NFTL formatting problem; alternatives?

Dear all,

Since the latest mtd cvs doesn't build nftl_format, I wonder if there are any alternatives in Linux. I also tried building nftl_format from mtd snapshot 2002-07-31, the one mentioned in Karim's book. But since I have already patched my 2.4.21 kernel with mtd snapshot 2003-08-04, I failed to compile the former util snapshot. I even tried patching 2.4.21 with the mtd snapshot 2002-07-31, but failed. So, how can I perform a NFTL format in Linux, instead of using dformat.exe in DOS?

Another problem is concerning the order of operations of preparing the DOC. According to Karim's book, I successfully built a grub_firmware and
loaded it to my DOC (previously erased by eraseall) using
doc_loadbios. The next step is to NTFL format my DOC. But the precaution is that the NFTL driver would interfere with nftl_format, and therefore I have to either compile the NFTL driver as a module and unload it when NTFL formatting, or eraseall my DOC and reboot so that the kernel-built-in NFTL driver would not detect it. Since I already built-in the driver, I prefer the second approach. But if I eraseall my DOC and reboot, can I still doc_loadbios the grub_firmware and then nftl_format my DOC at 98304?

Regards,

Selwyn