I asked:

>> I'm trying to set my machine so that it can boot unattended from
>> the default device and file, but so that some kind of authentication
>> is required before it is possible to specify different boot parameters.
>> I was hoping to find something in bootselect (the special MBR), but
>> according to the documentation there, there is no such facility.

and Antti Kantee <pooka@iki.fi> suggested:

> installboot(8):
>      -p password
>            If supported by the boot program, set the password which must be
>            entered before the boot menu can be accessed.

My immediate reaction was embarrassment that I had somehow missed
that, since I thought I had read all of the manpages suggested by
"apropos boot".

Anyway, I tried this:

/usr/mdec/installboot -v -t 5 -p PASSWORD /usr/mdec/biosboot.sym /dev/rsd0a

and the command responded (after its other verbosity):

installboot: no password support in bootblock


... so I'm still stuck.  :-(


Anne.
-- 
Ms. Anne Bennett, Senior Analyst, IITS, Concordia University, Montreal H3G 1M8
anne@alcor.concordia.ca                                        +1 514 848-7606