man/yabootconfig.8

.\" Hey Emacs! This file is -*- nroff -*- source.
.\"
.\" yabootconfig generates a simple /boot/yaboot.conf
.\" Copyright (C) 2001 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.
.\"
.TH YABOOTCONFIG 8 "24 November 2001" "GNU/Linux PowerPC" "System Manager's Manual"
.SH NAME
.B yabootconfig
\- generates a simple /boot/yaboot.conf
.SH SYNOPSIS
.B yabootconfig
.RB [ \ \-t | \-\-chroot\ \\fIdirectory\  ]
.RB [ \ \-b | \-\-boot\ \fIdevice\  ]
.RB [ \ \-r | \-\-root\ \fIdevice\  ]
.RB [ \ \-\-kernel-args\ \\fI"kernel_args"\  ]
.RB [ \ \-q | \-\-quiet\  ]
.RB [ \ \-\-noinstall\  ]
.RB [ \ \-\-debug\  ]
.RB [ \ \-h | \-\-help\  ]
.RB [ \ \-V | \-\-version\  ]
.SH DESCRIPTION
This manual page explains
.B yabootconfig
the configurator for the
.BR yaboot (8)
boot loader enabling GNU/Linux to be booted by OpenFirmware.
Specifically it inspects the running system, generates a working
.BR /boot/yaboot.conf (5)
and then runs \fBmkofboot\fR(8) to make the system bootable.

.B yabootconfig
requires an 800K bootstrap partition on the same disk as the root
partition.  It must be type \*(lqApple_Bootstrap\*(rq for PowerMacs,
and type \*(lq0x41 PPC PReP Boot\*(rq for IBM CHRP hardware.

The \fBbootstrap\fR(8) must not be mounted anywhere on your
filesystem, especially not on top of /boot.  \fBYaboot\fR is able to
load the kernels from the ext2fs root partition so that is where they
should be kept. \fBmkofboot\fR will refuse to operate on the
\fBbootstrap\fR(8) partition if it is mounted.

.B yabootconfig
requires \fBofpath\fR(8) in order to get the OpenFirmware device name
for the root disk on PowerMacs.
.SH OPTIONS
.TP
.BR \-t ,\  \-\-chroot\ \fIdirectory
Cause \fByabootconfig\fR to work as if \fIdirectory\fR is the /
directory.  This is useful when booting from a rescue floppy or CDROM
in which case you mount your true root filesystem on /target or /mnt.
\fByabootconfig\fR will generate \fI<chroot>/boot/yaboot.conf\fR and
pass the \*(lq-C <chroot>/boot/yaboot.conf\*(rq arguments to \fBmkofboot\fR(8).
Example: yabootconfig --chroot /target
.TP
.BR \-r ,\  \-\-root\ \fIdevice
Normally \fByabootconfig\fR will automatically determine the root
partition by inspecting \fI<chroot>/etc/fstab\fR(5).  This option
forces it to use \fIdevice\fR instead of auto-detecting it.  This
option is only intended to be used by distribution installers which
should already know with absolute certainty what the root partition
device is.
.TP
.BR \-b ,\  \-\-boot\ \fIdevice
Normally \fByabootconfig\fR will automatically find your
\fBbootstrap\fR partition, this option forces it to use \fIdevice\fR
instead of auto-detecting it.  This option is only intended to be used
by distribution installers which should already know with absolute
certainty what the \fBbootstrap\fR partition device is.  The
\fBbootstrap\fR partition is where \fBmkofboot\fR(8) will install the
bootloader onto, this device should be that of your \fBbootstrap\fR(8)
partition. For example, if your \fBbootstrap\fR partition is located
on your first primary IDE drive in the second partition, your device
would be: \fI/dev/hda2\fR.  IMPORTANT: The \fBbootstrap\fR partition
WILL BE ERASED when \fByabootconfig\fR runs \fBmkofboot\fR(8).
.TP
.BR \-\-kernel\-args
This option allows you to specify additional kernel arguments which
will be placed in an \fIappend=\fR configuration variable in
\fI/boot/yaboot.conf\fR(5).  You must quote the arguments you supply to this
option.  Example: --kernel-args "video=ofonly"
.TP
.BR \-q ,\  \-\-quiet
Normally \fByabootconfig\fR will ask permission and explain what it is
about to do before proceeding, this option prevents \fByabootconfig\fR
from asking any questions or displaying any informational messages
except errors.  This option also prevents \fByabootconfig\fR from
interactively asking the user to locate a kernel image if it fails to
find one in the standard locations.  This option is only intended to
be used by distribution installers which may run \fByabootconfig\fR in
the background in order to make the disk bootable after OS installation.
.TP
.BR \-\-noinstall
Normally \fByabootconfig\fR will automatically run \fBmkofboot\fR(8)
after it successfully generates a valid
\fI<chroot>/boot/yaboot.conf\fR.  This option causes \fByabootconfig\fR
to only generate the config file without installing the \fBbootstrap\fR.
.TP
.BR \-\-debug
This option causes \fByabootconfig\fR to output some boring details useful
only for debugging \fByabootconfig\fR itself.
.TP
.BR \-h ,\  \-\-help
Print out usage information and exit.
.TP
.BR \-V ,\  \-\-version
Print out the version number and exit.
.SH FILES
.nf
/etc/fstab \- static information about the filesystems
.br
/boot/yaboot.conf \- bootloader/ybin configuration file
.fi
.SH AUTHORS
.B yabootconfig
and this man page was written by Ethan Benson.
.br
.B yaboot
was written by Benjamin Herrenschmidt.
.SH REPORTING BUGS
Report bugs to <erbenson@alaska.net>
.SH SEE ALSO
.BR bootstrap (8),
.BR fstab (5),
.BR mkofboot (8),
.BR ofpath (8),
.BR yaboot (8),
.BR yaboot.conf (5),