'\" t
-.\" @(#)lilo.conf.5 1.0 950728 aeb
+.\" @(#)lilo.conf.5
.\" This page is based on the lilo docs, which carry the following
.\" COPYING condition:
.\"
.\" Copyright 1992-1998 Werner Almesberger.
.\" Extensions to LILO, documentation and auxiliary programs are
.\" Copyright 1999-2005 John Coffman.
+.\" Extensions to LILO, documentation and auxiliary programs are
+.\" Copyright 2009-2011 Joachim Wiedorn.
+.\"
.\" All rights reserved by the respective copyright holders.
.\"
.\" Redistribution and use in source and binary forms of parts of or the
.\" this software without specific prior written permission. This work
.\" is provided "as is" and without any express or implied warranties.
.\"
-.TH LILO.CONF 5 "July 2010"
+.TH LILO.CONF 5 "June 2011"
.SH NAME
lilo.conf \- configuration file for lilo
.SH DESCRIPTION
It might look as follows:
.IP
.nf
-# lilo.conf
+# /etc/lilo.conf
#
# global options:
boot=/dev/hda
read-only
menu-title=" John's Computer "
#
-# bootable kernel images:
-image=/boot/zImage-1.5.99
+### bootable kernel images ###
+image=/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.29-1-i386
label=try
-image=/boot/zImage-1.0.9
- label=1.0.9
+ initrd=/boot/initrd.img-2.6.29-1-i386
+image=/boot/vmlinuz-2.4.33-1-i386
+ label=2.4.33
image=/tamu/vmlinuz
label=tamu
- initrd=initramdisk.img
+ initrd=/tamu/initrd.img
root=/dev/hdb2
vga=ask
#
-# other operating systems:
+### other operating systems ###
other=/dev/hda3
- label=dos
+ label=PCDOS
boot-as=0x80 # must be C:
other=/dev/hdb1
- label=Win98
+ label=WinXP
boot-as=0x80 # must be C:
other=/dev/hdb5
- label=os2
- loader=os2_d
- table=E: # os2 sees as E:
+ label=oldDOS
+ loader=chain
+ table=/dev/hdb5
.fi
.LP
This configuration file specifies that lilo uses the Master
Boot Record on /dev/hda. (For a discussion of the various ways
to use lilo, and the interaction with other operating systems,
-see user.tex from the lilo documentation.)
+see user.pdf from the lilo documentation.)
.LP
When booting, the boot loader will issue its
.I "boot:"
-prompt and wait for you to enter the label of the kernel (and any options)
-which you wish to boot. At any time you may hit [Tab] to see
-a list of kernel/other labels.
+prompt and wait for you to enter the label of the kernel (and any
+options) which you wish to boot. At any time you may hit [Tab] to
+see a list of kernel/other labels.
Alternately, if the \fBmenu\fP boot loader is installed,
a menu of boot options will be presented for your selection.
The title of this menu is overridden with the menu
title specification in this configuration file.
-If you enter nothing,
-then the default kernel image, the first mentioned, (/boot/zImage-1.5.99)
-will be booted after a timeout of 15 seconds (150 deciseconds).
-There may be at least 16 images mentioned in lilo.conf. (The exact number depends
-upon compilation options.)
+If you enter nothing, then the default kernel image, the first
+mentioned, (in the example /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.29-1-i386) will be
+booted after a timeout of 15 seconds (150 deciseconds). There may
+be at least 16 images mentioned in lilo.conf. (The exact number
+depends upon compilation options.)
.LP
As can be seen above, a configuration file starts with a number
of global options (the top 9 lines in the example),
.SH "GLOBAL OPTIONS"
There are many possible keywords. The description below is
-almost literally from user.tex (just slightly abbreviated).
+almost literally from user.pdf (just slightly abbreviated).
.TP
.BI "backup=" <backup-file>
Specifies the location where a copy of any modified boot sector will be
as certain RAID installations may benefit from knowing that the
BIOS is 100% reliable. Its use should be considered experimental.
.sp
-N.B.: This option may not be retained in releases beyond 22.5.1, and
-may be specified on the command line with the '\-Z' switch: yes=1, no=0.
+This option may be specified on the command line with the '\-Z' switch:
+yes=1, no=0.
