boot.cfg(5)
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BOOT.CFG(5) NetBSD File Formats Manual BOOT.CFG(5)
NAME
boot.cfg -- configuration file for /boot
DESCRIPTION
The file /boot.cfg is used to alter the behaviour of the standard boot
loader described in boot(8). Configuration changes include setting the
timeout, choosing a console device, altering the banner text and display-
ing a menu allowing boot commands to be easily chosen. If a boot.cfg
file is not present, the system will boot as normal.
FILE FORMAT
The format of the file is a series of lines containing keyword/value
pairs separated by an equals sign (`='). There should be no whitespace
surrounding the equals sign. Lines beginning with a hash (`#') are com-
ments and will be ignored.
Some keywords can be present multiple times in the file to define addi-
tional items. Such keywords are noted below.
banner (may be present multiple times) The text from banner lines is
displayed instead of the standard welcome text by the boot
loader. Up to 10 lines can be defined. No special character
sequences are recognised, so to specify a blank line, a banner
line with no value should be given.
menu (may be present multiple times) Used to define a menu item to be
displayed to the end-user at boot time which allows a series of
boot commands to be run without further typing. The value con-
sists of the required menu text, followed by a colon (`:') and
then the desired command(s). Multiple commands can be specified
separated by a semi-colon. If the specified menu text is empty
(the colon appears immediately after the equals sign), then the
displayed menu text is the same as the command. For example:
menu=Boot normally:boot
menu=Boot single-user:boot -s
menu=Boot with module foo:load /foo.kmod;boot
menu=Boot with serial console:consdev com0;boot
menu=:boot hd1a:netbsd -as
Each menu item will be prefixed by an ascending number when dis-
played, i.e. the order in the boot.cfg file is important.
Each command is executed just as though the user had typed it in
and so can be any valid command that would be accepted at the
normal boot prompt. In addition, ``prompt'' can be used to drop
to the normal boot prompt.
timeout If the value is greater than zero, this specifies the time in
seconds that the boot loader will wait for the end-user to
choose a menu item. During the countdown period, they may press
Return to choose the default option or press a number key corre-
sponding to a menu option. If any other key is pressed, the
countdown will stop and the user will be prompted to choose a
menu option with no further time limit. If the timeout value is
set to zero, the default option will be booted immediately. If
the timeout value is negative or is not a number, there will be
no time limit for the user to choose an option.
default Used to specify the default menu item which will be chosen in
the case of Return being pressed or the timeout timer reaching
zero. The value is the number of the menu item as displayed.
As described above, the menu items are counted from 1 in the
order listed in boot.cfg. If not specified, the default value
will be option 1, i.e. the first item.
consdev Changes the console device to that specified in the value.
Valid values are any of those that could be specified at the
normal boot prompt with the consdev command.
load Used to load kernel modules, which will be passed on to the ker-
nel for initialization during early boot. The argument is the
complete path and file name of the module to be loaded. May be
used as many times as needed.
format Changes how the menu options are displayed. Should be set to
one of `a' for automatic, `l' for letters and `n' for numbers.
If set to automatic (the default), menu options will be dis-
played numerically unless there are more than 9 options and the
timeout is greater than zero. If there are more than 9 options
with a timeout greater than zero and the format is set to num-
ber, only the first 9 options will be available.
EXAMPLES
Here is an example boot.cfg file:
banner=Welcome to NetBSD
banner==================
banner=
banner=Please choose an option from the following menu:
menu=Boot normally:boot
menu=Boot single-user:boot -s
menu=Boot from second disk:boot hd1a:
menu=Boot with module foo:load /foo.kmod;boot
menu=Boot with modules foo and bar:load /foo.kmod;load /bar.kmod;boot
menu=Boot Xen with 256MB for dom0:load /netbsd-XEN3_DOM0 console=pc;multiboot /usr/pkg/xen3-kernel/xen.gz dom0_mem=256M
menu=Boot Xen with 256MB for dom0 (serial):load /netbsd-XEN3_DOM0 console=com0;multiboot /usr/pkg/xen3-kernel/xen.gz dom0_mem=256M console=com1 com1=115200,8n1
menu=Boot Xen with dom0 in single-user mode:load /netbsd-XEN3_DOM0 -s;multiboot /usr/pkg/xen3-kernel/xen.gz dom0_mem=256M
menu=Go to command line (advanced users only):prompt
timeout=-1
default=1
# Always load ramdisk module
load=/miniroot.kmod
N.B. Xen counts serial ports from com1 upwards, but NetBSD counts from
com0, so the appropriate device name must be used. Please see the Xen
with serial console example above.
This will display:
Welcome to NetBSD
=================
Please choose an option from the following menu:
1. Boot normally
2. Boot single-user
3. Boot from second disk
4. Boot with module foo
5. Boot with modules foo and bar
6. Boot Xen with 256 MB for dom0
7. Boot Xen with 256 MB for dom0 (serial)
8. Boot Xen with dom0 in single-user mode
9. Go to command line (advanced users only)
Option [1]:
It will then wait for the user to type 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 or 9 fol-
lowed by Return. Pressing Return by itself will run option 1. There
will be no timeout.
SEE ALSO
boot(8)
HISTORY
The boot.cfg utility appeared in NetBSD 5.0.
AUTHORS
The boot.cfg extensions to boot(8) were written by Stephen Borrill
<sborrill@NetBSD.org>.
BUGS
Support for boot.cfg is currently for NetBSD/i386 and NetBSD/amd64 only.
It is hoped that its use will be extended to other appropriate ports that
use the boot(8) interface.
NetBSD 5.0 November 18, 2008 NetBSD 5.0
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