This can be disabled (to save a bit of space) with the NO_KERNEL_RCSIDS
options, which is present but commented out in the ALPHA config file.
In ELF-format kernels, these strings are present in the kernel binary but
are not loaded into memory. (In ECOFF-format kernels, there's no easy way
to keep them from being loaded, so they _are_ loaded into memory.)
a char *, because that's what was really intended, and because
if the print function modifies the string, various things could become
unhappy (so the string should _not_ be modified).
reasons: it won't attach as console, and there's currently no way to do
keyboard input on TC machines), and has no real RAMDAC (colormap, cursor,
etc.) support. Digital UNIX does not support CFB frame buffers in the
Alpha, but they appear to work OK (with an appropriate monitor) in my
3000/300.
thorpej