> 
> > If having bounce buffers is your overriding technical concern, then you
> > simply should not be running NetBSD, because it doesn't address that concern.
> > (Unless, of course, you are willing to maintain a local patch.)  If it is
> > not your overriding technical concern, then insisting that people abandon
> > their concern for code quality in exchange for a quick fix is certainly
> > inappropriate.
> 
> Would it be possible to maintain some "official" patches for bounce buffers,
> com drivers, new device drivers that haven't been included in the tree etc.?
> Some system to make it easy to install the selected patches in -current and
> the release versions?
> 
> Maybe the patches could be maintained in parallel with the "standard" code
> and included in /src/patches, for example?  Anyone could cd to
> /src/patches/whatever and 'make install' there?  This would make it easier

I maintain a directory called /usr/src/sys/arch/i386/patches right now.
It contains the patches for the IP_FIL and IPFIREWALL code base, as
well as the new com.c driver and the ATAPI controller support code.  I
am getting ready to add the Obtuse, Inc. Firewall patches in ther as
well.

I haven't automated the patching mechanism or anything, I just reload
the patches when I want to build a new kernel.  I only takes a few
minutes to make the changes, and it doesn't break the existing source
tree.

-- 
Dave Burgess  (The man of a thousand E-Mail addresses)
*bsd FAQ Maintainer / SysAdmin for the NetBSD system in my spare bedroom
"Just because something is stupid doesn't mean there isn't someone that 
doesn't want to do it...."