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31 .Nd "system bootstrap configuration information"
35 contains descriptive information on bootstrapping the system.
37 it you can specify the kernel to be booted, parameters to be passed to
38 it, and additional modules to be loaded; and generally set all variables
44 format was defined explicitly to resemble
48 some settings are treated in a special fashion.
50 behavior of some settings is defined by the setting's suffix;
51 the prefix identifies which module the setting controls.
53 The general parsing rules are:
56 Spaces and empty lines are ignored.
58 A # sign will mark the remainder of the line as a comment.
60 Only one setting can be present on each line.
63 All settings have the following format:
67 Unless it belongs to one of the classes of settings that receive special
68 treatment, a setting will set the value of a
71 The settings that receive special
72 treatment are listed below.
73 Settings beginning with
75 below define the modules to be loaded and
76 may have any prefix; the prefix identifies a module.
77 All such settings sharing a common
78 prefix refer to the same module.
81 Delay in seconds before automatically booting.
82 A user with console access will be able to interrupt the
84 process and escape into the interactive mode by pressing a key on
85 the console during this delay.
91 is automatically attempted after processing
95 are processed normally, using a 10 second delay.
99 no delay is inserted, but any keys pressed while the kernel and modules are
100 loaded will enter interactive mode.
104 no delay will be inserted and
106 starts interactive mode only if
109 In combination with the
111 option, this option prevents users with console access from being able
114 process and escape to the loader prompt.
117 option in this manner,
122 Immediately executes a
125 This type of setting cannot be processed by programs other
128 so its use should be avoided.
129 Multiple instances of it will be processed
131 .It Ar loader_conf_dirs
132 Space separated list of directories to process for configuration files.
133 The lua-based loader will process files with a
135 suffix that are placed in these directories.
136 .It Ar loader_conf_files
137 Defines additional configuration files to be processed right after the
139 .Ar loader_conf_files
140 should be treated as write-only.
141 One cannot depend on any value remaining in the loader environment or carried
142 over into the kernel environment.
144 Name of the kernel to be loaded.
145 If no kernel name is set, no additional
146 modules will be loaded.
147 The name must be a subdirectory of
149 that contains a kernel.
150 .It Ar kernel_options
151 Flags to be passed to the kernel.
152 .It Ar vfs.root.mountfrom
153 Specify the root partition to mount.
156 .Dl vfs.root.mountfrom="ufs:/dev/da0s1a"
159 automatically calculates the value of this tunable from
161 from the partition the kernel was loaded from.
162 The calculated value might be calculated incorrectly when
164 is not available during
166 startup (as during diskless booting from NFS), or if a different
167 device is desired by the user.
168 The preferred value can be set in
171 The value can also be overridden from the
174 This is useful for system recovery when
176 is damaged, lost, or read from the wrong partition.
178 Protect boot menu with a password without interrupting
181 The password should be in clear text format.
182 If a password is set, boot menu will not appear until any key is pressed during
183 countdown period specified by
188 In both cases user should provide specified password to be able to access boot
190 .It Ar bootlock_password
191 Provides a password to be required by check-password before execution is
193 The password should be in clear text format.
194 If a password is set, the user must provide specified password to boot.
195 .It Ar verbose_loading
198 module names will be displayed as they are loaded.
199 .It Ar module_blacklist
200 Blacklist of modules.
201 Modules specified in the blacklist may not be loaded automatically with a
203 directive, but they may be loaded directly at the
206 Blacklisted modules may still be loaded indirectly as dependencies of other
211 that module will be loaded.
212 If no name is defined (see below), the
213 module's name is taken to be the same as the prefix.
215 Defines the name of the module.
217 Defines the module's type.
218 If none is given, it defaults to a kld module.
220 Flags and parameters to be passed to the module.
222 Commands to be executed before the module is loaded.
226 Commands to be executed after the module is loaded.
230 Commands to be executed if the loading of a module fails.
234 which aborts the bootstrap process, use of this setting should be avoided.
238 developers should never use these suffixes for any kernel environment
239 variables (tunables) or conflicts will result.
243 default settings can be ignored.
244 The few of them which are important
246 .Bl -tag -width bootfile -offset indent
251 a bitmap will be loaded to be displayed on screen while booting.
