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29 .Nd "system bootstrap configuration information"
33 contains descriptive information on bootstrapping the system.
35 it you can specify the kernel to be booted, parameters to be passed to
36 it, and additional modules to be loaded; and generally set all variables
42 format was defined explicitly to resemble
46 some settings are treated in a special fashion.
48 behavior of some settings is defined by the setting's suffix;
49 the prefix identifies which module the setting controls.
51 The general parsing rules are:
54 Spaces and empty lines are ignored.
56 A # sign will mark the remainder of the line as a comment.
58 Only one setting can be present on each line.
61 All settings have the following format:
65 Unless it belongs to one of the classes of settings that receive special
66 treatment, a setting will set the value of a
69 The settings that receive special
70 treatment are listed below.
71 Settings beginning with
73 below define the modules to be loaded and
74 may have any prefix; the prefix identifies a module.
75 All such settings sharing a common
76 prefix refer to the same module.
79 Delay in seconds before automatically booting.
80 A user with console access will be able to interrupt the
82 process and escape into the interactive mode by pressing a key on
83 the console during this delay.
89 is automatically attempted after processing
93 are processed normally, using a 10 second delay.
97 no delay is inserted, but any keys pressed while the kernel and modules are
98 loaded will enter interactive mode.
102 no delay will be inserted and
104 starts interactive mode only if
107 In combination with the
109 option, this option prevents users with console access from being able
112 process and escape to the loader prompt.
115 option in this manner,
120 Immediately executes a
123 This type of setting cannot be processed by programs other
126 so its use should be avoided.
127 Multiple instances of it will be processed
129 .It Ar loader_conf_dirs
130 Space separated list of directories to process for configuration files.
131 The lua-based loader will process files with a
133 suffix that are placed in these directories.
134 .It Ar loader_conf_files
135 Defines additional configuration files to be processed right after the
137 .Ar loader_conf_files
138 should be treated as write-only.
139 One cannot depend on any value remaining in the loader environment or carried
140 over into the kernel environment.
142 Name of the kernel to be loaded.
143 If no kernel name is set, no additional
144 modules will be loaded.
145 The name must be a subdirectory of
147 that contains a kernel.
148 .It Ar kernel_options
149 Flags to be passed to the kernel.
150 .It Ar vfs.root.mountfrom
151 Specify the root partition to mount.
154 .Dl vfs.root.mountfrom="ufs:/dev/da0s1a"
157 automatically calculates the value of this tunable from
159 from the partition the kernel was loaded from.
160 The calculated value might be calculated incorrectly when
162 is not available during
164 startup (as during diskless booting from NFS), or if a different
165 device is desired by the user.
166 The preferred value can be set in
169 The value can also be overridden from the
172 This is useful for system recovery when
174 is damaged, lost, or read from the wrong partition.
176 Protect boot menu with a password without interrupting
179 The password should be in clear text format.
180 If a password is set, boot menu will not appear until any key is pressed during
181 countdown period specified by
186 In both cases user should provide specified password to be able to access boot
188 .It Ar bootlock_password
189 Provides a password to be required by check-password before execution is
191 The password should be in clear text format.
192 If a password is set, the user must provide specified password to boot.
193 .It Ar verbose_loading
196 module names will be displayed as they are loaded.
197 .It Ar module_blacklist
198 Blacklist of modules.
199 Modules specified in the blacklist may not be loaded automatically with a
201 directive, but they may be loaded directly at the
204 Blacklisted modules may still be loaded indirectly as dependencies of other
209 that module will be loaded.
210 If no name is defined (see below), the
211 module's name is taken to be the same as the prefix.
213 Defines the name of the module.
215 Defines the module's type.
216 If none is given, it defaults to a kld module.
218 Flags and parameters to be passed to the module.
220 Commands to be executed before the module is loaded.
224 Commands to be executed after the module is loaded.
228 Commands to be executed if the loading of a module fails.
232 which aborts the bootstrap process, use of this setting should be avoided.
236 developers should never use these suffixes for any kernel environment
237 variables (tunables) or conflicts will result.
241 default settings can be ignored.
242 The few of them which are important
244 .Bl -tag -width bootfile -offset indent
249 a bitmap will be loaded to be displayed on screen while booting.
