Paul Sander  (paul@wakawaka.com) wrote:

>I know this was asked recently, but I can't find the answer in the 
>archives of
>several lists on the netbsd.org site.  :-(
>
[...]

>Now when I boot up NetBSD for the first time and do a df, it shows that
>my root partition is "-111%" full, and the space used exceeds the total
>capaciity.  This is a real pain because when I use echo to write my
>/etc/ifconfig.* files and append to my /etc/fstab file I get "disk full"
>errors.
>
>I'm aware of a limitation of the Mkfs application in that it cannot create
>filesystems that span a 1GB boundary on a disk, and I'm carefully avoiding
>it.  I have successfully loaded earlier releases of NetBSD (v1.3 and v1.4) on
>a IIci, a Quadra 840AV and a couple of Centris 650s in the past with no
>problems.
>
Not always true, this is an old wife's tale.  Mkfs works on any size disk 
(i've used it on an 18.2 Gig drive).  The Installer sometimes has 
problems with large partitions beyond the 1 Gig limit and this _MAY_ be 
due to the way Mkfs created and initialize the partition.  It's also 
possible that certain combinations of systems, controllers and disks may 
set up conditions that cause Mkfs or the Installer to have difficulties. 
The bottom line is try it and if it works use it.

>The Mkfs version I'm using is the one that has no version number in its
>name on the NetBSD distribution.  (There are two or three versions of all
>of Mkfs, Installer, and Booter; the older ones seem to have version numbers
>in their names.)
>
You'd have to be using a version of Mkfs that's older than dirt then. The 
SCSI ID/selection screen has the version number at the top.

>What's causing this, and how do I fix it?

Most likely what you've done is used Mkfs 1.46 which no longer exists 
because it has this problem.  Look in arch/mac68k/installation for Mkfs 
1.47 and use it instead.  It solves the problem you describe.

-bob