Running Old a.out x86 Binaries on NetBSD

[Dan Plassche <dplassche%gmail.com@localhost>]

Hello,

I have a NetBSD 6.2 32-bit system setup to run old x86 a.out binaries
directly.  I'm currently running NetBSD 1.4 binaries, but now looking
to target release 0.9 as well.  Some binaries from release 0.9 are
producing significant errors (ls causes a kernel crash), so I am
trying to identify the issue.

The kernel compatability options and the pkgsrc compat libraries seem
to be setup correctly.  I have a kernel compiled with the relevant
COMPAT options (COMPAT_43, COMPAT_NOMID, COMPAT_09, COMPAT_1[0-4], and
COMPAT_BSDPTY).  The compat libraries from
/usr/pkgsrc/emulators/compat1[2-4]* are installed.  I made sure to run
ldconfig on the newly installed libraries at
/emul/aout/usr/lib:/emul/aout/X11R6/lib.  I also have the kernel
COMPAT options and the pkgsrc compat libraries installed for later
releases as well.

Most release 0.9 binaries work correctly.  However, I'm seeing errors
with ls and pwd during testing.  The ls command produces no output
when given only a path as an argument (eg "ls /"), but crashes the
kernel when called with the -l flag for a list.  The pwd command also
shows only a "no such file or directory" error.  Incidentally, the
same problem occurs with the ls and pwd binaries from NetBSD 1.0, 1.1,
and 1.2 (later verions starting with 1.3 work).

I have run ktrace and kdump on these commands in addition to reviewing
at the kernel crash log, but could not find an obvious error in my
setup.  The error I receive when the kernel crashes is as follows:

     uvm_fault(0xc1a21510, 0, 1) -> 0xe
     fatal page fault in supervisor mode
     trap type 6 code 0 eip c08828a6 cs 8 eflags 282 cr2 4c ilevel 0
     panic: trap
     cpu0: Begin traceback...
     printf_nolog(c0b76347,d8b81ac4,c08828a6,8,282,4c,0,d8b81b08,c085947c)
at netbsd:printf_nolog
     trap_tss() at netbsd:trap_tss
     --- trap via task gate ---
     6:
     cpu0: End traceback...

Please let me know if any further information, such as the kdump on a
command or the kernel crash debug results, would be helpful.  I have a
test system available.


Thank you,

Dan Plassche


-- 
Dan Plassche