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.\" $FreeBSD$ 26.Dd April 27, 2014 27.Dt LOADER.CONF 5 28.Os 29.Sh NAME 30.Nm loader.conf 31.Nd "system bootstrap configuration information" 32.Sh DESCRIPTION 33The file 34.Nm 35contains descriptive information on bootstrapping the system. 36Through 37it you can specify the kernel to be booted, parameters to be passed to 38it, and additional modules to be loaded; and generally set all variables 39described in 40.Xr loader 8 . 41.Pp 42The file 43.Pa /boot/loader.rc 44must contain the following two lines for 45.Nm 46to be automatically processed: 47.Pp 48.Dl include /boot/loader.4th 49.Dl start 50.Pp 51If no 52.Pa /boot/loader.rc 53exists at installworld time, one with the above lines will be installed. 54.Sh SYNTAX 55Though 56.Nm Ns 's 57format was defined explicitly to resemble 58.Xr rc.conf 5 , 59and can be sourced by 60.Xr sh 1 , 61some settings are treated in a special fashion. 62Also, the 63behavior of some settings is defined by the setting's suffix; 64the prefix identifies which module the setting controls. 65.Pp 66The general parsing rules are: 67.Bl -bullet 68.It 69Spaces and empty lines are ignored. 70.It 71A # sign will mark the remainder of the line as a comment. 72.It 73Only one setting can be present on each line. 74.El 75.Pp 76All settings have the following format: 77.Pp 78.Dl variable="value" 79.Pp 80Unless it belongs to one of the classes of settings that receive special 81treatment, a setting will set the value of a 82.Xr loader 8 83environment variable. 84The settings that receive special 85treatment are listed below. 86Settings beginning with 87.Qq * 88below define the modules to be loaded and 89may have any prefix; the prefix identifies a module. 90All such settings sharing a common 91prefix refer to the same module. 92.Bl -tag -width Ar 93.It Ar exec 94Immediately executes a 95.Xr loader 8 96command. 97This type of setting cannot be processed by programs other 98than 99.Xr loader 8 , 100so its use should be avoided. 101Multiple instances of it will be processed 102independently. 103.It Ar loader_conf_files 104Defines additional configuration files to be processed right after the 105present file. 106.It Ar kernel 107Name of the kernel to be loaded. 108If no kernel name is set, no additional 109modules will be loaded. 110The name must be a subdirectory of 111.Pa /boot 112that contains a kernel. 113.It Ar kernel_options 114Flags to be passed to the kernel. 115.It Ar password 116Protect boot menu with a password without interrupting 117.Ic autoboot 118process. 119The password should be in clear text format. 120If a password is set, boot menu will not appear until any key is pressed during 121countdown period specified by 122.Va autoboot_delay 123variable or 124.Ic autoboot 125process fails. 126In both cases user should provide specified password to be able to access boot 127menu. 128.It Ar bootlock_password 129Provides a password to be required by check-password before execution is 130allowed to continue. 131The password should be in clear text format. 132If a password is set, the user must provide specified password to boot. 133.It Ar verbose_loading 134If set to 135.Dq YES , 136module names will be displayed as they are loaded. 137.It Ar *_load 138If set to 139.Dq YES , 140that module will be loaded. 141If no name is defined (see below), the 142module's name is taken to be the same as the prefix. 143.It Ar *_name 144Defines the name of the module. 145.It Ar *_type 146Defines the module's type. 147If none is given, it defaults to a kld module. 148.It Ar *_flags 149Flags and parameters to be passed to the module. 150.It Ar *_before 151Commands to be executed before the module is loaded. 152Use of this setting 153should be avoided. 154.It Ar *_after 155Commands to be executed after the module is loaded. 156Use of this setting 157should be avoided. 