Subject: Re: NetBSD and root fs
To: Marcin Jessa <lists@yazzy.org>
From: Hubert Feyrer <hubert@feyrer.de>
List: tech-embed
Date: 03/31/2005 01:33:52
On Wed, 30 Mar 2005, Marcin Jessa wrote:
> How would you do a "firmware" upgrade on a running NetBSD system ?
> Any ideas how it can be done ?
> Would it be possible to just upload new kernel image to a rw mounted file system and overwrite existing one mounting the root fs rw ?
> How do NetBSD folks do things like that ?

Um... by "firmware" one usually understands the kind of software stored 
into a system's ROM or so, which is responsible for the very early steps 
of the boot process, e.g. on a PC to read the MBR etc.

You do not update that from NetBSD - there are usually boot disks from the 
PC/hardware vendor to do so, and there's not much help the (any) operating 
system can do in that process, I'm afraid. At least NetBSD doesn't provide 
anything as far as I know.

If you mean just replacing a few files like kernel and other funstuff on a 
local filesystem (CF card, whatever), that's different.

But I'm not sure what exactly you mean here.


> I am intenting to write a HowTo/Guide for the generations to come.

Excellent!


  - Hubert

-- 
NetBSD - Free AND Open!      (And of course secure, portable, yadda yadda)