Setting sysctl variables BEFORE the kernel boots and runs init?

[Mike Hogsett]

> I would like to be able to set certain sysctl variables in the kernel,
> preferably BEFORE the kernel finishes booting and runs init, etc. (or at
> the worst case, very shortly after init runs) I thought I remembered
> that there was a way to do this through the boot loader.  Can anyone
> enlighten me?  Thanks.

Although I haven't done this myself, I think a start may be reading the
man pages for loader(8), loader.conf(5) and boot(8).

 - Mike