FYI: rudimentary loader for ppcbug-based systems

[Jaworowski Rafal-ARJ004]

>
>> The first piece of functionality I want to achieve is 
>netbooting the kernel. At the moment 
>> the loader is able to mount nfs-exported directory, browse 
>it and load elf files across the
>> network. I didn't get to execute the actual powerpc kernel 
>yet but that's the next step. 
>> I'm using a compactPCI MCP750 board if you're interested.
>
> I think you'll run into OpenFirmware dependencies very 
>quickly in the kernel. However,
>it might not be that difficult to fix that, and it needs to be 
>done at some point anyways.
>

Yes. I already know that locore.S and friends are very OF oriented. What I'm mostly concerned about is the pmap area but I need to see to it and better understand.

What do you think is the right way of adding support in the kernel for another firmware but within the same architecture (powerpc in this case)? Should we just have a number of #ifdefs where appropriate, or maybe we should think about separating some bits and defining clean interfaces to common parts?
Eventually I intend to let my work be merged with existing powerpc code in the tree and that's why I'd like to know what course to take. For now I'll just be using conditional compilation flags.

Rafal