Re: adding UEFI to NetBSD /boot/ [was Re: no HDMI on rpi4b NetBSD 10.1]

[Steve Rikli <sr%genyosha.net@localhost>]

On Mon, Jul 21, 2025 at 06:11:37PM +0200, Ramiro Aceves wrote:
> El 18/7/25 a las 10:10, Ramiro Aceves escribió:
> > 
> > Hi Steve,
> > Thank you so much for sharing the results of your experiments and
> > findings with the RPi4 and the UEFI firmware! It has been very helpful
> > for me to better understand the subject.
> > 
> > I think it would be great to include this kind of information on the WEB
> > for new users who want to install NetBSD on the RPi4. A dedicated
> > chapter just for the RPi4—covering all the installation methods, with
> > sample commands—would be excellent. It could also include details about
> > what works, what doesn’t, and other useful notes.
> > 
> > https://wiki.netbsd.org/ports/evbarm/raspberry_pi/

I don't necessarily agree that my experiments and poking around with
NetBSD on rpi4 are a great addition to the wiki.

I had several mis-steps and dead-ends which don't really add value to
documentation; fortunately others were able to chime in with explanation
and guidance. After re-reviewing that particular wiki page in hindsight,
I see in several cases there were at least cursory notes about things
where I stumbled, or incorrectly assumed about some aspect of the
install media.

My impression is the wiki is(?) kind of a quick and dirty place for
developers to put info and notes, likely targeted at other devs or at
least experienced users, who can research and fiddle with things.

Whereas I view the INSTALL docs as more of a procedure guide, which
someone could ideally follow and use to turn a supported machine with
blank disk into a running NetBSD system. Again, just my impression.

So I started with the evbarm INSTALL guide rather than the wiki. I could
be wrong, but my guess is other folks do too.

I do agree that installation docs could be better. I mentioned in
port-arm@ (also the previous Subject: about HDMI) I think there are
possible additions to the evbarm INSTALL doc which might have helped me
avoid some wrong paths.

That is, I ended up at evbarm/ and raspberry_pi/ wiki pages after HDMI
didn't "just work" on my rpi4b, essentially because I hadn't installed
the full UEFI 3rd party zip bundle. I believe if INSTALL had at least
mentioned the UEFI git zip as an option / addition, I might have avoided
some of my subsequent mis-steps.

On that note: how are suggested changes submitted for INSTALL guides?
Would that be a NetBSD send-pr bug for the appropriate port-* system
type, or maybe in the install category? Other?

Cheers,
sr.