2 Subject: update and optimize lilo.conf.5
3 Author: Joachim Wiedorn <ad_debian at joonet.de>
4 Bug-Debian: http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=629321
6 Last-Update: 2011-06-18
8 Update and optimize lilo.conf.5. Remove information about
9 very old lilo versions.
12 diff -urN s10/man/lilo.conf.5 s11/man/lilo.conf.5
13 --- s10/man/lilo.conf.5 2011-04-09 16:56:47.000000000 +0200
14 +++ s11/man/lilo.conf.5 2011-06-18 16:04:46.916604045 +0200
16 This configuration file specifies that lilo uses the Master
17 Boot Record on /dev/hda. (For a discussion of the various ways
18 to use lilo, and the interaction with other operating systems,
19 -see user.tex from the lilo documentation.)
20 +see user.pdf from the lilo documentation.)
22 When booting, the boot loader will issue its
24 -prompt and wait for you to enter the label of the kernel (and any options)
25 -which you wish to boot. At any time you may hit [Tab] to see
26 -a list of kernel/other labels.
27 +prompt and wait for you to enter the label of the kernel (and any
28 +options) which you wish to boot. At any time you may hit [Tab] to
29 +see a list of kernel/other labels.
30 Alternately, if the \fBmenu\fP boot loader is installed,
31 a menu of boot options will be presented for your selection.
32 The title of this menu is overridden with the menu
33 title specification in this configuration file.
34 -If you enter nothing,
35 -then the default kernel image, the first mentioned, (/boot/zImage-1.5.99)
36 -will be booted after a timeout of 15 seconds (150 deciseconds).
37 -There may be at least 16 images mentioned in lilo.conf. (The exact number depends
38 -upon compilation options.)
39 +If you enter nothing, then the default kernel image, the first
40 +mentioned, (in the example /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.29-1-i386) will be
41 +booted after a timeout of 15 seconds (150 deciseconds). There may
42 +be at least 16 images mentioned in lilo.conf. (The exact number
43 +depends upon compilation options.)
45 As can be seen above, a configuration file starts with a number
46 of global options (the top 9 lines in the example),
50 There are many possible keywords. The description below is
51 -almost literally from user.tex (just slightly abbreviated).
52 +almost literally from user.pdf (just slightly abbreviated).
54 .BI "backup=" <backup-file>
55 Specifies the location where a copy of any modified boot sector will be
57 as certain RAID installations may benefit from knowing that the
58 BIOS is 100% reliable. Its use should be considered experimental.
60 -N.B.: This option may not be retained in releases beyond 22.5.1, and
61 -may be specified on the command line with the '\-Z' switch: yes=1, no=0.
62 +This option may be specified on the command line with the '\-Z' switch:
65 .BI "bitmap=" <bitmap-file>
66 Specifies use of a 640x480x16 (VGA BIOS) or 640x480x256 (VGA/VESA BIOS)
68 and 'bmp-timer' options together with the 'bitmap' option are stored in
69 the special LILO header of the bitmap image file by the
71 -+command. Another way works without these special header information: All
72 -+the information about 'bmp-colors', 'bmp-table' and 'bmp-timer' options
73 -+together with the 'bitmap' option are stored in the configuration file.
74 -+Any use of the 'bmp-' options within the configuration file overrides
75 -+the options stored in the bitmap file header. If lilo cannot find any of
76 -+the 'bmp-' options, then default values are used.
77 +command. Another way works without these special header information: All
78 +the information about 'bmp-colors', 'bmp-table' and 'bmp-timer' options
79 +together with the 'bitmap' option are stored in the configuration file.
80 +Any use of the 'bmp-' options within the configuration file overrides
81 +the options stored in the bitmap file header. If lilo cannot find any of
82 +the 'bmp-' options, then default values are used.
84 .BI "bmp-colors=" <fg>,<bg>,<sh>,<hfg>,<hbg>,<hsh>
85 Specifies the decimal values of the colors to be used for the menu display
87 from (and possibly written to) the device that is currently mounted as root.
89 A raid installation is initiated by specifying a RAID1 device as the boot
90 -device; e.g., "boot=/dev/md0". Note that LILO version 22.0 and later
91 -operate differently from earlier versions with respect to the actual
92 -location of the boot records.
93 +device; e.g., "boot=/dev/md0".
95 On newer systems you need an unique ID for the boot device. If the boot
96 sector should write to a partition you can use its UUID in the same manner
100 section (see below), with the suffixes "_normal" or "_hidden" appended.
101 -See section "Partition type change rules" of user.tex for more details.
102 +See section "Partition type change rules" of user.pdf for more details.
105 Tries to merge read requests for adjacent sectors into a single
108 .BI "disk=" <device-name>
109 Defines non-standard parameters for the specified disk.
110 -See section "Disk geometry" of user.tex for details.
111 +See section "Disk geometry" of user.pdf for details.
112 For versions of LILO prior to 22.5, the `bios=' parameter
113 is quite useful for specifying how the BIOS has assigned
114 device codes to your disks.