i386 GENERIC+miniroot vs amd64 INSTALL kernels

[Jean-Yves Migeon <jeanyves.migeon%free.fr@localhost>]

Hi list,

Title says it all.

I have been looking in the various Makefiles and source code for bootcd
under distrib/i386 and distrib/amd64, trying to track down an issue I
have occasionally encountered, as well as others [1].

Things are: well, i386 and amd64 differ in install kernel
generation. Executive summary:
- i386 INSTALL does not exist any more, and moved to the miniroot.kmod
magic (acting as a ramdisk-big for i386, when loaded)
- this kernel (GENERIC) is used for i386cd.iso generation. ramdisk is
not embedded with the kernel. /dev/cd0a gets mounted as root fs, and
various directories are using md(4) to be writable (for dhcp hooks).
- amd64 has still an INSTALL kernel, which statically embed a ramdisk image.
- the amd64 INSTALL kernel is used for amd64cd.iso generation. Given the
way the kernel is created, the root fs is a memory disk image, rather
than cd0 (!= i386).

This has impacts everywhere; even boot/rc scripts differ between both.

I am not sure if the above is the expected final setup. Given that, what
was the final goal envisioned? As I am dwelling into that part, maybe I
could fix up certain things, a little.

[1] http://mail-index.netbsd.org/current-users/2010/12/29/msg015230.html

Happy new year :)

-- 
Jean-Yves Migeon
jeanyves.migeon%free.fr@localhost