| INSTALLBOOT(8) | System Manager's Manual | INSTALLBOOT(8) |
installboot —
installboot |
[-fnv] [-B
s2bno] [-b
s1bno] [-m
machine] [-o
options] [-t
fstype] filesystem
primary [secondary] |
installboot |
-c [-fnv]
[-m machine]
[-o options]
[-t fstype]
filesystem |
installboot |
-e [-fnv]
[-m machine]
[-o options]
bootstrap |
installboot utility installs and removes
NetBSD disk bootstrap software into a file system.
installboot can install primary
into filesystem, or disable an existing bootstrap in
filesystem.
On some architectures the options of an existing installed bootstrap, or those of a bootstrap file can be changed. Installing a new primary bootstrap will reset those options to default values.
Generally, NetBSD disk bootstrap software
consists of two parts: a “primary” bootstrap program usually
written into the disklabel area of the file system by
installboot, and a “secondary”
bootstrap program that usually resides as an ordinary file in the file
system.
When booting, the primary bootstrap program is loaded and invoked by the machine's PROM or BIOS. After receiving control of the system it loads and runs the secondary bootstrap program, which in turn loads and runs the kernel. The secondary bootstrap may allow control over various boot parameters passed to the kernel.
Perform the following steps to make a file system bootable:
installboot to install the primary bootstrap
program (usually
/usr/mdec/bootxx_FSTYPE) into
filesystem.
The following platforms do not require this step if the primary bootstrap already exists and the secondary bootstrap file is just being updated: alpha, amd64, amiga, i386, pmax, sparc64, and vax.
The following platform does not require the first step since a single bootstrap file is used. The single bootstrap is installed like the primary bootstrap on other platforms: next68k.
Some platforms, typically embedded system platforms, are umbrella
platforms that support many different individual board types, each with
their own boot loader binary and installation procedure requirements. On
these platforms, it may be necessary to provide specific board type
information to installboot. Information about known
boards and their requirements is loaded from a database at run-time.
Sometimes these platforms also require the use of 3rd-party boot loader
software, such as U-boot. To support these platforms,
installboot scans known locations for these
3rd-party boot loader packages for database overlays that contain additional
board-specific boot loader installation information in a file called
‘installboot.plist’.
The following platforms have this requirement and utilize this database overlay feature: evbarm.
The options and arguments recognized by
installboot are as follows:
-B
s2bno-b
s1bno-c-e-v and without -o, show
the current options. [amd64,
i386]-finstallboot to ignore some errors.-m
machineMACHINE. The following machines are currently
supported by installboot:
-n-o
optionsinstallboot options, comma
separated.
Supported options are (with the machines for they are valid in brackets):
installboot will attempt to guess the board
type based on system information if run natively.-t
fstypeinstallboot:
-B s2bno.-vinstallboot is to operate on. It is not necessary
for filesystem to be a currently mounted file
system.Only certain combinations of platform
(-m machine) and file
system type (-t fstype)
require that the name of the secondary bootstrap is supplied as
secondary, so that information such as the disk
block numbers occupied by the secondary bootstrap can be stored in the
primary bootstrap. These are:
| Platform | File systems |
| macppc | ffs, raw |
| news68k | ffs, raw |
| newsmips | ffs, raw |
| sparc | ffs, raid, raw |
| sun2 | ffs, raw |
| sun3 | ffs, raw |
installboot exits 0 on success, and >0
if an error occurs.
installboot uses the following environment variables:
INSTALLBOOT_UBOOT_PATHSinstallboot
installation overlays. If multiple overlays are found, overlays from paths
closer to the front of the list take precedence. If not specified, the
default path is /usr/pkg/share/u-boot. This
environment variable is only used on platforms that support using
U-boot: evbarm.MACHINEinstallboot.bootxx_msdos in that it doesn't
require the filesystem to have been initialised with any
‘reserved sectors’. It also uses the
information in the ‘Boot Parameter
Block’ to get the media and filesytem properties. The
‘hidden sectors’ field of the BPB
must be the offset of the partition in the disk. This can be set using the
-b s1bno option.traditional’ file system prior to
NetBSD 6.0). Use
dumpfs(8) to confirm the
file system format is FFSv1.installboot is run.installboot with no options will display a list of
known boards. Using the verbose option will also display information about
which U-boot package needs to be installed to support that
board, and if the required U-boot package is installed, the
path at which it is located.
Note that installboot does not
currently support evbmips directly.
installboot -v
/dev/rsd0c /usr/mdec/bootxx_ffsinstallboot would not
be able to access it.
