BOOT_HPPA(8)        OpenBSD System Manager's Manual (HPPA)        BOOT_HPPA(8)

NAME
     boot_hppa - hppa system bootstrapping procedures

DESCRIPTION
   System starts
     When powered on, after a panic, or if the system is rebooted via
     reboot(8) or shutdown(8), the hppa firmware (``PDC'') will proceed to its
     initialization, and will boot an operating system if autoboot is enabled.

   Boot process description
     System boot blocks are provided as a ``LIF'' (Logical Interchange Format)
     archive, either on a disk device, or via the network, using the bootp or
     rboot protocols, depending on the PDC version.  A small mkboot(8) utility
     is provided for combining primary boot and a number of images (OS kernels
     or standalone binaries) into one ``LIF'' volume suitable for booting.

   PDC concepts
     If autoboot is enabled, the PDC will attempt to boot from the specified
     ``boot path'' value.  If no ``boot path'' has been specified, the PDC
     will then scan for bootable devices and boot from the first found, after
     a few seconds allowing the user to interrupt the boot process.  If auto-
     boot is disabled, the PDC will enter interactive mode, after an optional
     device scan.  In all cases, it is possible to enter interactive mode by
     holding the escape key during the selftests, or when prompted to do so to
     abort the current operation, unless the PDC has been configured in
     ``secure mode''.

   ISL interaction
     ``ISL'' stands for ``Initial System Loader'' and is the boot(8) program
     in OpenBSD.  On all versions of the PDC except for the 712 and 725 models
     the ``boot'' command (see below) will be followed by the question:
     ``Interact with IPL (Y, N, or Cancel)?>'' where a positive answer will
     invoke an interactive prompt in the boot(8) program later and negative
     will thus suppress it.  A cancellation will abort the boot process.

     On the 712 and 725 models firmware an additional ``isl'' argument should
     be given to the ``boot'' command to invoke the boot(8) interactive
     prompt.  With the default behaviour being a non-interactive boot process.

   Old PDC operation
     This version is used on the following models: 705, 7x0, 715/33/50/75,
     725/50/75, 735, 755.  There are two levels of interactive commands in
     this version.  The first level is a short menu:

           b)   Boot from specified device
           s)   Search for bootable device
           a)   Enter Boot Administration mode
           x)   Exit and continue boot sequence

           Select from menu:

     which provides the following commands:

           b    boot from a device found during the scan, either with its
                short ``P#'' form, or a complete name specification.  For ex-
                ample, to boot from the SCSI disk with id 6 off the built-in
                (first) controller, one would enter b scsi.6.0.
           s    rescan for bootable devices.
           a    enter the second part of interactive mode.
           x    resume an interrupted boot sequence.

     The ``Boot Administration'' mode, recognizable with its BOOT_ADMIN>
     prompt, controls the various boot options.  The complete list of commands
     depends on the machine and PDC version.  The following list only mentions
     commands impacting the boot process.

           AUTOSELECT  Displays or changes the autoboot setting.  If autose-
                       lect is set to ``on'', the PDC will always attempt to
                       boot the first bootable device found in this order:
                             1.   Boot device path setting.
                             2.   SCSI devices connected to the built-in SCSI
                                  controller, the highest ID numbers being
                                  preferred.
                             3.   Network rboot server (see also rbootd(8)).
                             4.   Other SCSI devices connected to secondary
                                  controllers, the highest ID numbers being
                                  preferred.
                       If the primary path setting defines a bootable device,
                       no device scan will occur.

           BOOT        Boots off the specified device.  It is similar to the b
                       command from the short menu above.  The ``primary'' and
                       ``alternate'' path settings may be booted with boot pri
                       and boot alt respectively.

           PATH        Displays or changes the boot and console devices.  The
                       boot device is defined as the ``primary'' path, and an-
                       other setting may be stored as the ``alternate'' path
                       for rescue purposes.  For example, to define the prima-
                       ry boot path to the SCSI disk with ID 5 connected to
                       the built-in controller, one would enter path primary
                       scsi.5

                       When invoked without parameters, path will list the
                       various path settings.

   Modern PDC operation
     Machines equipped with 7100LC, 7200 or 7300LC CPU types are usually
     blessed with a different kind of PDC.  There is only one interactive
     mode, with a BOOT_ADMIN> prompt, which provides both boot settings and
     commands.  The complete list of commands depends on the machine and PDC
     version.  The following list only mentions commands impacting the boot
     process.

           auto boot    Displays or changes the autoboot setting.  If auto
                        boot is set to ``on'', the PDC will always attempt to
                        boot.  The booted device chosen will depend on the
                        auto search setting.

           auto search  Displays or changes the device scan setting.  If auto
                        search is set to ``on'', the PDC will attempt to boot
                        the first bootable device found in this order:
                              1.   Boot device path setting.
                              2.   SCSI devices connected to the built-in SCSI
                                   controller, the highest ID numbers being
                                   preferred.
                              3.   Network bootp server (see also dhcpd(8)).
                              4.   Other SCSI devices connected to secondary
                                   controllers, the highest ID numbers being
                                   preferred.
                        If auto search is set to ``off'' and the primary boot
                        path points to a bootable device, no device scan will
                        occur.

                        Note that setting auto search to ``on'' will force au-
                        toboot, regardless of the auto boot value.

           boot         Boots off the specified device.  The ``primary'' and
                        ``alternate'' path settings may be booted with boot
                        pri and boot alt respectively.

           path         Displays or changes the boot and console devices.  The
                        boot device is defined as the ``primary'' path, and
                        another setting may be stored as the ``alternate''
                        path for rescue purposes.  For example, to define the
                        primary boot path to the SCSI disk with ID 5 connected
                        to the built-in controller, one would enter path pri
                        scsi.5.

                        When invoked without parameters, path will list the
                        various path settings.

   Boot process options
     The OpenBSD hppa boot loader program is extensively described in a sepa-
     rate document, boot(8).

   Abnormal system termination
     If the system crashes, it will enter the kernel debugger, ddb(4), if it
     is configured in the kernel.  If the crash occurred during initialization
     and the debugger is not present or is exited, the kernel will halt the
     system.  If the crash occurred during normal operation and the debugger
     is not present or is exited, the system will attempt a dump to the con-
     figured dump device (which will be automatically recovered with
     savecore(8) during the next multi-user boot cycle), and after the dump is
     complete (successful or not) the kernel will attempt a reboot.

FILES
     /bsd                default system kernel
     /bsd.rd             standalone installation kernel, suitable for disaster
                         recovery
     boot.lif            network bootstrap and kernel combined image
     /usr/mdec/cdboot    primary bootstrap for ``cd9660'' file system
     /usr/mdec/xxboot    primary bootstrap for ``ffs'' file system
     /usr/mdec/boot      system bootstrap (usually also installed as /boot)

SEE ALSO
     ddb(4), boot(8), dhcpd(8), halt(8), init(8), rbootd(8), reboot(8),
     savecore(8), shutdown(8)

OpenBSD 4.7                     January 3, 2010                              3
