On Fri, 11 Mar 2005, Alex Pelts wrote:
> Cobalt NetBSD restore cd mini-HOWTO is ready. It is posted at 
> http://restorecd.homeunix.org/NetBSD/.
> I would appreciate your feedback.

OK, you asked for it :-)

In general, thanks for this great document, it's a big step forward for 
the cobalt port. It would be very nice to have some package (in pkgsrc) or 
code in src/distrib/cdrom that make such a CD, but your document is a very 
good step in that direction. FWIW, I've added a link to it to the 
NetBSD/cobalt FAQ.

Looking over the document, here are a few things that come to mind:
  * Add "the" in a number of places: *the* Restore CD, *the* ability, ...
  * There is/was no NetBSD 1.6.0, only 1.6.
  * 2.2: How exactly does the "Restore CD" work - do I recall this right
    that it boots NetBSD from the CD (sort of like a live CD), sets up
    a netboot environment for the Cobalt, and when the Cobalt is netbooted
    it will prepare the harddisk for installation, and install NetBSD on
    it? The procedure could be outlined...
  * 2.2: Maybe add a link to Dennis' scripts? (No idea where he published
    them)
  * 4.1 Be consistent about putting <pre>-formatted commands for all
    commands that should be run, i.e. give an explicit one for downloading
    the right(!) files from
    ftp://ftp.netbsd.org/pub/NetBSD/arch/cobalt/restore-cd/1.6.1/
    too.
  * Maybe you can break long <pre> lines so they render into a more narrow
    window:

    wget -r --retr-symlinks -nH --cut-dirs=3 \
       ftp://ftp.netbsd.org/pub/NetBSD/NetBSD-1.6.2/cobalt
  * 4.3: Add commands "mkdir cobaltcd" and "cd cobaltcd" before
    the "(cd ; tar ) | tar" command
  * Add explicit commands for cleaning out the existing sets (move
    bootloader aside, rm -fr remaining sets, move bootloader back)
  * Either add commands to move the previously downloaded (new) sets
    into the right place (cobaltcd/nfsroot/cobalt), or move sections
    around so the download goes right into the proper directory
  * 4.4: "nee" -> "need"
  * 4.4: maybe list the change in "diff -u" format or make it
    otherwise clearsomehow what the file looks originally, and
    what it should look like after editing - as it stands, one can
    only guess that the "./MAKEDEV all" call should be replaced by
    "/dev/MAKEDEV all" (which makes me wonder what the current working
    directory in that place is; maybe a NetBSD 2.0 MAKEDEV script should
    be put into that "." directory?)
  * 4.4: what's the exact path of the information file that one may want to
    display any additional information? Maybe add some explicit <pre>
    command that runs vi on that command as an example
  * 4.5: "Yor" -> "Your"
  * 5.1: Please point to one or more exact postings on the port-cobalt
    mailing list to help people find the right information, or even better,
    include it directly into your document (or make a seperate "how to use
    the restore CD" doc or section).


  - Hubert

-- 
NetBSD - Free AND Open!      (And of course secure, portable, yadda yadda)