Re: Two questions about the Vax installation guide...

[Perry Metzger <perry%piermont.com@localhost>]

On 8/4/25 06:42, Anders Magnusson wrote:
> Morning Perry,
>
> Den 2025-08-03 kl. 22:17, skrev Perry Metzger:
> > 1. The installation guide says to get a mopd from 
> > ftp.stacken.kth.se:/pub/OS/NetBSD/mopd -- however, this machine is 
> > long dead. (I know how to build myself a mopd, but it's nice if the 
> > install documents tell the truth for a new user.)
> Hm, that is the master distribution.  Need to check with Stacken where 
> it has gone today.

Might this be hosted off a NetBSD machine instead? It would assure that 
the package and the install instructions were maintained by the same 
group and would not disappear easily.

> > 2. The netboot/ directory that gets built these days has four files 
> > in it, boot, boot.mop, install.ram.gz, and install.ram.symbols.gz — 
> > it is unclear what install.ram.gz etc. are for. The install docs 
> > mention a netbsd.ram.gz but that's not in the directory and it isn't 
> > clear if these are the same, or what the "ram" in the name indicates.
> Heh, that is probably an ancient typo.  They are the same, yes.

It should be fixed in one direction or another. (Honestly I think 
"netbsd.ram.gz" is a better name...)

(It's also not clear what the distinction between boot and boot.mop is...)

> > 3. The guide claims that there is a a directory called 
> > installation/misc that contains "Miscellaneous vax installation 
> > utilities; see installation section below." -- this directory does 
> > not appear to exist and no further reference is made to it.
> That directory have never existed.  I assume that text have appeared 
> in some aligning of the install docs with some other port.
I wonder it did exist at some point long ago; there's all sorts of 
standalone utilities we shipped for most ports 30 years ago to aid in 
installation. The process used to be that after the release got 
auto-built that the portmaster would copy those things in to the 
release. (This lack of automation was probably a mistake and was 
probably my fault.)

For the VAX in particular, there seem to be a bunch of utilities of 
various kinds kicking around in src/sys/arch/vax that might have been 
part of 4.4 or our stuff at one point long ago.


Perry