| Yaboot -- PowerPC GNU/Linux OpenFirmware bootloader |
| ------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| |
| Please read the "COPYING" file for licence informations. |
| |
| ------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| |
| Yaboot is an OpenFirmware bootloader for Open Firmware based |
| machines. It is known to work on "NewWorld" class powermacs (iMac and |
| all machines released after it), RS/6000, and possibly other OF based |
| CHRP machines. "OldWorld" PowerMacs (with the built-in MacOS ROM) |
| are not supported. |
| |
| This README serves as a quick-start introduction to yaboot and its |
| installation utilities. For a more complete usage and installation |
| guide, see yaboot-howto.html/index.en.html in the same folder where |
| this README is located, or else inside the doc folder in this |
| directory. For documentation about all the options available, see the |
| man pages (bootstrap, yaboot, yaboot.conf, ybin, mkofboot, ofpath, |
| yabootconfig). |
| |
| Mailing lists |
| ------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| The following mailing lists exist for yaboot: |
| |
| yaboot-users User related questions/discussion regarding yaboot |
| yaboot-devel Technical and development discussion regarding yaboot |
| |
| Please see https://ozlabs.org/mailman/listinfo/LISTNAME where LISTNAME is one |
| of the above named lists. |
| |
| http://yaboot.ozlabs.org/ |
| |
| ------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Bootloader Installation Utilities |
| ybin, mkofboot, ofpath, yabootconfig |
| Written by Ethan Benson <erbenson@alaska.net> |
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| |
| ybin (YaBoot INstaller) and mkofboot |
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| |
| ybin is a lilo/quik style bootloader installer for PowerPC based |
| machines which require a bootstrap partition rather than a traditional |
| bootblock (i.e. all `NewWorld' Macintoshes). When ybin is configured |
| correctly you can simply type ybin at the command line as root, and |
| the bootloader and its configuration file will be installed or updated |
| on the bootstrap partition without any further user intervention. |
| |
| ybin also supports IBM PowerPC hardware which requires a slightly different |
| bootstrap partition setup. For these machines, ybin uses dd to write yaboot |
| directly to the partition instead of copying it to a filesystem on the |
| partition. ybin will add the requisite .note section to yaboot prior to |
| installation (IBM CHRP only). |
| |
| mkofboot is a companion script (actually a symlink to ybin) which |
| initializes the bootstrap partition prior to running ybin to install |
| the bootloader on it. mkofboot will confirm you want to continue |
| before proceeding unless called with the -f or --force switch. This |
| is in contrast to ybin, which is non destructive except that it |
| overwrites any existing yaboot files (yaboot and yaboot.conf) at the |
| root level of the bootstrap filesystem. |
| |
| mkofboot and ybin both refer to the same configuration file (normally |
| yaboot.conf) to determine where the bootstrap files will be placed. |
| |
| IMPORTANT: The bootstrap partition should never be mounted anywhere on |
| your filesystem, ybin and mkofboot will check if it is and refuse to |
| operate on it if it is mounted. It is not necessary to keep anything |
| but the boot loader on the bootstrap partition, yaboot will load the |
| kernel from your root partition (which can be an ext2/3, XFS, or |
| ReiserFS filesystem). Do not mount the bootstrap partition on top of |
| /boot. |
| |
| ybin can update a bootstrap filesystem either on a block device or in |
| an ordinary file (as in an image of a filesystem.) |
| |
| NOTE: You must have a secure mktemp program otherwise ybin will be |
| vulnerable to race conditions. Debian's mktemp qualifies I don't know |
| about the other distributions, you have been warned. The temp file is |
| created in /tmp by default but ybin will respect the $TMPDIR |
| environment variable. |
| |
| |
| ofpath |
| ------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| |
| The included ofpath utility can usually determine the OpenFirmware |
| device path that corresponds with a unix device node in /dev/. Ybin |
| uses this utility to find the path to the bootstrap partition and to |
| any defined macos/macosx partitions. ofpath is based on the utility |
| `show_of_path.sh' written by Olaf Hering. |
| |
| |
| NOTE: ofpath may not work with all SCSI cards/drivers. |
| |
| IMPORTANT: ofpath will NOT work on NewWorld Powermacs if the machine |
| was booted with BootX. |
| |
| |
| yabootconfig |
| ------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| |
| Yabootconfig creates a default configuration file and then runs mkofboot to |
| complete the bootloader installation. yabootconfig reads the running |
| system's /etc/fstab to determine the kernel location, and detects the |
| location of the 800k Apple_Bootstrap partition. It will also find IBM |
| CHRP bootstrap partitions (type 0x41 PReP Boot). |
| |
| |
| |
| Yaboot.conf Configuration File |
| ------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| |
| yaboot.conf configuration file settings are covered in detail in `man |
| yaboot.conf'. Avoid the use of spaces in the config file, except in |
| comment lines or inside quotes. Here are the essential settings. |
| |
| |
| boot= |
| Example: boot=/dev/hda2 |
| |
| This required setting defines the bootstrap partition device. It can |
| also be a regular file if you are creating a filesystem image for some |
| reason. The default config file has this set to ``unconfigured'' which |
| will cause ybin to complain about you not reading the docs, it is the |
| only option you should need to change for ybin to work. Be sure you |
