Subject: sysinst debugging how-to?
To: None <tech-install@netbsd.org>
From: Hauke Fath <hauke@Espresso.Rhein-Neckar.DE>
List: tech-install
Date: 10/25/2005 22:26:48
Hi list,

I am currently looking at PR 29049: Since the NetBSD 2 release,
NetBSD/mac68k ships with an install kernel incapable of installing. It's
not that we had any user base to waste...

On mac68k, sysinst proceeds from the "Really install?" question directly to
"Unpacking the sets", skipping (at least) the newfs, fsck and mount stages.
The sysinst log gives no hint. The binary sets then get unpacked into the
ramdisk, which can only take so many of them.

The "workaround" is to ^Z sysinst in the "Really install?" dialog,
newfs/fsck/mount to /targetroot manually, and resume - or, for the less
knowledgeable, to install NetBSD 1.6 and upgrade from there.

Now, looking through the sysinst sources for the weak spot, I am quite
impressed, but also a bit daunted and confused: The overall structure and
control flow isn't clear to me.

Is there anything which explains overall structure and "what's where" of
sysinst? How would you go about building and debugging sysinst?

Can it be built and run on an "normal" system, or does it need to live
within its installkernel ramdisk?

Any helpful comments appreciated,

	hauke


--
"It's never straight up and down"     (DEVO)