Re: git: 39fdad34e220 - main - stand: impose 510,000 byte limit for /boot/loader and /boot/pxeldr

11.08.2022 10:31, Warner Losh wrote:

>     At this late date, it likely isn't worth the efforts to move parts of
>     the loader into high memory. There's a number of assumptions about where
>     the stack is, where buffers reside, etc that are fulfilled when it lives
>     in the first 640k that would need bounce buffers and/or other counter
>     measures if we were to split it up. All BIOS calls are done in 16-bit
>     mode with SEG:OFF addresses, requiring them to be in the first 640k of
>     RAM. And nearly all machines in the last decade can boot with UEFI
>     (though there's some exceptions, so it isn't worth killing outright
>     yet).

Also, there is still working hardware (32bit-only even) that pre-dates 10 years margin
like some PC104 platforms with BIOS-only boot  and great FreeBSD support.
For example, based on AMD Geode that runs FreeBSD 12.3-STABLE/i386 just fine.