Subject: Re: "swapinstall" (i386, probably others)
To: Hubert Feyrer <hubert@feyrer.de>
From: Perry E. Metzger <perry@piermont.com>
List: port-i386
Date: 06/26/2005 02:14:54
Hubert Feyrer <hubert@feyrer.de> writes:
> A friend asked me if NetBSD supportd "swapinstall", i.e. boot install
> media from swap - seems it's possible at least when NetBSD (with swap
> partition and bootloader) is already installed:

We used to do that, but it is a pretty inconvenient -- indeed horrible
-- way to do things. It forces you to do several reboots during an
install, and it forces you to pick a swap partition size way too early
in the process. Why would you ever want to it if you can avoid it?

Back when there wasn't enough room on install media and you needed to
load a tape or lots of little floppies somewhere so you could install,
it was a decent idea, but these days I'd say it is a horrible thing to
try to resurrect -- what possible advantage could it give you? There
is a good reason we got rid of such horrors.

Perry