251 .Pq Dq Pa /boot/splash.bmp
252 Name of the bitmap to be loaded.
253 Any other name can be used.
254 .It Va comconsole_speed
257 .Va BOOT_COMCONSOLE_SPEED
261 Sets the speed of the serial console.
262 If the previous boot loader stage specified that a serial console
263 is in use then the default speed is determined from the current
264 serial port speed setting.
268 selects serial console,
270 selects the video console,
272 selects the EFI console,
274 selects a mute console
275 (useful for systems with neither a video console nor a serial port), and
277 selects the video console which prevents any input and hides all output
280 character (useful for embedded products and such).
282 Set font size for framebuffer mode.
283 Default font size is selected based on screen resolution, to achieve
284 terminal dimensions 80x24.
285 .It Va screen.textmode
288 will trigger BIOS loader to switch to use VESA BIOS Extension (VBE)
289 frame buffer mode for console.
290 The same effect can be achieved by setting
291 .Va vbe_max_resolution .
295 will force BIOS loader to use VGA text mode.
298 .Va vbe_max_resolution
299 is not set, the loader will try to set screen resolution based on EDID
301 If EDID is not available, the default resolution is 800x600 (if available).
308 are set by loader when loader is using framebuffer mode to draw the screen.
309 .It Va efi_max_resolution
310 .It Va vbe_max_resolution
311 Specify the maximum desired resolution for the EFI or VBE framebuffer console.
312 The following values are accepted:
313 .Bl -column "WidthxHeight"
314 .It Sy Value Ta Sy Resolution
317 .It 1080p Ta 1920x1080
318 .It 2160p Ta 3840x2160
321 .It Va Width Ns x Ns Va Height Ta Va Width Ns x Ns Va Height
326 .Pq Dq kernel kernel.old
327 Space or comma separated list of kernels to present in the boot menu.
328 .It Va loader_conf_files
329 .Pq Dq Pa /boot/loader.conf /boot/loader.conf.local
330 .It Va loader_conf_dirs
331 .Pq Dq Pa /boot/loader.conf.d
332 .It Va splash_bmp_load
336 will load the splash screen module, making it possible to display a bmp image
337 on the screen while booting.
338 .It Va splash_pcx_load
342 will load the splash screen module, making it possible to display a pcx image
343 on the screen while booting.
348 the vesa module will be loaded, enabling bitmaps above VGA resolution to
350 .It Va beastie_disable
353 the beastie boot menu will be skipped.
354 .It Va loader_logo Pq Dq Li orbbw
355 Selects a desired logo in the beastie boot menu.
367 the beastie boot menu will be displayed without ANSI coloring.
368 .It Va entropy_cache_load
373 boot-time entropy file
375 See the entropy entries in
377 .It Va entropy_cache_name
379 The name of the very early
380 boot-time entropy cache file.
381 .It Va cpu_microcode_load
385 the microcode update file specified by
386 .Va cpu_microcode_name
387 will be loaded and applied very early during boot.
388 This provides functionality similar to
390 but ensures that CPU features enabled by microcode updates can be
392 The update will be re-applied automatically when resuming from an
394 If the update file contains updates for multiple processor models,
395 the kernel will search for and extract a matching update.
396 Currently this setting is supported only on Intel
401 It has no effect on other processor types.
402 .It Va cpu_microcode_name
403 A path to a microcode update file.
406 Other settings that may be used in
408 that have no default value:
409 .Bl -tag -width bootfile -offset indent
411 Specifies a comma-delimited list of FDT overlays to apply.
412 .Pa /boot/dtb/overlays
413 is created by default for overlays to be placed in.
414 .It Va kernels_autodetect
417 attempt to auto-detect kernels installed in
419 This is an option specific to the Lua-based loader.
420 It is not available in the default Forth-based loader.
423 .Bl -tag -width /boot/defaults/loader.conf -compact
424 .It Pa /boot/defaults/loader.conf
425 default settings \(em do not change this file.
426 .It Pa /boot/loader.conf
427 user defined settings.
428 .It Pa /boot/loader.conf.lua
429 user defined settings written in lua.
430 .It Pa /boot/loader.conf.local
431 machine-specific settings for sites with a common loader.conf.
434 .Xr loader.conf.lua 5 ,
446 This manual page was written by
447 .An Daniel C. Sobral Aq dcs@FreeBSD.org .
453 when it encounters a syntax error, so any options which are vital for
454 booting a particular system (i.e.,
455 .Dq Va hw.ata.ata_dma Ns "=0" )
456 should precede any experimental additions to