Subject: Re: Config File / Kernel Building
To: None <mika@cs.caltech.edu>
From: David Jones <dej@achilles.net>
List: current-users
Date: 04/16/1996 08:13:32
> >I'm trying to setup swapping on my second drive.  I was told I have to change:
> >'config netbsd swap generic' to 
> >'config      netbsd  root on sd0 swap on sd0 and sd1 and sd2'
> 
> Annoying, eh?

Can anyone give me a REAL good reason why Unix users have to put up with this
crap?  Why can't NetBSD do the following:

- Once booted off xxxa where xxx is some disk, if xxxb exists, make that
  the initial swap space (with appropriate behavior if booting miniroot).
- Once the user says "swapon xxyz", just do it!

I see no reason for the behavior of a user-initiated "swapon" to depend
on what was configured.  About the only argument I can see for the current
behavior is the off chance that someone has non-swap on xxxb.  Perhaps
we can have a "swap superblock" that contains some signature that the kernel
checks for before it will use a partition as swap?