> Since I partitioned the disk with /usr, /var, /etc, and /home on
> different disks, NetBSD complained that it had no /etc/rc.

/etc on a different disk?  Wow, that's pushing the envelope more than
even I do.

> I was thinking that I could put a copy of the rc scripts on the /
> slice, but that means I have to maintain two copies of the files.

Perhaps not entirely.  You could put an /etc/rc in the root filesystem
that just mounts /etc and then runs the real /etc/rc.

> Is thier a way to make the kernel mount all the filesystems prior to
> loading init, preferably without looking up anything in /etc?

Of course.  But it means teaching the kernel about a bunch of stuff
that traditional opinion holds the kernel has no business knowing on
its own, like what mount path corresponds to what partition.  Since
there's presently no support for it, it also means hacking the code.

The kernel has to get that information _somewhere_.  You can either put
it somewhere in / and make the kernel read it from there or you can
stick it into the kernel at build time.  The latter is perhaps easier
to make work, but harder to update when you fiddle with where your
filesystems live.

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