On Fri, 31 Jan 1997 05:18:40 -0800 (PST) 
 Paul Goyette <paul@pgoyette.bdt.com> wrote:

 > Will this new syntax work with:
 > 
 >   config	netbsd root on ? type ffs swap on sd0b and sd1b
 > 
 > The intent is to have a kernel that can boot from any drive (so it can be
 > copied to an /altroot, rather than having to compile a 2nd custom kernel
 > to run from the alternate root device) yet have that kernel use fixed swap
 > partitions.  The previous "swap generic" mechanism precluded specifying
 > where the (multiple) swap partitions were if you made a generic kernel.

Interesting that you bring it up... :-)

I actually made a concious decision to _not_ support this.  Leo Weppleman,
the atari port-master, asked about this before I committed it to the
tree... My rationale for not allowing that syntax is that, very soon,
the swdevt[] will go away, and swap will be added dynamically to devices,
regular files, etc.  Adding the support which you speak of actually
would make the code a fair more complex (both config(8) and setroot()),
and I didn't feel comfortable adding the extra complexity just to remove
it again when the new vm_swap.c is committed (which will hopefully be
in a couple of weeks, tops).

(FWIW, not all platforms consistently allowed extra swdevt[] entries
like you describe... at least now it's consistent :-)

Jason R. Thorpe                                       thorpej@nas.nasa.gov
NASA Ames Research Center                               Home: 408.866.1912
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