Re: How do I build a custom installer?

[Chris Tucker <capa150%gmail.com@localhost>]

Oh, man ... I figured it out finally.

I'm pretty new to this so I'm not super confident in my analysis of
what I'm doing, but what I think I did was use the wrong kernel.

I used the kernel mentioned in the build.sh summary posted at the end
of the build process, the one that says the kernel is built in:

/home/chris/obj/sys/arch/macppc/compile/GENERIC_MD3/netbsd  (my naming
of kernel here)

But after messing with the find command and poking around a bit, I
tried the kernels in

/home/chris/obj/distrib/macppc  instead and those are working well ...
well, at least, so far. It's booting into the installer just like the
official Netbsd 10.1 kernel on the official ISO does, where it asks
for terminal time and if I want to install or go to shell.

And -- critically -- it's using my modified kernel that forces the hdd
into UDMA mode 2 (instead of mode 5, which is what it does otherwise).

https://i.ibb.co/tTmMvC6m/macppc-udma2.jpg

Yay.

I'll do some more testing to make sure this _actually_ works beyond
just initial boot, but this is a big step forward.

Thanks for your help!

Chris.

On Thu, Feb 13, 2025 at 4:17 PM Chris Tucker <capa150%gmail.com@localhost> wrote:
>
> "Which kernel?  The one you boot from once the system is
> installed, or the kernel you boot from the CD-ROM, to get into
> the installer?"
>
> Normally I use the kernel included in the macppc NetBSD 10.1 ISO.
> This is the version that when booted asks if you want to install or go
> to the shell, and will run sysinst and a few other minimal set of
> applications.
>
> My goal is to create a bootable kernel just like that, only modified
> with the wd flag set to 0x0aac so my display isn't spammed with
> hundreds of complaints related to NetBSD trying to run my hard disk on
> UDMA mode 4 or mode 3 (CRC warnings). My Blue and White G3 only seems
> happy to run the drive at UDMA mode 2 or lower.
>
> I've compiled the regular kernel with this flag and this eliminates
> the CRC errors. However, it would be nice if I could also get the
> kernel that comes with the ISO to also have this flag.
>
> I've been working off GENERIC_MD as per the install instructions:
> "netbsd-GENERIC_MD.gz A gzipped NetBSD kernel containing code for
> everything supported in this release. It also has a RAM-disk
> installer. This is the kernel you should use when you want to install
> via netboot, from a CD-R, or an HFS partition on Open Firmware 3
> systems."
>
> "The config for the installer kernel is sys/arch/macppc/conf/INSTALL"
>
> According to the install instructions: "netbsd-INSTALL.gz A gzipped
> NetBSD kernel containing code only for Open Firmware 1.0.5, 1.1.22,
> 2.0.x, and 2.4 systems (i.e. those that have floppy drives). It has a
> RAM-disk installer."
>
> But my Blue-and-White is Open Firmware 3.x.
>
> So far I've made two attempts with build.sh:
> ./build.sh -U -j8 -O /home/chris/obj -m macppc -a powerpc
> kernel=GENERIC_MD3 install-image live-image
>
> and
>
> ./build.sh -U -j8 -O /home/chris/obj -m macppc -a powerpc
> kernel=GENERIC_MD3 install-image release
>
> (I am cross-compiling on a AMD64 netbsd).
>
> And both compiled successfully, however neither resulted in a
> functional kernel, as I get a message like:
> 14813292!!! CLAIM PHYS 0X100000 RETURNED 0xe01c88
> !!! FAILED TO CLAIM PHYS 0X100000 size 0xe21000
> read section
> start-0x0
> DEFAULT CATCH!, code=900 at $SRR0: ff818d70 $SRR1: 000b030
>
> during boot. (with the OF boot command being boot
> /pci@80000000/pci-bridge@d/Ultra-Tek100P@4/sd:,\ofwboot.xcf netbsd
> with both those files placed in the root HFS partition as usual.)
>
> I did a reset-all in Open Firmware per the macppc faq but that did not
> resolve this error.
>
> Chris.
>
> On Tue, Feb 11, 2025 at 5:21 PM Valery Ushakov <uwe%stderr.spb.ru@localhost> wrote:
> >
> > On Mon, Feb 10, 2025 at 18:32:17 -0800, Chris Tucker wrote:
> >
> > > To make my installer kernel, I lightly modified GENERIC_MD and built it.
> >
> > The config for the installer kernel is sys/arch/macppc/conf/INSTALL
> >
> >
> > -uwe