Subject: Re: !!!IMPORTANT!!!: new partition ID
To: Brian Stark <bstark@siemens-psc.com>
From: Perry E. Metzger <perry@piermont.com>
List: port-i386
Date: 02/19/1998 11:37:01
Brian Stark writes:
> How will this affect users who upgrade to the next release of NetBSD 
> when it is available? 

GENERIC for 1.4 will include COMPAT_386BSD_MBRPART.
It is likely that GENERIC for 2.0 and beyond will not.

You get at least one full release to upgrade, and sysinst will upgrade
you automatically. It is probable that if you don't upgrade by 2.0 and
you try to boot a 2.0 GENERIC kernel *and* you don't add the flag *and*
you don't change your MBR type, you will lose.

The big issue is with people using -current who blythely continue to
use their old kernel config file. YOU WILL LOSE. It is important that
you add the option to your config file now.

> Another thing I am wondering about, is why was this change necessary? 
> Does NetBSD want to have its own ID number, or is there new functionality 
> associated with this change?

There are many people that would like to dual boot FreeBSD and NetBSD
and have a hellish time doing so. This allows them to do so
easily. That is why it was important.

Perry