Subject: Re: NetBSD vs OpenBSD sparc disklabels?????
To: NetBSD Bob <nbsdbob@weedcon1.cropsci.ncsu.edu>
From: Hugh Graham <hugh@openbsd.org>
List: port-sparc
Date: 02/15/2001 09:33:55
On Thu, Feb 15, 2001 at 11:05:38AM -0500, NetBSD Bob wrote:
> not to run Net-vs-Open on it.  Because of that silly disklabel
> incompabibility with OpenBSD, that probably will say I need to go
> with NetBSD on it, like on my VAXentoyz.
> 
These sorts of incompatibilies will complicate sharing disks between
any ufs, but I don't expect openbsd/vax and netbsd/vax labels are
completely incompatible yet. openbsd/vax is using a 16 filesystem
label now, but it should still read the smaller form..  At least
until you attempt to install boot code to it, at which point the
structures will get plastered.

> > > Anyone know if the VAX ports in NetBSD or OpenBSD have this problem?
> > > I tried unrolling a VAX OpenBSD port from NetBSD VAX, and it seemed
> > > that the disklabels may have been off, because the system would just
> > > not come up, at all, and jumped out to prom.
> > 
My guess is this was a boot problem rather than a label problem..
Perhaps a netbsd boot{,.mop} didn't pass its information exactly as
the openbsd kernel expected it to. Or it's also possible you tried
a system we haven't been able to complete support for (yet). Our
personal inventory of machines is not very great.

As for moving disks between openbsd/sparc and netbsd/vax, I suspect
you had an endian problem. Rather than issues between netbsd and
openbsd, it would have been fundamental to sparc vs vax.

> Bob

Regards,

/Hugh