ad@netbsd.org said:
> AFAIR the format of machdep.booted_kernel isn't consistant across all
> ports. This needs to be accounted for.

Right - its meaning depends on the port and on the local setup.
It should be at least controllable by a rc.conf variable
whether it is used blindly.

(I'm eg loading the kernel with TFTP on many systems.)

best regards
Matthias