filesystem, you could boot an
>> INSTALL type kernel with a built in ramdisk with dhcpcd and sshd
>> enabled, [...]
> Yes, I plan to test this also, depending on [...]

This reminds me of a case I had, once.

I wanted to test-boot a particular kernel version on a machine which
had no disk interface or network supported by that kernel.  (It had USB
3 USB, and the kernel in question didn't support anything past USB 2;
and the network interfaces weren't supported either.  The kernel was
old compared to the hardware.)

The machine's ROM code, though, could boot a kernel off a USB
thumbdrive just fine.

I ended up building a kernel that booted with a SLIPpish interface
configured on the console serial port, at an address specified at
kernel config time.  Running diskless over SLIP on a serial
line...well, it was painful, but it worked.  If I'd ended up wanting to
use that kernel on that hardware more extensively, I probably would
have used that kernel to support porting either USB support or Ethernet
support, but the desire disappeared before I made any significant
progress beyond getting it to boot and run - or, perhaps more
accurately, crawl - diskless.

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