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BOOT(8) System Manager's Manual (hppa) BOOT(8)

boot, boot.conf — hppa-specific bootstrap

The main purpose of this program is to load the system kernel while dealing with the various features of the PA-RISC hardware.

As described in boot_hppa(8), this program is loaded by the PDC firmware and provides a convenient way to load the kernel.

Basic operations include:

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

  1. If the file /etc/boot.conf exists on the filesystem or LIF image boot was loaded from, open and parse it. Lines beginning with the ‘#’ character, as well as whitespace at the beginning of lines, are ignored. The file may contain any commands boot accepts at the interactive prompt. Though default settings usually suffice, they can be changed here.
  2. The header line

    >> OpenBSD/hppa 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 commands. 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 specified, the system will be unable to boot.

The following commands are accepted at the boot prompt:

[[device:]image] [-acds]
Boots the specified kernel image with any options given. If device or image are omitted, values from boot variables will be used.
Causes the kernel to ask for the root device to use.
Causes the kernel to go into boot_config(8) before performing autoconf(4) procedures.
Causes the kernel to drop into ddb(4) at the earliest convenient point.
Causes the kernel to boot single-user.
[args]
Displays args on the console device.
Prints a list of available commands and machine dependent commands, if any.
addr size
Show size bytes of memory at address addr.
[command]
Issues machine-dependent commands. These are defined for hppa architecture:
Displays or sets the console path.

When invoked with no argument, this command will display the configured console path found in the stable storage area.

Otherwise, the argument will be interpreted as a console path definition string, and boot will attempt to switch the console configuration to the desired device. The console definition attempts to follow the PDC syntax, and would have a form of:

graphics [_head] [.mode]
for graphics console, and
rs232 [_2] [.speed [.bits [.parity]]]
for serial console.

The default head and mode for graphics console are 0, that is the default videomode of the first graphics device. The default serial settings are 9600 bps, 8 data bits, and no parity.

Displays or sets the keyboard path.

When invoked with no argument, this command will display the configured keyboard path found in the stable storage area.

Otherwise, the argument will be interpreted as a keyboard path definition string, and boot will attempt to switch the keyboard configuration to the desired port. The keyboard definition attempts to follow the PDC syntax, and would have a form of:

hil
for hil keyboard, and
ps2
for PS/2 keyboard.

After changing any path settings, the machine usually has to be restarted for the changes to have effect.

[directory]
Prints contents of the specified directory in long format including: attributes and file type, owner, group, size, filename.
Reboots the machine by initiating a warm boot procedure.
[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:

Address at which to load the kernel.
Boolean (0 or 1) to permit entry into the kernel debugger before the sysctl gets effective.
Debug flag if boot was compiled with DEBUG defined.
Boot device name (i.e., lf0a, sd0a).
Options to pass to the loaded kernel.
File name containing the kernel image.
Number of seconds boot will wait for human intervention before booting the default kernel image.
Displays system time and date.

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

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

Use serial console on the first serial port, with the usual 9600 8N1 settings. A null modem cable should connect the specified serial port to a terminal. Useful for debugging.

boot> machine console rs232.9600.8.none

Boot the kernel named /bsd from the second SCSI 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 sequence, 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 sd1a:/bsd -c

gzip(1), autoconf(4), ddb(4), boot_config(8), boot_hppa(8), reboot(8)

This program was written by Michael Shalayeff for OpenBSD 2.1. The hppa specific parts were written by Michael Shalayeff and Miodrag Vallat for OpenBSD 3.1.

Making mistakes in console paths may cost you a toupee.

Changing the display resolution (mode) on a graphics console does not work correctly.

December 23, 2019 OpenBSD-7.0