Re: port-sparc64/56363: boot: Inode not directory

[Martin Husemann <martin%duskware.de@localhost>]

The following reply was made to PR port-sparc64/56363; it has been noted by GNATS.

From: Martin Husemann <martin%duskware.de@localhost>
To: David Brownlee <abs%absd.org@localhost>
Cc: gnats-bugs%netbsd.org@localhost
Subject: Re: port-sparc64/56363: boot: Inode not directory
Date: Thu, 19 Aug 2021 16:49:46 +0200

 On Thu, Aug 19, 2021 at 03:16:04PM +0100, David Brownlee wrote:
 > I was thinking of a brute force approach where it just kept creating
 > copies (and using up disk space), until it found one where at least
 > one block was above a specified limit
 
 The usual aproach would be to write the block number and some random
 other value to each block and read a block (checking if it already got
 a lower number and firmware has truncated something) before writing the
 test content.
 
 This could only be done inside ofwboot (and not the kernel or userland),
 so would have to happen in a separate path before installation. And it
 would wipe the whole physical disk (if lucky), or at least the OFW
 addressable part of it. And take hours.
 
 We could add such a "destructive probe mode" to ofwboot and collect results
 and firmware versions, but I doubt it is worth the effort.
 
 Martin