diff -Nur linux.orig/Documentation/Configure.help linux/Documentation/Configure.help
--- linux.orig/Documentation/Configure.help	Mon Oct 22 14:57:05 2001
+++ linux/Documentation/Configure.help	Mon Oct 22 15:08:52 2001
@@ -737,6 +737,35 @@
   called nbd.o.
 
   If unsure, say N.
+  
+Network disk device support
+CONFIG_BLK_DEV_NWD 
+  If you say Y here, your kernel will be able to act as network disk 
+  client and provide you with network disk block devices. This is 
+  similar to NBD in that the driver forwards block device requests 
+  over network to server, which performs the operations on files on 
+  its local filesystem and returns results back to the client. The 
+  driver will enlarge your kernel by about 8 KiB.
+  
+  Unlike NBD though, NWD it uses RPC to transfer block device requests 
+  to the server. The network disk devices can be also used for root 
+  filesystems, making it easy to setup diskless environment -- all you 
+  need is kernel image with network drivers. The RPC transport protocol
+  can be either TCP/IP or UDP/IP, the latter being the default one and 
+  probably the one more suitable for reliable, local area networks. The
+  driver utilizes built-in kernel SunRPC infrastructure, thus saying Y 
+  here will force SunRPC into your kernel, which will enlarge it by 
+  about 65 KiB.
+  
+  Consult <file:Documentation/nwd.txt> for more information concerning 
+  the kernel client driver and user space server.
+  
+  If you want to compile this driver as a module (i.e. code which can be
+  inserted in and removed from the running kernel whenever you want),
+  say M here and read <file:Documentation/modules.txt>. The module will be
+  called nwd.o.
+
+  If unsure, say N.
 
 ATA/IDE/MFM/RLL support
 CONFIG_IDE
diff -Nur linux.orig/Makefile linux/Makefile
--- linux.orig/Makefile	Mon Oct 22 14:57:05 2001
+++ linux/Makefile	Mon Oct 22 15:08:52 2001
@@ -185,6 +185,7 @@
 DRIVERS-$(CONFIG_SGI_IP22) += drivers/sgi/sgi.a
 DRIVERS-$(CONFIG_VT) += drivers/video/video.o
 DRIVERS-$(CONFIG_PARIDE) += drivers/block/paride/paride.a
+DRIVERS-$(CONFIG_BLK_DEV_NWD) += drivers/block/nwd/nwd.o
 DRIVERS-$(CONFIG_HAMRADIO) += drivers/net/hamradio/hamradio.o
 DRIVERS-$(CONFIG_TC) += drivers/tc/tc.a
 DRIVERS-$(CONFIG_USB) += drivers/usb/usbdrv.o
diff -Nur linux.orig/drivers/block/Config.in linux/drivers/block/Config.in
--- linux.orig/drivers/block/Config.in	Mon Oct 22 14:54:31 2001
+++ linux/drivers/block/Config.in	Mon Oct 22 15:08:52 2001
@@ -48,6 +48,7 @@
   
 dep_mbool '  Encryption support (see Crypto section) (EXPERIMENTAL)'  CONFIG_BLK_DEV_LOOP_GEN $CONFIG_BLK_DEV_LOOP
 dep_tristate 'Network block device support' CONFIG_BLK_DEV_NBD $CONFIG_NET
+dep_tristate 'Network disk device support' CONFIG_BLK_DEV_NWD $CONFIG_NET
 
 tristate 'RAM disk support' CONFIG_BLK_DEV_RAM
 if [ "$CONFIG_BLK_DEV_RAM" = "y" -o "$CONFIG_BLK_DEV_RAM" = "m" ]; then
diff -Nur linux.orig/drivers/block/Makefile linux/drivers/block/Makefile
--- linux.orig/drivers/block/Makefile	Fri Dec 29 23:07:21 2000
+++ linux/drivers/block/Makefile	Mon Oct 22 15:08:52 2001
@@ -33,5 +33,6 @@
 obj-$(CONFIG_BLK_DEV_NBD)	+= nbd.o
 
 subdir-$(CONFIG_PARIDE) += paride
+subdir-$(CONFIG_BLK_DEV_NWD)	+= nwd
 
 include $(TOPDIR)/Rules.make
diff -Nur linux.orig/include/linux/blk.h linux/include/linux/blk.h
--- linux.orig/include/linux/blk.h	Fri Jul 20 21:53:47 2001
+++ linux/include/linux/blk.h	Mon Oct 22 15:08:52 2001
@@ -296,6 +296,12 @@
 #define DEVICE_REQUEST do_nbd_request
 #define DEVICE_NR(device) (MINOR(device))
 
+#elif (MAJOR_NR == NWD_MAJOR)
+
+#define DEVICE_NAME "nwd"
+#define DEVICE_REQUEST nwd_request
+#define DEVICE_NR(device) (MINOR(device))
+
 #elif (MAJOR_NR == MDISK_MAJOR)
 
 #define DEVICE_NAME "mdisk"
diff -Nur linux.orig/include/linux/major.h linux/include/linux/major.h
--- linux.orig/include/linux/major.h	Mon Oct 22 14:54:51 2001
+++ linux/include/linux/major.h	Mon Oct 22 15:08:52 2001
@@ -88,6 +88,8 @@
 
 #define LVM_BLK_MAJOR	58	/* Logical Volume Manager */
 
+#define NWD_MAJOR	62	/* Network disk driver	*/
+
 #define SCSI_DISK1_MAJOR	65
 #define SCSI_DISK2_MAJOR	66
 #define SCSI_DISK3_MAJOR	67
diff -Nur linux.orig/init/main.c linux/init/main.c
--- linux.orig/init/main.c	Mon Oct 22 14:54:48 2001
+++ linux/init/main.c	Mon Oct 22 15:10:44 2001
@@ -114,6 +114,7 @@
 #endif
 
 extern void ecard_init(void);
+extern int nwd_boot_init(void);
 
 #if defined(CONFIG_SYSVIPC)
 extern void ipc_init(void);
@@ -229,6 +230,10 @@
 	{ "apblock", APBLOCK_MAJOR << 8},
 	{ "ddv", DDV_MAJOR << 8},
 	{ "jsfd",    JSFD_MAJOR << 8},
+#ifdef CONFIG_BLK_DEV_NWD
+ 	{ "nwd", 0x3E00 },
+#endif
+  
 #if defined(CONFIG_ARCH_S390)
 	{ "dasda", (DASD_MAJOR << MINORBITS) },
 	{ "dasdb", (DASD_MAJOR << MINORBITS) + (1 << 2) },
@@ -774,6 +779,12 @@
 	start_context_thread();
 	do_initcalls();
 
+#ifdef CONFIG_BLK_DEV_NWD
+	/* Must be done after NET/RPC initialization */
+	if (nwd_boot_init())
+		panic ("Unable to setup network disk root device.");
+#endif
+
 #ifdef CONFIG_IRDA
 	irda_proto_init();
 	irda_device_init(); /* Must be done after protocol initialization */