On 14 Jun 2003, Perry E. Metzger wrote:

> Frederick Bruckman <fredb@immanent.net> writes:
> > > I made that change. I did it to permit people to dual boot NetBSD and
> > > FreeBSD.
> >
> > I believe that you'd need a custom kernel without
> > COMPAT_386BSD_MBRPART to actually do that, though.
>
> Likely.
>
> > Why is that still on in GENERIC?
>
> To make it easier for people with the old MBR ID to boot a new
> kernel. Whether it is still needed is a matter for debate.
>
> > As long as there's an option to change the ID in sysinstall, it's
> > not needed.
>
> Not everyone uses sysinst to upgrade systems. I never do, for
> example. I just unpack a new kernel, reboot, and then unpack the sets...

True. However, if someone were to update their ancient i386 running
1.3.1 to 2.0 that way, and render it unbootable, it would be an easy
fix to boot from a sysinstall floppy and change the MBR ID.

Frederick