BOOT(8)            OpenBSD System Manager's Manual (SOCPPC)            BOOT(8)

NAME
     boot, boot.conf - socppc-specific bootstrap

DESCRIPTION
     The main purpose of this program is to load the system kernel.

     As described in boot_socppc(8), this program is loaded by the firmware
     and provides a convenient way to load the kernel.  This program acts as
     an enhanced boot monitor for socppc systems, providing a common interface
     for the kernel to start from.

     Basic operations include:

     o   Loading kernels from hard disk.
     o   Loading kernels compressed by gzip(1).
     o   Providing an interactive command line.

     The sequence of its operation is as follows: initialization, parsing the
     configuration file, then an interactive command line.  While at the com-
     mand line you have 5 seconds to type any commands, if needed.  If time
     expires, the kernel will be loaded according to the current variable set-
     tings (see the set command).  Each time a kernel load fails, the timeout
     is increased by one second.  The sequence of boot operations is as fol-
     lows:

     1.   If the file /etc/boot.conf exists on the filesystem in slice `a' on
          the first disk drive (wd0), open and parse it.  This file may con-
          tain any commands boot accepts at the interactive prompt.  Though
          default settings usually suffice, they can be changed here.

     2.   The header line

                >> OpenBSD/socppc BOOT [x.xx]

          is displayed to the active console, where x.xx is the version number
          of the boot program, followed by the

                boot>

          prompt, which means you are in interactive mode and may enter com-
          mands.  If you do not, boot will proceed to load the kernel with the
          current parameters after the timeout period has expired.

     By default, boot attempts to load the kernel executable /bsd.  If it
     fails to find the kernel and no alternative kernel image has been speci-
     fied, the system will be unable to boot.

COMMANDS
     The following commands are accepted at the boot prompt:

     boot [image [-acds]]
              Boots the kernel image specified by image with any options giv-
              en.  Image specification consists of a pair device:filename; ei-
              ther or both can be omitted (`:' is not needed if both are omit-
              ted), in which case values from boot variables will be used.

              The only bootable devices, at the moment, are IDE devices con-
              nected to the internal controller; they are detected as `wd' de-
              vices.  Therefore, to boot kernel /bsd from slice `a' on the
              first hard drive, specify ``boot wd0a:/bsd''.

              -a   Causes the kernel to ask for the root device to use.

              -c   Causes the kernel to go into boot_config(8) before perform-
                   ing autoconf(4) procedures.

              -d   Causes the kernel to drop into ddb(4) at the earliest con-
                   venient point.

              -s   Causes the kernel to boot single-user.

     echo [args]
              Displays args on the console device.

     help     Prints a list of available commands.

     ls [directory]
              Prints contents of the specified directory in long format in-
              cluding: attributes and file type, owner, group, size, filename.

     reboot   Reboots the machine by initiating a warm boot procedure.

     set [varname [value]]
              If invoked without arguments, prints a list of variables and
              their values.  If only varname is specified, displays contents
              of that variable.  If varname and value are both specified, sets
              that variable to the given value.  Variables include:

              addr     Address at which to load the kernel.
              debug    Debug flag if boot was compiled with DEBUG defined.
              device   Boot device name (e.g., wd0a, wd1a).
              howto    Options to pass to the loaded kernel.
              image    File name containing the kernel image.
              timeout  Number of seconds boot will wait for human intervention
                       before booting the default kernel image.

     time     Displays system time and date.

FILES
     /usr/mdec/boot  system bootstrap
     /etc/boot.conf  system bootstrap's startup file
     /bsd            kernel image
     /bsd.rd         kernel image for installation/recovery

EXAMPLES
     Boot the default kernel:

           boot> boot

     Remove the 5 second pause at boot-time permanently, causing boot to load
     the kernel immediately without prompting:

           # echo "boot" > /etc/boot.conf

     Boot the kernel named /bsd from the second hard disk in ``User Kernel
     Configuration'' mode (see boot_config(8)).  This mechanism allows for the
     explicit enabling and disabling of devices during the current boot se-
     quence, as well as the modification of device parameters.  Once booted,
     such changes can be made permanent by using config(8)'s -e option.

           boot> boot wd1a:/bsd -c

SEE ALSO
     gzip(1), autoconf(4), ddb(4), boot_config(8), boot_socppc(8), fdisk(8),
     reboot(8)

     RFC 1950 describes the zlib library interface.

     The official home page for the version of zlib used in this operating
     system is at http://www.gzip.org/zlib/.

HISTORY
     This program was written by Michael Shalayeff for OpenBSD 2.1 on the i386
     platform, and was later ported to the socppc platform for OpenBSD 4.4.

OpenBSD 4.7                      June 9, 2008                                3
