Re: bootable NetBSD CDs

[David Young <dyoung%pobox.com@localhost>]

On Mon, Oct 31, 2011 at 10:59:23PM -0600, Brook Milligan wrote:
> I am trying to make some NetBSD CDs that will boot on Intel- and
> AMD-based hardware (including systems normally running Mac OS X).  I'm
> pretty sure I understand how to set up the filesystem prior to writing
> the ISO image.  I believe it should contain the following:
> 
> - a more or less complete (as needed) NetBSD release,
> - a kernel with root on cd0a,
> - a copy of bootxx_cd9660, and
> - a means of creating memory filesystem images for writable parts of
>   the filesystem.
> 
> Have I missed anything?  I know I can create a similar image
> (differing only in the kernel (root on sd0a) and boot loader
> (bootxx_ffsv1)) for a USB drive that works fine, so I hope I have this
> right.
> 
> Assuming that is correct, I am more concerned about actually mastering
> the ISO image with mkisofs, as I am pretty confused by the maze of
> options and do not fully understand the intended contents of a CD that
> can be booted on different hardware like this.
> 
> One suggestion is to use the following command line:
> 
>     mkisofs -no-emul-boot -J -R -v -b bootxx_cd9660 -o ISO_IMAGE 
> ISO_FILESYSTEM

makefs -t cd9660 will do what you want, and it is easier to use.  You
can feed it a metalog and in that way avoid using root privileges to
prototype the filesystem on your local disk.  If the examples in the
manual page and in build.sh are not sufficient, I can provide additional
ones.

Dave

-- 
David Young             OJC Technologies is now Pixo
dyoung%pixotech.com@localhost     Urbana, IL   (217) 344-0444 x24