NAME    [Toc]    [Back]

     installboot - install disk bootstrap software

SYNOPSIS    [Toc]    [Back]

     installboot [-nv] boot bootxx rawdiskdevice

DESCRIPTION    [Toc]    [Back]

     The installboot utility prepares a disk for bootstrapping.

     The OpenBSD/alpha disk bootstrap software is split into  two
parts: a
     small  first-stage  boot  program  that  is written into the
disklabel area of
     a disk (and hence is limited in size to 7680 bytes),  and  a
second-stage
     boot program that resides in the filesystem proper (typically with the
     name /boot).  The first-stage boot program  is  loaded  into
memory by the
     SRM  console  software.  After receiving control of the system, it loads
     the second-stage boot program from a set of filesystem block
numbers that
     have  been  hard-coded  into it by installboot.  The secondstage boot program
 locates and loads the kernel.

     The second-stage boot program and the prototype code for the
first-stage
     boot   program   can   be   found   in   /usr/mdec/boot  and
/usr/mdec/bootxx, respectively.
  /usr/mdec/boot may be installed simply  by  copying
it to the root
     directory  of the partition you wish to boot from, but after
it is installed
 installboot must be run.

     The options recognized by installboot are as follows:

     -n    Do not actually write anything on the disk.

     -v    Verbose mode.

     The arguments are:

     boot           The name of the second-stage boot program  in
the file system
  where the first-stage boot program is to
be installed.

     bootxx         The name of the prototype file for the firststage boot
                    program.

     rawdiskdevice   The  name of the device corresponding to the
raw whole-disk
                    partition (the ``raw partition'') of the disk
on which the
                    first-stage  boot program is to be installed.

EXAMPLES    [Toc]    [Back]

     boot resides in the  FFS  file  system  mounted  on  /  from
``sd0a'', you would
     install the first-stage boot program on the disk (and therefore make the
     disk bootable) by using the command:

           installboot /boot /usr/mdec/bootxx /dev/rsd0c

SEE ALSO    [Toc]    [Back]

     disklabel(8), init(8), sysctl(8)

HISTORY    [Toc]    [Back]

     The alpha installboot command first appeared in NetBSD  1.2.

BUGS    [Toc]    [Back]

     The  OpenBSD/alpha  boot  blocks  can only load kernels from
disks' ``a''
     partitions.  (However, the second-stage boot program may  be
located on
     any FFS file system partition on the disk.)

     Installboot requires simultaneous access to the mounted file
system and
     the disks' raw partition.  That is not allowed with the kernel
     securelevel  variable (see sysctl(8)) set to a value greater
than one, or
     with securelevel set to one if the ``boot'' program  resides
in a file
     system on the disk's raw partition.

OpenBSD      3.6                         January     16,     1997