INSTALL kernel [Re: CVS commit: src/distrib]

[Manuel Bouyer <bouyer%antioche.eu.org@localhost>]

On Fri, Nov 21, 2008 at 03:49:52PM +0000, Andrew Doran wrote:
> 
> Module Name:  src
> Committed By: ad
> Date:         Fri Nov 21 15:49:52 UTC 2008
> 
> Modified Files:
>       src/distrib/cdrom: current.conf
>       src/distrib/i386: Makefile
>       src/distrib/i386/cdroms: Makefile.cdrom
>       src/distrib/i386/cdroms/bootcd: Makefile boot.cfg.in
>       src/distrib/i386/cdroms/bootcd-com: Makefile
>       src/distrib/i386/cdroms/installcd: Makefile boot.cfg.in
>       src/distrib/i386/ramdisks/common: dot.profile
> Removed Files:
>       src/distrib/i386/kmod: Makefile
> 
> Log Message:
> Switch the i386 installation CDs away from RAM disks and instead use the
> CD-ROM as the root file system. It contains a limited subset of $DESTDIR
> along with sysinst. This will help to massively reduce the amount of memory
> needed to install from CD or netboot, and allow us to continue using the
> generic kernel on the CDs.

Another side effect of this change is that it makes it impossible to load
via tftp a standalone kernel for install/rescue (i.e.
you need a NFS server along with the tftp server). the INSTALL_FLOPPY
is not suitable for this because it lacks drivers for the most recent
ethernet and disk adapters.

Should we add back a INSTALL kernel for this purpose, which would hold
the needed device, filesystems and kernel options to do a PXE install ?

I'm doing exclusively PXE installs at work (when I boot from CD it's
to test the boot media). The requirement for a root on NFS makes
things much more difficult, because it needs a specific dhcp config
on a case by case basis (while, with a tftp-only solution, all can
be done from a pxelinux menu).

-- 
Manuel Bouyer <bouyer%antioche.eu.org@localhost>
     NetBSD: 26 ans d'experience feront toujours la difference
--