Re: Synology DS109+ booting NetBSD (to root prompt)

[Frank Wille <frank%phoenix.owl.de@localhost>]

Greg Toxel wrote:

> Why do we have to have so many different 'arches'?  I get it that some
> processor families are different enough that one can't
> (currently/easily) build a single kernel that supports both, but I
> think we already have that, and I don't see the benefit of splitting to
> many.

What is the disadvantage in having many ports?
Changes in the MI kernel interfaces would have to be updated in more places?

I'm not sure if that really would be the case. When everything is in evbppc,
you also have to check and fix several files and directories.


> I could see ppc vs ppce (booke ppc), but I'm boggled by evbpcc
> and nasppc being different.  What's the reason it can't fit in one?

IMHO not only the CPU architecture decides about a port, but also common
aspects in the rest of the hardware (e.g. Amiga vs. Atari vs. Mac68k),
especially when you have lots of devices which only exist for a single
architecture. Also similar firmwares or bootloaders might play a role
(U-Boot, OFW, etc.).

And yes, BOOKE is so different that I would vote for a separate port (maybe
including 440). :)

-- 
Frank Wille