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$FreeBSD: stable/11/stand/defaults/loader.conf.5 332116 2018-04-06 17:04:21Z kevans $
.Dd March 19, 2018 .Dt LOADER.CONF 5 .Os .Sh NAME .Nm loader.conf .Nd "system bootstrap configuration information" .Sh DESCRIPTION The file .Nm 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 .Xr loader 8 .
p .Sh SYNTAX Though .Nm Ns 's format was defined explicitly to resemble .Xr rc.conf 5 , and can be sourced by .Xr sh 1 , some settings are treated in a special fashion. Also, the behavior of some settings is defined by the setting's suffix; the prefix identifies which module the setting controls.
p The general parsing rules are: l -bullet t Spaces and empty lines are ignored. t A # sign will mark the remainder of the line as a comment. t Only one setting can be present on each line. .El
p All settings have the following format:
p .Dl variable="value"
p Unless it belongs to one of the classes of settings that receive special treatment, a setting will set the value of a .Xr loader 8 environment variable. The settings that receive special treatment are listed below. Settings beginning with .Qq * 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. l -tag -width Ar t Ar exec Immediately executes a .Xr loader 8 command. This type of setting cannot be processed by programs other than .Xr loader 8 , so its use should be avoided. Multiple instances of it will be processed independently. t Ar loader_conf_files Defines additional configuration files to be processed right after the present file. t Ar kernel Name of the kernel to be loaded. If no kernel name is set, no additional modules will be loaded. The name must be a subdirectory of
a /boot that contains a kernel. t Ar kernel_options Flags to be passed to the kernel. t Ar vfs.root.mountfrom Specify the root partition to mount. For example:
p .Dl vfs.root.mountfrom="ufs:/dev/da0s1a"
p .Xr loader 8 automatically calculates the value of this tunable from
a /etc/fstab from the partition the kernel was loaded from. The calculated value might be calculated incorrectly when
a /etc/fstab is not available during .Xr loader 8 startup (as during diskless booting from NFS), or if a different device is desired by the user. The preferred value can be set in
a /loader.conf .
p The value can also be overridden from the .Xr loader 8 command line. This is useful for system recovery when
a /etc/fstab is damaged, lost, or read from the wrong partition. t Ar password Protect boot menu with a password without interrupting c 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 .Va autoboot_delay variable or c autoboot process fails. In both cases user should provide specified password to be able to access boot menu. t Ar 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. t Ar verbose_loading If set to .Dq YES , module names will be displayed as they are loaded. t Ar *_load If set to .Dq 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. t Ar *_name Defines the name of the module. t Ar *_type Defines the module's type. If none is given, it defaults to a kld module. t Ar *_flags Flags and parameters to be passed to the module. t Ar *_before Commands to be executed before the module is loaded. Use of this setting should be avoided. t Ar *_after Commands to be executed after the module is loaded. Use of this setting should be avoided. t Ar *_error Commands to be executed if the loading of a module fails. Except for the special value .Dq abort , which aborts the bootstrap process, use of this setting should be avoided. .El
p .Em WARNING: developers should never use these suffixes for any kernel environment variables (tunables) or conflicts will result. .Sh DEFAULT SETTINGS Most of .Nm Ns 's default settings can be ignored. The few of them which are important or useful are: l -tag -width bootfile -offset indent t Va bitmap_load
q Dq NO If set to .Dq YES , a bitmap will be loaded to be displayed on screen while booting. t Va bitmap_name
q Dq Pa /boot/splash.bmp Name of the bitmap to be loaded. Any other name can be used. t Va comconsole_speed .Dq ( 9600 or the value of the .Va BOOT_COMCONSOLE_SPEED variable when .Xr loader 8 was compiled). Sets the speed of the serial console. If the previous boot loader stage specified that a serial console is in use then the default speed is determined from the current serial port speed setting. t Va console
q Dq vidconsole .Dq comconsole selects serial console, .Dq vidconsole selects the video console, .Dq nullconsole selects a mute console (useful for systems with neither a video console nor a serial port), and .Dq spinconsole selects the video console which prevents any input and hides all output replacing it with .Dq spinning character (useful for embedded products and such). t Va kernel
q Dq kernel t Va kernels
q Dq kernel kernel.old Space or comma separated list of kernels to present in the boot menu. t Va loader_conf_files
q Dq Pa /boot/loader.conf /boot/loader.conf.local t Va splash_bmp_load
q Dq NO If set to .Dq YES , will load the splash screen module, making it possible to display a bmp image on the screen while booting. t Va splash_pcx_load
q Dq NO If set to .Dq YES , will load the splash screen module, making it possible to display a pcx image on the screen while booting. t Va vesa_load
q Dq NO If set to .Dq YES , the vesa module will be loaded, enabling bitmaps above VGA resolution to be displayed. t Va beastie_disable If set to .Dq YES , the beastie boot menu will be skipped. t Va loader_logo Pq Dq Li orbbw Selects a desired logo in the beastie boot menu. Possible values are: .Dq Li orbbw , .Dq Li orb , .Dq Li fbsdbw , .Dq Li beastiebw , .Dq Li beastie , and .Dq Li none . t Va loader_color If set to .Dq NO , the beastie boot menu will be displayed without ANSI coloring. t Va entropy_cache_load
q Dq YES If set to .Dq NO , the very early boot-time entropy file will not be loaded. See the entropy entries in .Xr rc.conf 5 . t Va entropy_cache_name
q Dq /boot/entropy The name of the very early boot-time entropy cache file. .El .Sh OTHER SETTINGS Other settings that may be used in .Nm that have no default value: l -tag -width bootfile -offset indent t Va fdt_overlays Specifies a comma-delimited list of FDT overlays to apply.
a /boot/dtb/overlays is created by default for overlays to be placed in. t Va kernels_autodetect If set to .Dq YES , attempt to auto-detect kernels installed in
a /boot . This is an option specific to the Lua-based loader. It is not available in the default Forth-based loader. .El .Sh FILES l -tag -width /boot/defaults/loader.conf -compact t Pa /boot/defaults/loader.conf default settings -- do not change this file. t Pa /boot/loader.conf user defined settings. t Pa /boot/loader.conf.local machine-specific settings for sites with a common loader.conf. .El .Sh SEE ALSO .Xr rc.conf 5 , .Xr boot 8 , .Xr loader 8 , .Xr loader.4th 8 .Sh HISTORY The file .Nm first appeared in .Fx 3.2 . .Sh AUTHORS This manual page was written by .An Daniel C. Sobral Aq dcs@FreeBSD.org . .Sh BUGS The .Xr loader 8 stops reading .Nm when it encounters a syntax error, so any options which are vital for booting a particular system (i.e.\& .Dq Va hw.ata.ata_dma Ns "=0" ) should precede any experimental additions to .Nm .