158.It Ar *_error 159Commands to be executed if the loading of a module fails. 160Except for the 161special value 162.Dq abort , 163which aborts the bootstrap process, use of this setting should be avoided. 164.El 165.Pp 166.Em WARNING: 167developers should never use these suffixes for any kernel environment 168variables (tunables) or conflicts will result. 169.Sh DEFAULT SETTINGS 170Most of 171.Nm Ns 's 172default settings can be ignored. 173The few of them which are important 174or useful are: 175.Bl -tag -width bootfile -offset indent 176.It Va bitmap_load 177.Pq Dq NO 178If set to 179.Dq YES , 180a bitmap will be loaded to be displayed on screen while booting. 181.It Va bitmap_name 182.Pq Dq Pa /boot/splash.bmp 183Name of the bitmap to be loaded. 184Any other name can be used. 185.It Va comconsole_speed 186.Dq ( 9600 187or the value of the 188.Va BOOT_COMCONSOLE_SPEED 189variable when 190.Xr loader 8 191was compiled). 192Sets the speed of the serial console. 193If the previous boot loader stage specified that a serial console 194is in use then the default speed is determined from the current 195serial port speed setting. 196.It Va console 197.Pq Dq vidconsole 198.Dq comconsole 199selects serial console, 200.Dq vidconsole 201selects the video console, 202.Dq nullconsole 203selects a mute console 204(useful for systems with neither a video console nor a serial port), and 205.Dq spinconsole 206selects the video console which prevents any input and hides all output 207replacing it with 208.Dq spinning 209character (useful for embedded products and such). 210.It Va kernel 211.Pq Dq kernel 212.It Va kernels 213.Pq Dq kernel kernel.old 214Space or comma separated list of kernels to present in the boot menu. 215.It Va loader_conf_files 216.Pq Dq Pa /boot/loader.conf /boot/loader.conf.local 217.It Va splash_bmp_load 218.Pq Dq NO 219If set to 220.Dq YES , 221will load the splash screen module, making it possible to display a bmp image 222on the screen while booting. 223.It Va splash_pcx_load 224.Pq Dq NO 225If set to 226.Dq YES , 227will load the splash screen module, making it possible to display a pcx image 228on the screen while booting. 229.It Va vesa_load 230.Pq Dq NO 231If set to 232.Dq YES , 233the vesa module will be loaded, enabling bitmaps above VGA resolution to 234be displayed. 235.It Va beastie_disable 236If set to 237.Dq YES , 238the beastie boot menu will be skipped. 239The beastie boot menu is always skipped if booting UEFI or running non-x86 240hardware. 241.It Va loader_logo Pq Dq Li orbbw 242Selects a desired logo in the beastie boot menu. 243Possible values are: 244.Dq Li orbbw , 245.Dq Li orb , 246.Dq Li fbsdbw , 247.Dq Li beastiebw , 248.Dq Li beastie , 249and 250.Dq Li none . 251.It Va loader_color 252If set to 253.Dq NO , 254the beastie boot menu will be displayed without ANSI coloring. 255.El 256.Sh FILES 257.Bl -tag -width /boot/defaults/loader.conf -compact 258.It Pa /boot/defaults/loader.conf 259default settings -- do not change this file. 260.It Pa /boot/loader.4th 261defines the commands used by loader to read and process 262.Nm . 263.It Pa /boot/loader.conf 264user defined settings. 265.It Pa /boot/loader.conf.local 266machine-specific settings for sites with a common loader.conf. 267.It Pa /boot/loader.rc 268contains the instructions to automatically process 269.Nm . 270.El 271.Sh SEE ALSO 272.Xr boot 8 , 273.Xr loader 8 , 274.Xr loader.4th 8 275.Sh HISTORY 276The file 277.Nm 278first appeared in 279.Fx 3.2 . 280.Sh AUTHORS 281This manual page was written by 282.An Daniel C. Sobral Aq dcs@FreeBSD.org . 283.Sh BUGS 284The 285.Xr loader 8 286stops reading 287.Nm 288when it encounters a syntax error, so any options which are vital for 289booting a particular system (i.e.\& 290.Dq Va hw.ata.ata_dma Ns "=0" ) 291should precede any experimental additions to 292.Nm . 293