.TP
.BI "bitmap=" <bitmap-file>
Specifies use of a 640x480x16 (VGA BIOS) or 640x480x256 (VGA/VESA BIOS)
.sp
When a bitmap file is specified as a background screen during the boot
process, the color selection and layout of the text which overlays the
-graphic image must be specified in one of two ways. One way, is to use
-a bitmap image (*.bmp) file which has had a header written by the
+graphic image must be specified in one of two ways.
+.sp
+One way is the use of header information in the bitmap image (*.bmp) file:
+From a text file with all the information about 'bmp-colors', 'bmp-table'
+and 'bmp-timer' options together with the 'bitmap' option are stored in
+the special LILO header of the bitmap image file by the
.BI "lilo -E"
-command. If this command is used, then all of the
-information specified by the 'bmp-colors', 'bmp-table', and 'bmp-timer'
-options is stored in a special LILO header within the bitmap file.
-Without this header, the 'bmp-' option values should be
-specified in the configuration file; if not, default values are used.
-Any use of the 'bmp-' options
-within the configuration file overrides the values stored in the
-bitmap file header.
+command. Another way works without these special header information: All
+the information about 'bmp-colors', 'bmp-table' and 'bmp-timer' options
+together with the 'bitmap' option are stored in the configuration file.
+Any use of the 'bmp-' options within the configuration file overrides
+the options stored in the bitmap file header. If lilo cannot find any of
+the 'bmp-' options, then default values are used.
.TP
.BI "bmp-colors=" <fg>,<bg>,<sh>,<hfg>,<hbg>,<hsh>
Specifies the decimal values of the colors to be used for the menu display
display entirely.
.TP
.BI "boot=" <boot-device>
-Sets the name of the device (e.g. a hard disk partition) that contains
-the boot sector. If this keyword is omitted, the boot sector is read
-from (and possibly written to) the device that is currently mounted as root.
+Sets the name of the device (e.g. hard disk or partition) that contains
+the boot sector and where the new boot sector should be written to. Notice:
+The boot-device should be the device with the currently mounted root partition.
.sp
A raid installation is initiated by specifying a RAID1 device as the boot
-device; e.g., "boot=/dev/md0". Note that LILO version 22.0 and later
-operate differently from earlier versions with respect to the actual
-location of the boot records.
+device; e.g., "boot=/dev/md0".
.sp
On newer systems you need an unique ID for the boot device. If the boot
sector should write to a partition you can use its UUID in the same manner
are used in a
.I change
section (see below), with the suffixes "_normal" or "_hidden" appended.
-See section "Partition type change rules" of user.tex for more details.
+See section "Partition type change rules" of user.pdf for more details.
.TP
.BI "compact"
Tries to merge read requests for adjacent sectors into a single
.TP
.BI "disk=" <device-name>
Defines non-standard parameters for the specified disk.
-See section "Disk geometry" of user.tex for details.
+See section "Disk geometry" of user.pdf for details.
For versions of LILO prior to 22.5, the `bios=' parameter
is quite useful for specifying how the BIOS has assigned
device codes to your disks.
.fi
.sp
probably only useful for floppy disks and loopback devices,
-since for hard disks the
+because for hard disks the
.BI lba32
-disk addressing option (LILO 21.2) ignores disk geometry.
+disk addressing option ignores disk geometry.
.sp
-(22.5.8) Developers who have implemented a disk driver for a new block storage
+Developers who have implemented a disk driver for a new block storage
device will have to indicate to LILO the maximum number of partitions
on the device. This is in addition to making all of the necessary
entries for the device in the "/dev" directory (with 'mknod'). The
-maximum number of partitions must be one of 63 (like an IDE disk), 31 (uncommon), 15
-(like SCSI disks -- most common value), or 7 (like one array controller).
-An example specification would be:
+maximum number of partitions must be one of 63 (like an IDE disk),
+31 (uncommon), 15 (like SCSI disks -- most common value), or 7
+(like one array controller). An example specification would be:
.sp
.nf
disk=/dev/userd0
partition entry contains a 3D (cylinder/head/sector) and a linear
address of the first and the last sector of the partition. If a
partition is not track-aligned and if certain other operating systems
-(e.g. PC/MS-DOS or OS/2) are using the same disk, they may change the
+(e.g. PC/MS-DOS) are using the same disk, they may change the
3D address. lilo can store its boot sector only on partitions where
both address types correspond. lilo re-adjusts incorrect 3D start
addresses if `fix-table' is set.
command line parameters to this kernel.
