mkofboot - format bootstrap partition and install the yaboot boot loader
mkofboot
[ -b|--boot device ]
[ -o|--ofboot of-path ]
[ -i|--install boot-file ]
[ -C|--config config-file ]
[ -m|--magicboot chrp-file ]
[ --filesystem hfs|msdos|raw ]
[ --nobless ] [ -M|--mount ]
[ --hide ] [ --protect ]
[ --nonvram ] [ --force ]
[ -v|--verbose ] [ --debug ]
[ -h|--help ]
[ -V|--version ]
This manual page explains mkofboot the initial installer for the
yaboot(8) boot loader enabling GNU/Linux to be booted by OpenFirmware.
mkofboot does exactly the same thing as ybin(8)
except that it erases and creates a new filesystem (specified by
--filesystem) on the bootstrap(8) partition before copying the boot
loader files to it. See the ybin(8) man page for more details on the
installation process.
The bootstrap(8) need not and should not be mounted
anywhere on your filesystem, especially not on top of /boot.
Yaboot(8) is able to load the kernels from the ext2fs root partition
so that is where they should be kept. Mkofboot will refuse to operate
on the bootstrap(8) partition if it is mounted.
NOTE: mkofboot uses the exact same command line options as ybin(8)
so if you have already read the ybin(8) man page you can skip this
section.
- -b, --boot device
- Install the boot loader onto the specified device. This device should be
that of your bootstrap(8) partition. For example, if your
bootstrap partition is located on your first primary IDE drive in
the second partition, your device would be: /dev/hda2.
- -o, --ofboot of-path
- The OpenFirmware device path to the bootstrap(8) partition. This is
needed so the first stage ofboot loader can be configured properly.
It should include the OpenFirmware path including the partition number
(but not any filename). Example: if your bootstrap(8) partition is
/dev/hda2, the OF path will likely be hd:2. As of mkofboot 0.18 you
no longer are required to specify this option. If left undefined
mkofboot will attempt to figure out the OpenFirmware path
automatically using the ofpath(8) utility. You should only need to
define this option if ofpath(8) fails.
- -i, --install boot-file
- Use boot-file as the primary boot loader executable, instead of the
default/usr/local/lib/yaboot/yaboot(8).
- -C, --config config-file
- Use config-file as the mkofboot/yaboot(8)
configuration file instead of the default /etc/yaboot.conf.
- -m, --magicboot chrp-script
- Use chrp-script as the boot loader “wrapper”. This
script is needed to either provide a boot menu for dual boot with MacOS or
to load yaboot (due to an OpenFirmware bug).
- --filesystem hfs|msdos|raw
- Set the filesystem type that mkofboot will create on the
bootstrap(8). The “raw” filesystem type causes
mkofboot to copy the bootloader (the value of install=
directly to the bootstrap(8) partition without creating a
filesystem. “raw” is required on IBM hardware. CAUTION: this
will destroy any data or filesystem on the bootstrap(8) partition
(value of boot=) if you specify something like boot=/dev/sda
you will destroy the partition table and lose ALL data on the disk. The
default is HFS.
- -M, --mount
- Do not use the userspace hfsutils(1) to modify the
bootstrap(8), instead try and mount the filesystem directly. NOTE:
Attributes cannot be set on the filesystem or the boot loader files using
this method, your system will NOT be bootable without modifying
OpenFirmware's “boot-device” variable to something like:
“hd:2,ofboot” (no quotes).
- --nobless
- Do not “bless” the root directory of the bootstrap(8)
partition's filesystem. Only use this option if the bootstrap(8)
partition is actually a MacOS boot partition. This option is ignored
unless the filesystem is HFS, and is ignored when used with --mount.
- --hide
-
Set the invisible bit on all the boot loader files once copied to the
bootstrap(8) partition. This setting is useful if you must install
the boot loader onto a MacOS boot partition and do not with to see the
boot loader files cluttering up the MacOS root directory. This option is
ignored unless the filesystem is HFS, and will not work with --mount.
- --protect
- Set the read-only bit on all boot loader files once copied to the
bootstrap(8) partition. This setting is useful if you must install
the bootloader onto a MacOS boot partition and want to discourage
alterations/deletion of the boot loader. This option works for both HFS
and MSDOS filesystems.
- --nonvram
- Prevent mkofboot from setting the OpenFirmware boot-device variable
with nvsetenv(8).
- -v, --verbose
- This option causes mkofboot to be more verbose as it proceeds.
- -f, --force
- This option suppresses any confirmation questions.
- --debug
- This option causes mkofboot to output some boring details useful
only for debugging mkofboot itself.
- -h, --help
- Print out usage information and exit.
- -V, --version
- Print out the version number and exit.
/usr/local/lib/yaboot/yaboot - boot loader executable
/usr/local/lib/yaboot/ofboot - OpenFirmware boot script
/etc/yaboot.conf - boot loader/mkofboot configuration file
- TMPDIR
-
The temporary directory mkofboot will use.
Temporary files are created with mktemp(1) it is important that your
system use a secure mktemp(1) program otherwise mkofboot will be
vulnerable to race conditions. The Debian mktemp is derived from OpenBSD and
thus should be secure.
/usr/local/lib/yaboot/ofboot now contains code executed by
/bin/sh (by mkofboot) it is thus critical that it not be writable by
anyone but root. It is also critical that /etc/yaboot.conf not be
writable by anyone but root since a different ofboot script could be
specified there.
Mkofboot should be able to take care of OpenFirmware variables as needed
on IBM hardware.
mkofboot(8) , and this man page written by Ethan Benson.
yaboot(8) was written by Benjamin Herrenschmidt.
Report bugs to <erbenson@alaska.net>
bootstrap(8), hfsutils(1), mkofboot(8), mktemp(1),
mount(8), nvsetenv(8), ofpath(8), yaboot(8),
yaboot.conf(5).