Normally, the
NetBSD kernel on the mac68k architecture is booted from the native operating system by means of an application program. When the kernel takes over, it initializes itself and proceeds to boot the system. An automatic consistency check of the file systems takes place, and unless this fails, the system comes up to multi-user operations. The proper way to shut the system down is with the
shutdown(8) command.
If the system crashes, it will enter the kernel debugger,
ddb(4), if it is configured in the kernel. If the debugger is not present, or the debugger is exited, the system will attempt a dump to the configured dump device (which will be automatically recovered with
savecore(8) during the next boot cycle). After the dump is complete (successful or not), the system will attempt a reboot.
On most mac68k machines with "soft-power" after the IIcx, the power switch can be physically rotated and locked in the 'on' position. The native OS can be configured to automatically start the
NetBSD boot program. Additionally, the
NetBSD boot program can be configured to boot
NetBSD without intervention. When a system is so configured, it can crash or lose power and reboot back to a fully multi-user state without any intervention.