I have a diskless netwinder that I boot may be once or twice a year for a test.
Its kernel is a slightly trimmed down GENERIC with most FS code disabled and with root on nfs hardcoded. The previos kernel: NetBSD 10.99.10 (SERIAL_FART) #0: Wed Dec 27 22:50:05 MSK 2023 worked ok and I build a few packages with it (no small feat, given it has 32MB RAM and the size of modern gcc). Current kernel NetBSD 10.99.12 (SERIAL_FART) #0: Thu Oct 17 01:50:07 MSK 2024 on the other hand, tends to wedge randomly while going multiuser. On a good run it can reach the login prompt, but on most attempts it wedges hard anywhere between "Not checking /:" and "Building databases:". Doesn't respond to pings, doesn't react to break (for ddb). Sometimes it panics early in the mutex code. Which makes me suspect some mutex related changes, I suppose. Things are a bit complicated as this unit is some development oddball that has its quirks and instabilities. But the current clearly has way more troble with it than can be explained away with this machine eccentricities. Does this ring a bell? -uwe
