Subject: Re: Another changer, another changer problem
To: NetBSD-current Discussion List <>
From: David Maxwell <>
List: current-users
Date: 10/07/1998 22:32:28
On Wed, Oct 07, 1998 at 05:08:57PM -0400, Greg A. Woods wrote:
> Whoa!  We're definitely not talking about the way Solaris does it!
> (except perhaps as a fundamentally flawed example)

Yes, I was simply refering to the capability to say 'No, I know I
built the kernel with ne0 on IRQ 10, but that card blew up, my
replacement card doesn't do IRQ 10, it does 2/9, and I don't have
kernel sources on this machine. (And If I did, I want the system
back up faster than if I have to rebuild a kernel just now.) Change
ne0 on irq10 -> ne0 on irq9'

That shouldn't be that big a deal, unless there are a lot of ties
in the kernel build I'm not aware of. If I build a kernel with the
above, and rebuild with a different IRQ, will I have two kernels
with 1 byte of difference between them?

> The FreeBSD run-time device configuration system is merely a way of
> over-riding the probe information between the time the probes are done
> and the devices are attached.  I'm not certain it currently offers a way
> to wire down device devices in the way we're talking about, but that's
> an obvious extension of the mechanism.

I'm talking about changing them even before probing. I can see lots of 
snags in sticking that process in mid-boot.

> Of course if you're running decent hardware where you can give the the
> PROM some idea of where the console should point, and assuming you're

PROM's not needed, as long as your bootblocks are intact. If your disk
is gone, I wouldn't be counting on the PROMs doing much good to help
you reinstall the disk...

(Yeah yeah, boot le0, rarp, tftp, rarp, bootparamd, nfs, kernel,
disklabel.... I know, but I don't have the patience to try that

> This is, of course, all blue-sky dreaming at the moment (though I will
> note that there are existing systems where a reboot will redirect the
> console to the user's current tty).

Which of course begs the question.... How do you get the damn console
back where it belongs afterwards?? I often run into Suns that have
/dev/console -> /dev/random_tty

David Maxwell,| --> Mastery of UNIX, like