In message <87psu7i8mq.fsf@snark.piermont.com>, "Perry E. Metzger" writes:
>
>Frank van der Linden <fvdl@netbsd.org> writes:
>> CD-booting code should definitely be in the tree, and eventually the
>> default.
>>
>> However, like Hubert already pointed out, we do not yet have a native
>> ISO image creation program in the tree, so it can't be made the
>> default yet.
>>
>> However, if you have work that you can commit, go for it!
>
>I think the big current issue is not "do we replace floppy installs
>with CD installs" but rather "do we replace the way that CD installs
>work". We have no iso image creator now, so it will make no difference
>if CD installs switch from El Torrito.
>
>We can then get rid of the limitations on the floppy installs (like
>limiting them to two floppies instead of three or more) that are based
>on trying to avoid breaking El Torrito for the CDs.
>

I think this is exactly the right solution: keep the floppy install 
mechanism, but switch the default to 3 floppies, while changing the CD 
install mechanism to a more modern mechanism that doesn't have a 2.88 
MB limit.  (There's a certain irony to our current situation: it's 
easier to have larger boot images on floppies than on CDs....)

		--Steven M. Bellovin, http://www.cs.columbia.edu/~smb