> On Fri, 13 Mar 2009 14:13:35 -0500 (CDT) "Aaron Martinez" > <[email protected]> wrote: > >> I'm running 4.4 Stable on i386 hardware and was wanting to make a >> release. >> >> I was reading through the release man page and noticed it said a >> GENERIC kernel is included with the release. I'm just wondering if >> there is a way to include or replace the generic kernel with a >> modified kernel. The only change i'm making is adding NTFS read >> support. >> >> Thanks >> >> Aaron >> > > You have a few different issues here: > 1.) NTFS support is clearly marked "experimental" > 2.) Enabling NTFS support *increases* the size of your kernel > 3.) Modifying 'GENERIC' 'GENERIC.MP' and 'RAMDISK*' is a very bad idea > because you'll be running kernels that others *think* are normal, but > are actually custom. > > You probably understood #1, but the ramifications of #2 are the real > killer, and #3 will only aggravate others if you need help. The increase > in kernel size can (and most likely will) break the creation of various > install images such as the floppy disk images (i.e. too big to fit on > the floppy). Even if you don't use floppy disk images for installing, > this is still a very bad idea. > > The easiest way to achieve what you want, namely to install a kernel > with NTFS support by default, is to keep the release as is, and use the > siteXX.tgz file to make modifications at the *end* of the installation > process (i.e. replacing the GENERIC kernel(s) you just installed with > the custom NTFS kernels you want to actually run). > > http://www.openbsd.org/faq/faq4.html#site
Thanks for the reminder.. It has been a while since i had read this section of the faq and had forgotten about this. > > At the very end of the installation process, the siteXX.tgz file is > unarchived in the same ways as the others (tar xzf siteXX.tgz) rooted > at the / directory. This means you should be able to over-write the > initially installed GENERIC kernels with your custom versions before > the first reboot. > > Personally, I would leave the GENERIC kernels on the system (just in > case) and *add* your custom kernels (SP MP) to the system with > different names. To have your system boot to your custom kernels, you > can use create a custom /etc/boot.conf and put that in your siteXX.tgz > file (see boot.conf(8) for details). Another great suggestion.. thanks!!! > > As long as you haven't done anything insane like having a super huge > root partition (resulting in the start of your custom kernels > potentially being outside of the bootable address range), you should > have no problems booting to your additional custom kernel(s) on most > modern x86 hardware. If you're using *really* old x86 hardware, you > might hit this problem. Typically, if you keep your root partition to > the 512MB suggested in the FAQ, you should be fine. > > -- > J.C. Roberts
