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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 Immediately executes a
84 This type of setting cannot be processed by programs other
87 so its use should be avoided.
88 Multiple instances of it will be processed
90 .It Ar loader_conf_files
91 Defines additional configuration files to be processed right after the
94 should be treated as write-only.
95 One cannot depend on any value remaining in the loader environment or carried
96 over into the kernel environment.
98 Name of the kernel to be loaded.
99 If no kernel name is set, no additional
100 modules will be loaded.
101 The name must be a subdirectory of
103 that contains a kernel.
104 .It Ar kernel_options
105 Flags to be passed to the kernel.
106 .It Ar vfs.root.mountfrom
107 Specify the root partition to mount.
110 .Dl vfs.root.mountfrom="ufs:/dev/da0s1a"
113 automatically calculates the value of this tunable from
115 from the partition the kernel was loaded from.
116 The calculated value might be calculated incorrectly when
118 is not available during
120 startup (as during diskless booting from NFS), or if a different
121 device is desired by the user.
122 The preferred value can be set in
125 The value can also be overridden from the
128 This is useful for system recovery when
130 is damaged, lost, or read from the wrong partition.
132 Protect boot menu with a password without interrupting
135 The password should be in clear text format.
136 If a password is set, boot menu will not appear until any key is pressed during
137 countdown period specified by
142 In both cases user should provide specified password to be able to access boot
144 .It Ar bootlock_password
145 Provides a password to be required by check-password before execution is
147 The password should be in clear text format.
148 If a password is set, the user must provide specified password to boot.
149 .It Ar verbose_loading
152 module names will be displayed as they are loaded.
153 .It Ar module_blacklist
154 Blacklist of modules.
155 Modules specified in the blacklist may not be loaded automatically with a
157 directive, but they may be loaded directly at the
160 Blacklisted modules may still be loaded indirectly as dependencies of other
165 that module will be loaded.
166 If no name is defined (see below), the
167 module's name is taken to be the same as the prefix.
169 Defines the name of the module.
171 Defines the module's type.
172 If none is given, it defaults to a kld module.
174 Flags and parameters to be passed to the module.
176 Commands to be executed before the module is loaded.
180 Commands to be executed after the module is loaded.
184 Commands to be executed if the loading of a module fails.
188 which aborts the bootstrap process, use of this setting should be avoided.
192 developers should never use these suffixes for any kernel environment
193 variables (tunables) or conflicts will result.
197 default settings can be ignored.
198 The few of them which are important
200 .Bl -tag -width bootfile -offset indent
205 a bitmap will be loaded to be displayed on screen while booting.
207 .Pq Dq Pa /boot/splash.bmp
208 Name of the bitmap to be loaded.
209 Any other name can be used.
210 .It Va comconsole_speed
213 .Va BOOT_COMCONSOLE_SPEED
217 Sets the speed of the serial console.
218 If the previous boot loader stage specified that a serial console
219 is in use then the default speed is determined from the current
220 serial port speed setting.
224 selects serial console,
226 selects the video console,
228 selects a mute console
229 (useful for systems with neither a video console nor a serial port), and
231 selects the video console which prevents any input and hides all output
234 character (useful for embedded products and such).
235 .It Va efi_max_resolution
236 Specify the maximum desired resolution for the EFI console.
237 The following values are accepted:
238 .Bl -column "WidthxHeight"
239 .It Sy Value Ta Sy Resolution
242 .It 1080p Ta 1920x1080
243 .It 2160p Ta 3840x2160
246 .It Va Width Ns x Ns Va Height Ta Va Width Ns x Ns Va Height
251 .Pq Dq kernel kernel.old
252 Space or comma separated list of kernels to present in the boot menu.
253 .It Va loader_conf_files
254 .Pq Dq Pa /boot/loader.conf /boot/loader.conf.local
255 .It Va splash_bmp_load
259 will load the splash screen module, making it possible to display a bmp image
260 on the screen while booting.
261 .It Va splash_pcx_load
265 will load the splash screen module, making it possible to display a pcx image
266 on the screen while booting.
271 the vesa module will be loaded, enabling bitmaps above VGA resolution to
273 .It Va beastie_disable
276 the beastie boot menu will be skipped.
277 .It Va loader_logo Pq Dq Li orbbw
278 Selects a desired logo in the beastie boot menu.
290 the beastie boot menu will be displayed without ANSI coloring.
291 .It Va entropy_cache_load
296 boot-time entropy file
298 See the entropy entries in
300 .It Va entropy_cache_name
302 The name of the very early
303 boot-time entropy cache file.
304 .It Va cpu_microcode_load
308 the microcode update file specified by
309 .Va cpu_microcode_name
310 will be loaded and applied very early during boot.
311 This provides functionality similar to
313 but ensures that CPU features enabled by microcode updates can be
315 The update will be re-applied automatically when resuming from an
317 If the update file contains updates for multiple processor models,
318 the kernel will search for and extract a matching update.
319 Currently this setting is supported only on Intel
324 It has no effect on other processor types.
325 .It Va cpu_microcode_name
326 A path to a microcode update file.
329 Other settings that may be used in
331 that have no default value:
332 .Bl -tag -width bootfile -offset indent
334 Specifies a comma-delimited list of FDT overlays to apply.
335 .Pa /boot/dtb/overlays
336 is created by default for overlays to be placed in.
337 .It Va kernels_autodetect
340 attempt to auto-detect kernels installed in
342 This is an option specific to the Lua-based loader.
343 It is not available in the default Forth-based loader.
346 .Bl -tag -width /boot/defaults/loader.conf -compact
347 .It Pa /boot/defaults/loader.conf
348 default settings -- do not change this file.
349 .It Pa /boot/loader.conf
350 user defined settings.
351 .It Pa /boot/loader.conf.local
352 machine-specific settings for sites with a common loader.conf.
366 This manual page was written by
367 .An Daniel C. Sobral Aq dcs@FreeBSD.org .
373 when it encounters a syntax error, so any options which are vital for
374 booting a particular system (i.e.\&
375 .Dq Va hw.ata.ata_dma Ns "=0" )
376 should precede any experimental additions to