.TP
.BI "addappend=" <string>
-(22.6) The kernel parameters from the specified string, are concatenated to the
+The kernel parameters of this string are concatenated to the
parameter(s) from an
.B "append="
-specification (see below).
-The string must be enclosed within double quotes. Usually, the previous
+option (see below).
+The string of addappend must be enclosed within double quotes.
+Usually, the previous
.B "append="
-will specify parameters common to all kernels by appearing in the top,
-or global, section of the configuration file and
+will set parameters common to all kernels by appearing in the global
+section of the configuration file and
.B "addappend="
will be used to add local parameter(s) to an individual image.
-Addappend= may be used only once per "image=" section.
+The addappend option may be used only once per "image=" section.
+.sp
+If the string is a very long line, this line can be divided
+in more lines using "\\" as last character of a line, e.g.
+.sp
+.nf
+ addappend="noapic acpi=off pci=usepirqmask \\
+ pnpbios=off pnpacpi=off noisapnp"
+.fi
.TP
.BI "append=" <string>
Appends the options specified to the parameter line passed to the kernel.
kernel parameters are separated by a blank space, and the string must be
enclosed in double quotes. A local append= appearing withing an image=
section overrides any
-global append= appearing in the top section of the configuration file.
-Append= may be used only once per "image="
+global append= appearing in the global section of the configuration file.
+The append option may be used only once per "image="
section. To concatenate parameter strings, use "addappend=". Example:
.sp
.nf
append="mem=96M hd=576,64,32 console=ttyS1,9600"
.fi
.sp
+If the string is a very long line, this line can be divided in more lines
+using "\\" as last character of a line. See example of addappend option.
.TP
.BI "initrd=" <name>
Specifies the initial ramdisk image to be loaded with the kernel. The
is used, the root device is set to the device on which the root file
system is currently mounted. If the root has been changed with \-r ,
the respective device is used. If the variable `root' is omitted,
-the root device setting contained in the kernel image is used.
-(And that is set at compile time using the ROOT_DEV variable in
-the kernel Makefile, and can later be changed with the rdev(8) program.)
+the root device setting contained in the running kernel image is used.
+Warning: This can induce to an unbootable system!
.sp
The root filesystem may also be specified by a
.B LABEL=
.BR ask :
stop and ask for user input (at boot time).
.sp
-<number>: use the corresponding text mode. A list of available modes
+<number>: use the corresponding text mode (can specify the number in decimal
+or in hex with the usual '0x' convention). A list of available modes
can be obtained by booting with
.I vga=ask
and pressing [Enter].
.I chain
is used. This chain loader passes partition and drive information in the
boot sector it loads only to DOS on FAT12 or FAT16, Windows on FAT16 or
-FAT32, or OS/2 on FAT16 or HPFS.
-The alternate chain loader,
-.I os2_d
-passes partition and drive information unconditionally, and uses a format
-suitable for OS/2 and DOS (see
+FAT32. (see also
.I table=<letter>
below).
.TP
Note that /sbin/lilo must be re-run if a partition table mapped referenced
with `table' is modified.
.TP
-.BI "table=" <drive-letter>
-This is a special case for the
-.I os2_d
-chain loader. It specifies the DOS drive letter for the partition
-that will be booted. This is
-.I mandatory
-when booting OS/2 installed on
-an extended partition. The drive letter may be specified with or without a
-trailing colon.
-.TP
.BI "change"
This keyword starts a section which describes how primary partition IDs are
changed, and how primary partitions are activated and deactivated. If
.B change
is omitted, change rules are generated as though the
.I "automatic"
-keyword were specified. The keyword
+keyword were specified. The keyword
.B change
alone, without any rules following, will suppress automatic change-rules.
For example,
local option to override "master-boot" as necessary.
.TP
.BI "master-boot"
-This flag (LILO version 22.5) indicates a DOS/Windows/OS2 or other
+This flag (LILO version 22.5) indicates a DOS/Windows or other
system which will only boot from BIOS device 0x80, the "C:" drive, or BIOS
device 0, the A: drive. When this
flag is specified, if this drive is not assigned device code 0x80 or 0 by the
projects / rrq / maintain_lilo.git / blobdiff