253 .Pq Dq Pa /boot/splash.bmp
254 Name of the bitmap to be loaded.
255 Any other name can be used.
256 .It Va comconsole_speed
259 .Va BOOT_COMCONSOLE_SPEED
263 Sets the speed of the serial console.
264 If the previous boot loader stage specified that a serial console
265 is in use then the default speed is determined from the current
266 serial port speed setting.
270 selects serial console,
272 selects the video console,
274 selects the EFI console,
276 selects a mute console
277 (useful for systems with neither a video console nor a serial port), and
279 selects the video console which prevents any input and hides all output
282 character (useful for embedded products and such).
284 Set font size for framebuffer mode.
285 Default font size is selected based on screen resolution, to achieve
286 terminal dimensions 80x24.
287 .It Va screen.textmode
290 will trigger BIOS loader to switch to use VESA BIOS Extension (VBE)
291 frame buffer mode for console.
292 The same effect can be achieved by setting
293 .Va vbe_max_resolution .
297 will force BIOS loader to use VGA text mode.
300 .Va vbe_max_resolution
301 is not set, the loader will try to set screen resolution based on EDID
303 If EDID is not available, the default resolution is 800x600 (if available).
310 are set by loader when loader is using framebuffer mode to draw the screen.
311 .It Va efi_max_resolution
312 .It Va vbe_max_resolution
313 Specify the maximum desired resolution for the EFI or VBE framebuffer console.
314 The following values are accepted:
315 .Bl -column "WidthxHeight"
316 .It Sy Value Ta Sy Resolution
319 .It 1080p Ta 1920x1080
320 .It 2160p Ta 3840x2160
323 .It Va Width Ns x Ns Va Height Ta Va Width Ns x Ns Va Height
328 .Pq Dq kernel kernel.old
329 Space or comma separated list of kernels to present in the boot menu.
330 .It Va loader_conf_files
331 .Pq Dq Pa /boot/loader.conf /boot/loader.conf.local
332 .It Va loader_conf_dirs
333 .Pq Dq Pa /boot/loader.conf.d
334 .It Va splash_bmp_load
338 will load the splash screen module, making it possible to display a bmp image
339 on the screen while booting.
340 .It Va splash_pcx_load
344 will load the splash screen module, making it possible to display a pcx image
345 on the screen while booting.
350 the vesa module will be loaded, enabling bitmaps above VGA resolution to
352 .It Va beastie_disable
355 the beastie boot menu will be skipped.
356 .It Va loader_logo Pq Dq Li orbbw
357 Selects a desired logo in the beastie boot menu.
369 the beastie boot menu will be displayed without ANSI coloring.
370 .It Va entropy_cache_load
375 boot-time entropy file
377 See the entropy entries in
379 .It Va entropy_cache_name
381 The name of the very early
382 boot-time entropy cache file.
383 .It Va cpu_microcode_load
387 the microcode update file specified by
388 .Va cpu_microcode_name
389 will be loaded and applied very early during boot.
390 This provides functionality similar to
392 but ensures that CPU features enabled by microcode updates can be
394 The update will be re-applied automatically when resuming from an
396 If the update file contains updates for multiple processor models,
397 the kernel will search for and extract a matching update.
398 Currently this setting is supported only on Intel
403 It has no effect on other processor types.
404 .It Va cpu_microcode_name
405 A path to a microcode update file.
408 Other settings that may be used in
410 that have no default value:
411 .Bl -tag -width bootfile -offset indent
413 Specifies a comma-delimited list of FDT overlays to apply.
414 .Pa /boot/dtb/overlays
415 is created by default for overlays to be placed in.
416 .It Va kernels_autodetect
419 attempt to auto-detect kernels installed in
421 This is an option specific to the Lua-based loader.
422 It is not available in the default Forth-based loader.
425 .Bl -tag -width /boot/defaults/loader.conf -compact
426 .It Pa /boot/defaults/loader.conf
427 default settings \(em do not change this file.
428 .It Pa /boot/loader.conf
429 user defined settings.
430 .It Pa /boot/loader.conf.local
431 machine-specific settings for sites with a common loader.conf.
445 This manual page was written by
446 .An Daniel C. Sobral Aq dcs@FreeBSD.org .
452 when it encounters a syntax error, so any options which are vital for
453 booting a particular system (i.e.,
454 .Dq Va hw.ata.ata_dma Ns "=0" )
455 should precede any experimental additions to