1.\" Copyright (c) 1999 Daniel C. Sobral 2.\" All rights reserved. 3.\" 4.\" Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without 5.\" modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions 6.\" are met: 7.\" 1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright 8.\" notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer. 9.\" 2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright 10.\" notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the 11.\" documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution. 12.\" 13.\" THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE AUTHOR AND CONTRIBUTORS ``AS IS'' AND 14.\" ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE 15.\" IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE 16.\" ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHOR OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE 17.\" FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL 18.\" DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS 19.\" OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) 20.\" HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT 21.\" LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY 22.\" OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF 23.\" SUCH DAMAGE. 24.\" 25.\" $FreeBSD: src/sys/boot/forth/loader.conf.5,v 1.18 2002/08/27 01:02:56 trhodes Exp $ 26.\" $DragonFly: src/sys/boot/forth/loader.conf.5,v 1.13 2008/09/15 21:23:44 thomas Exp $ 27.Dd September 6, 2008 28.Dt LOADER.CONF 5 29.Os 30.Sh NAME 31.Nm loader.conf 32.Nd system bootstrap configuration information 33.Sh DESCRIPTION 34The file 35.Nm 36contains descriptive information on bootstrapping the system. 37Through 38it you can specify the kernel to be booted, parameters to be passed to 39it, and additional modules to be loaded; and generally set all variables 40described in 41.Xr loader 8 . 42.Pp 43A file 44.Pa loader.rc 45must contain the following two lines for 46.Nm 47to be automatically processed: 48.Pp 49.Dl include loader.4th 50.Dl start 51.Pp 52If no 53.Pa /boot/loader.rc 54exists at installworld time, one with the above lines will be installed. 55.Sh SYNTAX 56Though 57.Nm Ns 's 58format was defined explicitly to resemble 59.Xr rc.conf 5 , 60and can be sourced by 61.Xr sh 1 , 62some settings are treated in a special fashion. 63Also, the 64behavior of some settings is defined by the setting's suffix; 65the prefix identifies which module the setting controls. 66.Pp 67The general parsing rules are: 68.Bl -bullet 69.It 70Spaces and empty lines are ignored. 71.It 72A 73.Ql # 74sign will mark the remainder of the line as a comment. 75.It 76Only one setting can be present on each line. 77.El 78.Pp 79All settings have the following format: 80.Pp 81.Dl variable="value" 82.Pp 83Unless it belongs to one of the classes of settings that receive special 84treatment, a setting will set the value of a 85.Xr loader 8 86environment variable. 87The settings that receive special 88treatment are listed below. 89Settings beginning with 90.Aq Ar module 91below define the modules to be loaded. 92All such settings sharing a common 93prefix refer to the same module. 94.Bl -tag -width Ar 95.It Ar exec 96Immediately executes a 97.Xr loader 8 98command. 99This type of setting cannot be processed by programs other 100than 101.Xr loader 8 , 102so its use should be avoided. 103Multiple instances of it will be processed 104independently. 105.It Ar loader_conf_files 106Defines additional configuration files to be processed right after the 107present file. 108.It Ar kernel 109Name of the kernel to be loaded. 110If no kernel name is set, no additional 111modules will be loaded. 112.It Ar kernel_options 113Flags to be passed to the kernel (see 114.Xr boot 8 ) . 115.It Ar password 116Provides a password to be required by check-password before execution is 117allowed to continue. 118.It Ar verbose_loading 119If set to 120.Dq YES , 121module names will be displayed as they are loaded. 122.It Ao Ar module Ac Ns Ar _load 123If set to 124.Dq YES , 125that module will be loaded. 126If no 127.Ao Ar module Ac Ns Ar _name 128is defined (see below), the 129module's name is taken to be 130.Aq Ar module . 131.It Ao Ar module Ac Ns Ar _name 132Defines the name of the module. 133.It Ao Ar module Ac Ns Ar _type 134Defines the module's type. 135If none is given, it defaults to a kld module. 136.It Ao Ar module Ac Ns Ar _flags 137Flags and parameters to be passed to the module. 138.It Ao Ar module Ac Ns Ar _before 139Commands to be executed before the module is loaded. 140Use of this setting 141should be avoided. 142.It Ao Ar module Ac Ns Ar _after 143Commands to be executed after the module is loaded. 144Use of this setting 145should be avoided. 146.It Ao Ar module Ac Ns Ar _error 147Commands to be executed if the loading of a module fails. 148Except for the 149special value 150.Dq abort , 151which aborts the bootstrap process, use of this setting should be avoided. 152.El 153.Sh DEFAULT SETTINGS 154Most of 155.Nm Ns 's 156default settings can be ignored. 157The few of them which are important 158or useful are: 159.Bl -tag -width bootfile -offset indent 160.It Va bitmap_load 161.Pq Dq NO 162If set to 163.Dq YES , 164a bitmap will be loaded to be displayed on screen while booting. 165.It Va bitmap_name 166.Pq Dq splash.bmp 167Name of the bitmap to be loaded. 168Any other name can be used. 169.It Va console 170.Pq Dq vidconsole 171.Dq comconsole 172selects serial console, 173.Dq vidconsole 174selects the video console, and 175.Dq nullconsole 176selects a mute console 177(useful for systems with neither a video console nor a serial port). 178.It Va fred_disable 179.Pq Dq NO 180Shows a monochrome version of Fred, the official 181.Dx 182mascot, when the 183boot menu appears. 184To make his life a bit more colorful, consider setting 185.Pa loader_color 186to 187.Dq YES . 188.It Va fred_on_left 189.Pq Dq NO 190Shows Fred on the left side of the menu rather than the right side. 191.It Va kernel 192.Pq Dq kernel 193.It Va loader_color 194.Pq Dq NO 195If set to 196.Dq YES , 197you'll meet Fred, the official 198.Dx 199mascot, in technicolor when the 200boot menu appears (remember to set 201.Pa fred_disable 202to 203.Dq NO 204for this to work.) 205.It Va loader_conf_files 206.Pq Do loader.conf loader.conf.local Dc 207.It Va splash_bmp_load 208.Pq Dq NO 209If set to 210.Dq YES , 211will load the splash screen module, making it possible to display a bmp image 212on the screen while booting. 213.It Va splash_pcx_load 214.Pq Dq NO 215If set to 216.Dq YES , 217will load the splash screen module, making it possible to display a pcx image 218on the screen while booting. 219.It Va userconfig_script_load 220.Pq Dq NO 221If set to 222.Dq YES , 223will load the userconfig data. 224.It Va vesa_load 225.Pq Dq NO 226If set to 227.Dq YES , 228the vesa module will be loaded, enabling bitmaps above VGA resolution to 229be displayed. 230.El 231.Sh FILES 232.Bl -tag -width /boot/defaults/loader.conf -compact 233.It Pa /boot/defaults/loader.conf 234default settings -- do not change this file. 235.It Pa /boot/loader.4th 236defines the commands used by loader to read and process 237.Nm . 238.It Pa /boot/loader.conf 239user defined settings. 240.It Pa /boot/loader.conf.local 241machine-specific settings for sites with a common loader.conf. 242.It Pa /boot/loader.rc 243contains the instructions to automatically process 244.Nm . 245.El 246.Sh SEE ALSO 247.Xr boot 8 , 248.Xr loader 8 249.Sh HISTORY 250The file 251.Nm 252first appeared in 253.Fx 3.2 . 254.Sh AUTHORS 255This manual page was written by 256.An Daniel C. Sobral Aq dcs@FreeBSD.org . 257