I've written a loader which loads kernel binaries from /mint/ and allows the kernel to process the remainder of the auto folder (some ugly DTA magic was needed, but it's the same ugly magic that's already in the kernel init code (init.c, get_my_name()).
This is not a patch or diff, but it's written in the same manner as xaloader.prg, and could be useful to more people than myself. If my coding style isn't too horrible it could perhaps be part of the kernel distro. I don't know the proper procedure for this, but I've included the code below (it uses the same "skeleton" as xaloader.prg):
Peter, I've tested your loader today, it more or less works but I'm not sure what's the proper method of compiling it? From my understanding, this should be classic executable for TOS, with main() and friends but apparently it is not, there's only loader_init() function. When I replace it with main(), it works, but it ignores mint.ini...
Btw there's no need to "reinvent" own functions like getcookie() or strcpy(), it's everything in mintlib already.