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

[Anders Magnusson <ragge%tethuvudet.se@localhost>]

    Den 2025-08-04 kl. 15:06, skrev Perry Metzger:
> 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.
>       
>     
    I checked with Stacken, and the (physical) machine went down 2025-06-11 due to reorganization of the rack.
The machine will reappear as a vm.
> > > 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...)
>       
>     
    True.  boot is in ELF and boot.mop is in MOP format :-)
    
> > > 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.)
>       
>     
    I couldn't remember having ever had something extra, so I looked
    into the distributions 1.5-1.5, but no such dir existed...?
    
>       
>       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.
    
    -- Ragge