Remove the primary bootstrap from disk ‘sd1’:
installboot -c
/dev/rsd1cinstallboot -m amiga
-o command="netbsd -S" /dev/rsd0a
/usr/mdec/bootxx_ffsinstallboot -m
evbarm -o board=pine64,pinebook arm64.imgInstall / update the U-boot boot loader for the current running system on the eMMC device ‘ld0’ and display verbose information about the procedure:
installboot -v
/dev/rld0cInstall a specific U-boot package for a BeagleBone Black into an image that will be written to an SDMMC card:
installboot -m
evbarm -o board=ti,am335x-bone-black armv7.img
/path/to/experimental/u-boot/packageinstallboot
/dev/rsd0c /usr/mdec/bootxx_bfscp /usr/mdec/boot
/bootinstallboot -v -o
timeout=5 /dev/rwd0a /usr/mdec/bootxx_ffsv2Create a bootable CD-ROM with an ISO 9660 file system for an i386 system with a serial console:
mkdir
cdromcp
sys/arch/i386/compile/mykernel/netbsd cdrom/netbsdcp /usr/mdec/boot
cdrom/bootcp
/usr/mdec/bootxx_cd9660 bootxxinstallboot -o
console=com0,speed=19200 -m i386 -e bootxxmakefs -t cd9660 -o
'bootimage=i386;bootxx,no-emul-boot' boot.iso cdromCreate a bootable floppy disk with an FFSv1 file system for a small custom kernel (note: bigger kernels needing multiple disks are handled with the ustarfs file system):
newfs -s 1440k
/dev/rfd0amount /dev/fd0a
/mntcp /usr/mdec/boot
/mnt/bootgzip -9 <
sys/arch/i386/compile/mykernel/netbsd > /mnt/netbsd.gzumount
/mntinstallboot -v
/dev/rfd0a /usr/mdec/bootxx_ffsv1Create a bootable FAT file system on ‘wd1a’, which should have the same offset and size as a FAT primary partition in the Master Boot Record (MBR):
newfs_msdos -r 16
/dev/rwd1a-r 16 is to reserve space for
the primary bootstrap.
newfs_msdos(8) will display
an “MBR type” such as ‘1’,
‘4’, or
‘6’; the MBR partition type of the
appropriate primary partition should be changed to this value.mount -t msdos
/dev/wd1a /mntcp /usr/mdec/boot
/mnt/bootcp path/to/kernel
/mnt/netbsdumount
/mntinstallboot -t raw
/dev/rwd1a /usr/mdec/bootxx_msdosMake the existing FAT16 filesystem on ‘sd0e’ bootable. This can be used to make USB memory bootable provided it has 512 byte sectors and that the manufacturer correctly initialised the file system.
mount -t msdos
/dev/sd0e /mntcp /usr/mdec/boot
/mnt/bootcp path/to/kernel
/mnt/netbsdumount
/mntinstallboot
/dev/rsd0e /usr/mdec/bootxx_fat16fdisk to make the device
itself bootable.
Switch the existing installed bootstrap to use a serial console without reinstalling or altering other options such as timeout.
installboot -e -o
console=com0 /dev/rwd0ainstallboot utility is only required for macppc
machines with OpenFirmware version 2 to boot. OpenFirmware 3 cannot load
bootblocks specified in the Apple partition map.
Install the Berkeley Fast File System primary bootstrap on to disk ‘wd0’:
installboot
/dev/rwd0c /usr/mdec/bootxx /ofwbootThe secondary NetBSD/macppc bootstrap is located in /usr/mdec/ofwboot.
The primary bootstrap requires the raw ofwboot for the secondary bootstrap, not ofwboot.xcf, which is used for the OpenFirmware to load kernels.
installboot
/dev/rsd0c /usr/mdec/bootinstallboot
/dev/rsd0c /usr/mdec/bootxx_ffsNetBSD/pmax requires that this file system starts at block 0 of the disk.
Install the ISO 9660 primary bootstrap in the file /tmp/cd-image:
installboot -m pmax
/tmp/cd-image /usr/mdec/bootxx_cd9660Make an ISO 9660 filesystem in the file /tmp/cd-image and install the ISO 9660 primary bootstrap in the filesystem, where the source directory for the ISO 9660 filesystem contains a kernel, the primary bootstrap bootxx_cd9660 and the secondary bootstrap boot.pmax:
mkisofs -o
/tmp/cd-image -a -l -v iso-source-dir...48 51
iso-source-dir/bootxx_cd9660...installboot -b `expr
48 \* 4` /tmp/cd-image /usr/mdec/bootxx_cd9660installboot
/dev/rsd0c /usr/mdec/bootxx /bootinstallboot
/dev/rsd0c /usr/mdec/bootblkThe secondary NetBSD/sparc64 bootstrap is located in /usr/mdec/ofwboot.
installboot
/dev/rsd0c /usr/mdec/bootxx /bootinstallboot appeared in
NetBSD 1.6.
installboot was written by Luke
Mewburn. The following people contributed to the various machine
dependent back-ends: Simon Burge (pmax),
Chris Demetriou (alpha), Matthew
Fredette (sun2, sun3), Matthew Green (sparc64),
Ross Harvey (alpha), Michael
Hitch (amiga), Paul Kranenburg (sparc),
David Laight (i386), Christian
Limpach (next68k), Luke Mewburn (macppc),
Matt Thomas (vax), Izumi
Tsutsui (news68k, newsmips), and UCHIYAMA
Yasushi (ews4800mips).
If a disk has been converted from FFS to
RAID without the contents of the disk erased, then the
original FFS installation may be auto-detected instead of
the RAID installation. In this case, the
-t raid option must be
provided.
The size of primary bootstrap programs is restricted to 7.5KB, even though some file systems (e.g., ISO 9660) are able to accommodate larger ones.
The size of primary bootstrap programs is restricted to 8KB, even though some file systems (e.g., ISO 9660) are able to accommodate larger ones.
installboot and the secondary
bootstrap implementation, file systems where kernels exist must start at the
beginning of disks.
Currently, installboot doesn't recognize
an existing Apple partition map on the disk and always writes a faked map to
make disks bootable.
The NetBSD/macppc bootstrap program can't load kernels from FFSv2 partitions.
The size of primary bootstrap programs is restricted to 7.5KB, even though some file systems (e.g., ISO 9660) are able to accommodate larger ones.
The size of primary bootstrap programs is restricted to 7.5KB, even though some file systems (e.g., ISO 9660) are able to accommodate larger ones.
| May 5, 2019 | NetBSD 9.0 |