Issues with NetBSD 11 install on macppc

●To: port-macppc%netbsd.org@localhost, tech-install%netbsd.org@localhost ●Subject: Issues with NetBSD 11 install on macppc ●From: John Klos <john%klos.com@localhost> ●Date: Wed, 8 Oct 2025 23:17:14 +0000 (UTC)

Hi, all,

I rarely use sysinst because most of my systems have had NetBSD installed for ages. I decided to give it a go on a Mac mini, though, after replacing a failing SSD.


Several things stand out as being problematic:

When trying to fetch sets from the Internet, /usr/bin/ftp as part of the installer says:


ftp: Unsupported URL scheme 'https'

Ok. I used http via a physically local web server instead.

In the post-install setup menu, I selected download and install pkgsrc, and let it use the default location for downloading pkgsrc. While untargzipping, I saw lots of "tar: File extended headers posix ustar archive. Extracting as plain files. Following files might be in the wrong directory or have wrong attributes."


After the OS was installed, I found these in /usr/pkgsrc:

./devel/bazel/patches/PaxHeader
./lang/kaffe/patches/PaxHeader
./www/basilisk/patches/PaxHeader
./www/chromium/patches/PaxHeader
./www/palemoon/patches/PaxHeader
./x11/qt5-qtwebengine/patches/PaxHeader

These were paths that were cut off like so:

devel/bazel/patches/patch-src_test_java_com_google_devtools_build_lib_bazel_repository_LocalConfigPlatformFunctionTest.
devel/bazel/patches/patch-src_test_java_com_google_devtools_build_lib_runtime_commands_CleanCommandRecommendsAsyncTest.

Surely this desired during an install.

Finally, I noticed that ofwboot.xcf can't boot a GENERIC kernel, which is 12,997,380 bytes, but can boot after gzipping to netbsd.gz, which is 5,815,530 bytes. Is it because of the size? Or does ofwboot.xcf expect gzipped files?

The disk is set up with an HFS (not +) partition at the beginning of the disk with ofwboot.xcf, netbsd-INSTALL.gz, and netbsd copied to it. netbsd-INSTALL.gz booted fine, netbsd didn't, then when I gzipped netbsd and copied it there, that booted. This is a Mac mini G4, BTW.


Here's a picture of the boot failure:

https://www.klos.com/~john/failedmacppcboot.jpg

Other than that, the system runs well and is happy :)

https://dmesgd.nycbug.org/dmesgd?do=view&id=8584

John

●Follow-Ups: ●Re: Issues with NetBSD 11 install on macppc ●From: Valery Ushakov ●Re: Issues with NetBSD 11 install on macppc ●From: Tom Lane

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