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| <TITLE>GRUB -- GRand Unified Bootloader</TITLE> |
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| <CENTER><H1>GRUB -- GRand Unified Bootloader</H1></CENTER> |
| <CENTER><H3>version 0.5</H3></CENTER> |
| <CENTER><H3>by |
| <A HREF=http://www.uruk.org/~erich/>Erich Boleyn</A></H3></CENTER> |
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| <HR> |
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| <H2>Master Contents</H2> |
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| Some of these contents are included in other pages.<P> |
| |
| <UL> |
| <LI> <A HREF="#intro">Introduction</A> |
| <LI> <A HREF="#thanks">Thanks To</A> |
| <LI> <A HREF="#status">Distribution and Status</A> |
| <LI> <A HREF=using.html>Using GRUB</A> |
| <LI> <A HREF=install.html>Installation</A> |
| <LI> <A HREF=errors.html>GRUB Error Messages</A> |
| <LI> <A HREF=technical.html>Technical Info</A> |
| <LI> <A HREF=faq.html>GRUB FAQ</A> |
| </UL> |
| |
| <B>NOTE</B>: Up-to-date versions of this documentation directory can |
| be found at |
| <A HREF=http://www.uruk.org/grub/>http://www.uruk.org/grub/</A>. The |
| specifics might be for a newer version of the program, so check the |
| <A HREF=http://www.uruk.org/grub/NEWS>online NEWS file</A> for details |
| about the differences.<P> |
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| <HR> |
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| <H2><A NAME="intro">Introduction</A></H2> |
| |
| GRUB is an attempt to produce a bootloader for IBM PC-compatible machines |
| that has both the capability to be friendly to beginning or |
| otherwise non-technically |
| interested users and the flexibility to help experts in diverse |
| environments. It is currently most useful for users of at least |
| one of the various free UNIX-like operating systems, though it can |
| be used with most any PC operating system.<P> |
| |
| This project actually started because we wanted to boot the |
| <A HREF=http://www.cs.pdx.edu/~trent/gnu/hurd/>GNU HURD</A> |
| operating system on top of |
| <A HREF=http://www.cs.utah.edu/projects/flux/mach4/html/Mach4-proj.html> |
| Mach4</A> on an IBM PC-compatible system in a manner compliant |
| with the <A HREF=boot-proposal.html>Multiboot Standard</A>, which |
| was put together as a general solution to the problem of the different |
| boot formats and the functionality they need. |
| I then tried to add support for the extra functionality to the |
| standard bootloader used for FreeBSD. The number of things I had to do |
| to get it all to work multiplied until it was obviously necessary to |
| start from scratch with something different.<P> |
| |
| GRUB has evolved a long way from it's beginnings as a multi-module |
| bootloader. Several |
| of the techniques used have no analogue in the rest of the free |
| software world, and a few are apparently superior to most proprietary OSes |
| as well. |
| The documentation here and in the multiboot proposal should be very |
| useful to prospective OS and bootloader writers for PCs.<P> |
| |
| The name comes from the acronym, but also from the realization that although |
| a grub is one of the smaller (and less interesting) critters - barely worthy |
| of notice - it is nearly ubiquitous and vital to the order of things.<P> |
| |
| <HR> |
| |
| <H2><A NAME="thanks">Thanks To</A></H2> |
| |
| <UL> |
| <LI><B>Members of the Multiboot e-mail list and Bryan Ford |
| (baford@cs.utah.edu)</B> -- for all the multiboot discussion |
| and OS code to test with.<P> |
| <LI><B>VaX#n8 (vax@linkdead.paranoia.com)</B> -- for testing feedback plus the |
| initial implementation for the ext2fs filesystem.<P> |
| <LI><B>Miles Bader (miles@gnu.ai.mit.edu)</B> -- for testing feedback.<P> |
| <LI><B>Eric Hanchrow (erich@microsoft.com)</B> -- for interstate remote |
| debugging by hand.<P> |
| <LI><B>Gord Matzigkeit (gord@fig.org)</B> -- for lots of |
| testing feedback.<P> |
| <LI><B>Heiko Schroeder (heiko@pool.informatik.rwth-aachen.de)</B> -- for |
| a re-writing stage1 to be much more readable, plus several patches.<P> |
| </UL> |
| |
| <HR> |
| |
| <H2><A NAME="status">Distribution and Status</A></H2> |
| |
| GRUB is currently available under the |
| <A HREF=COPYING>GNU General Public License</A>. |
| This should not be an issue for OS developers or users who dislike |
| the terms of the GPL, as it is a separate package, and will not |
| have any licensing impact upon their own work or installation. |
| If it is still an issue, |
| <A HREF=mailto:erich@uruk.org>send me e-mail</A> and maybe we can |
| work something out.<P> |
| |
| The publically available releases are available on my |
| <A HREF=ftp://ftp.uruk.org/public/grub/>FTP site</A>, and I |
| believe they will get included in the GNU FTP sites as well.<P> |
| |
| Here are links to the <A HREF=NEWS>NEWS file</A>, |
| <A HREF=TODO>TODO list</A>, and list of <A HREF=BUGS>known BUGS</A>.<P> |
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| <HR> |
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| <A HREF=mailto:erich@uruk.org><I>erich@uruk.org</I></A><P> |
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