Tribblix: manual page: loader.conf.5

LOADER.CONF(5) File Formats and Configurations LOADER.CONF(5)

NAME

loader.conf - system bootstrap configuration information

SYNOPSIS

/boot/loader.conf

DESCRIPTION

The file loader.conf contains descriptive information on bootstrapping
the system. Through it you can specify the kernel to be booted,
parameters to be passed to it, and additional modules to be loaded; and
generally set all variables described in loader(7).

Loader implements set of builtin commands and functions and script
interpreter as standalone binary program. When starting, the loader
will read the file /boot/loader.rc as initialization and startup
script, to include other support files and to read the configuration,
describing current boot environment. All loader scripts and
configuration files are located in the /boot directory tree.

The file /boot/loader.rc must contain the following two lines for
loader.conf to be automatically processed:

include /boot/forth/loader.4th
start

The default /boot/loader.rc is provided by the operating system and may
be replaced on operating system update. The local updates are advised
to be added into the /boot/loader.rc.local

The configuration variables are read from the following files:

/boot/solaris/bootenv.rc
Managed by the eeprom(8) command.

/boot/defaults/loader.conf
Loader defaults provided by the operating system.

/boot/loader.conf
System specific loader configuration. May be provided by
the operating system.

/boot/loader.conf.local
User editable loader configuration.

/boot/conf.d/*
User editable loader configuration snippets. The files
are processed in lexicographical order. The
configuration snippets mechanism is not available in case
of TFTP boot as TFTP does not provide the directory list.

/boot/transient.conf
Configuration file for transient boot. This file is
created by the reboot(8) command and is automatically
removed when system is reaching the multi-user run level.

The configuration is processed in the order listed above.

SYNTAX

The general parsing rules are:

+o Spaces and empty lines are ignored.

+o A # sign will mark the remainder of the line as a comment.

+o Only one setting can be present on each line.

All settings have the following format:

variable="value"

Unless it belongs to one of the classes of settings that receive
special treatment, a setting will set the value of a loader(7)
environment variable. The settings that receive special treatment are
listed below. Settings beginning with "*" below define the modules to
be loaded and may have any prefix; the prefix identifies a module. All
such settings sharing a common prefix refer to the same module.

exec Immediately executes a loader(7) command. This type of
setting cannot be processed by programs other than
loader(7), so its use should be avoided. Multiple
instances of it will be processed independently.

loader_conf_files
Defines additional configuration files to be processed
right after the present file.

kernel Name of the kernel to be loaded. If no kernel name is
set, no additional modules will be loaded.

boot-args Flags to be passed to the kernel.

password Protect boot menu with a password without interrupting
autoboot process. The password should be in clear text
format. If a password is set, boot menu will not appear
until any key is pressed during countdown period
specified by autoboot_delay variable or autoboot process
fails. In both cases user should provide specified
password to be able to access boot menu.

bootlock_password
Provides a password to be required by check-password
before execution is allowed to continue. The password
should be in clear text format. If a password is set,
the user must provide specified password to boot.

verbose_loading
If set to "YES", module names will be displayed as they
are loaded.

*_load If set to "YES", that module will be loaded. If no name
is defined (see below), the module's name is taken to be
the same as the prefix.

*_name Defines the name of the module.

*_type Defines the module's type. If none is given, it defaults
to a kld module.

*_flags Flags and parameters to be passed to the module.

*_before Commands to be executed before the module is loaded. Use
of this setting should be avoided.

*_after Commands to be executed after the module is loaded. Use
of this setting should be avoided.

*_error Commands to be executed if the loading of a module fails.
Except for the special value "abort", which aborts the
bootstrap process, use of this setting should be avoided.

DEFAULT SETTINGS

Most of loader.conf's default settings can be ignored. The few of them
which are important or useful are:

console ("text") "ttya" - "ttyd" selects serial console, "text"
selects the video console, "nullconsole" selects a mute
console (useful for systems with neither a video
console nor a serial port), and "spinconsole" selects
the video console which prevents any input and hides
all output replacing it with "spinning" character
(useful for embedded products and such).

kernel ("i86pc/kernel/${ISADIR}") /platform sub-directory
containing kernel

loader_conf_files
("/boot/loader.conf /boot/loader.conf.local")

beastie_disable
If set to "YES", the beastie boot menu will be skipped.
The beastie boot menu is always skipped if running non-
x86 hardware.

loader_logo ("illumos")
Selects a desired logo in the beastie boot menu.
Possible values depend on distribution; "none" will
disable the logo.

loader_color
If set to "NO", the beastie boot menu will be displayed
without ANSI coloring.

NOTES