| include the partition number at the end, it should never be something |
| like /dev/hda. |
| |
| |
| install= |
| Example: install=/usr/lib/yaboot/yaboot or /usr/local/lib/yaboot/yaboot |
| |
| The full pathname to the yaboot OpenFirmware executable file. The |
| default is shown above. This file will be copied to the root level of |
| the bootstrap partition. Note: If you are installing an alternative |
| bootloader, its filename will be changed to yaboot when it is copied |
| (to match what the first stage bootloader expects to be loading). |
| |
| |
| partition= |
| Example: partition=3 |
| |
| The partition number on which the kernel image is located. By default, |
| this partition is assumed to be on the same device from which yaboot |
| was loaded. If needed, device= can be used to explicitly specify the |
| device. |
| |
| |
| image= |
| Examples: image=/vmlinux or image=/boot/vmlinux-2.2.19-pmac |
| |
| The path to the image from the root level of the partition (remember |
| that yaboot is unaware of mountpoints). Don't forget to include the |
| leading slash when specifying the image path (image=vmlinux will |
| probably fail). |
| |
| |
| root= |
| Example: root=/dev/hda3 |
| |
| The Linux device name for the root partition. This parameter is |
| passed to the kernel when it starts up to let it know where its root |
| filesystem is located. Refer to the yaboot.conf man page for details |
| on kernel image options such as append=, initrd=, and initrd-size=. |
| |
| |
| magicboot= (same as -m or --magicboot) |
| Example: /usr/local/lib/yaboot/ofboot |
| |
| Identifies the first stage loader. The example shown is the default. The |
| ofboot script it refers to is included with and configured automatically by |
| ybin from options in /etc/yaboot.conf. The magicboot= can be the full |
| pathname to any OF CHRP script file. Since some newer OpenFirmware |
| implementations appear to require a CHRP script, the magicboot= setting is |
| highly recommended. If you don't include magicboot=, then yaboot itself will |
| be the active bootfile. magicboot= cannot be used on IBM CHRP. |
| |
| |
| Boot Menu Options |
| ------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| |
| The following options work only if you have specified the magicboot= option. |
| Each option specifies an OpenFirmware or unix device path to another |
| operating system's boot partition. When you define one of these options you |
| will be presented with a simple menu at bootup allowing you to hit `l' to |
| boot GNU/Linux or another letter to boot the other OS (see below). These |
| letters are typed without a shift key (the boot menu is case sensitive). |
| When set to a unix device node such as /dev/hda11 then ybin will use the |
| ofpath utility to determine the OpenFirmware device path. |
| |
| Option Letter Operating System Type |
| --------- ------ --------------------------------------------- |
| bsd= b NetBSD or OpenBSD root partition (you must |
| have the BSD ofwboot bootloader |
| installed at /usr/local/lib/yaboot/ofwboot) |
| |
| macos= m MacOS 8.* or 9.* bootable partition |
| |
| macosx= x MacOS X boot partition (also see brokenosx) |
| |
| darwin= d Darwin boot partition |
| |
| enablecdboot c Boot from the CDROM drive |
| |
| enablenetboot n Boot from the network |
| |
| enableofboot o Display an OpenFirmware prompt |
| |
| defaultos= The default OS to load (linux, bsd, macos, |
| darwin or macosx. |
| |
| brokenosx |
| |
| This option causes the menu entry for MacOSX to execute |
| \System\Library\CoreServices\BootX from the macosx=device instead of |
| the usual \\:tbxi. This is necessary if OSX is installed onto an HFS+ |
| filesystem instead of UFS. When OSX is installed on an HFS+ filesystem |
| MacOS will mount and debless the OSX partition. Add this option if |
| the OSX menu entry breaks after booting MacOS. You should not use |
| this option if OSX is installed on a UFS filesystem, for UFS installs |
| you specify the OSX bootstrap partition which is protected against |
| MacOS. |
| |
| delay= |
| Example: delay=5 |
| |
| The time in seconds that the first stage ofboot loader will wait for |
| you to choose a letter before booting the default OS defined in |
| defaultos=. If not set, the value of timeout= (converted to seconds) |
| will be used. |
| |
| |
| Colors |
| ------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| |
| fgcolor=string |
| |
| Specifies the foreground (text) color used by yaboot and the |
| multiboot menu. Available colors are: black, blue, light-blue, green, |
| light-green, cyan, light-cyan, red, light-red, purple, light- purple, |
| brown, light-gray, dark-gray, yellow, and white. The default is |
| white. |
| |
| bgcolor=string |
| |
| Specifies the background color used by yaboot and the multiboot |
| menu. Available colors are the same as fgcolor. The default is |
| black. |
| |
| |
| =========================================================================== |
| |
| Copyright (C) 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003 Ethan Benson |
| |
| This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or |
| modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License |
| as published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 |
| of the License, or (at your option) any later version. |
| |
| This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, |
| but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of |
| MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the |
| GNU General Public License for more details. |
| |
| You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License |
| along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software |
| Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307, USA. |
| |
| =========================================================================== |