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> Alex, you're a good guy for keeping this up.

Thank you...I just figure it ought to be done, and someone's got to keep it 
rolling. 

> Every time I write something down, I come to the
> realization that this is an onion we're peeling and I
> usually end up screwing up the lower I get (because
> I'm not hugely experienced with what's going on at the
> protocol level). 

Don't feel bad about it, man...for one, I'm probably at about the same 
technical level as you, and I figure things out...and for two, if you write 
something up and it's wrong, you'll just end up learning from the mistake. 
Unlike my experiences on OpenBSD lists (an OS I'd like to contribute to, but 
I can't find anything that hasn't been done/I don't get flamed about), 
everyone here is nice, not a megalomaniac/asswipe, and willing to help 
others learn. I'd press forward, doing as well as I could, and just be 
corrected as necessary. 

> I think the first thing that we need to make it clear
> is that there are 2 distinct things that happen here
> that I needed help with (which are unique to
> netbooting): 
> 
> 1. Loading the Kernel (network or CD)
> 2. Mounting the root filesystem over NFS 
> 
> If we treat these 2 things seperately, I think it may
> help. I understand bootstrapping from disk fairly
> well, so maybe some references to that where
> applicable would help?

Quite possibly. 

> Make it clear that loading a kernel over a network is
> a very "rudimentary" process and is very hardware
> specific (as the man page points out). But after the
> kernel loads, it is a rather smart program that can
> handle things at a higher level, which is where the
> nfs server setup comes in (still not trivial, but not
> so dependent on low level protocol skills).

Again, a good point. Honestly, I think the more that is said in this 
document, the better. A lot of documentation makes the mistake of assuming 
that the user already knows a great deal -- when the average person reading 
the docs is coming there because they don't know a lot, and the person who's 
above average can very easily skim through to what they need to pick up. 
While there's a fine line between being overly verbose and not detailed 
enough, I think it's usually better to err on the side of over-explanation. 

> I don't know... I'm probably not the right guy to do
> this after all.

Come on, man, don't give up like that! No, you're not a kernel guru or 
anything like that...but you've got a fair amount of knowledge, you've got 
some of the stronger initiative I've seen on this list (or on many other 
lists, for that matter), and you've got the practical benefit of being 
closer to the "average user" -- meaning that, if you understand it all well 
when it's done, it should be a good, accessible document. Besides, the 
longer you stretch yourself out working on projects that are just a bit 
beyond your current grasp/understanding, the more you'll learn, the better 
you'll get, and the more likely that some day, you *will* be a kernel guru 
sort (if you so choose). 

Oh, and keep in mind, while the above sounds like just a pep talk/rant, it's 
been my personal experience in learning *NIX, so there's probably at least 
some truth to it. :-) 

Alex Kirk 


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