| LILO(8) | lilo documentation | LILO(8) |
lilo - install boot loader of LiLO
Main function:
? lilo
Auxiliary uses:
? lilo -A # activate/show active partition
? lilo -E # edit header or update a bitmap file
? lilo -I # inquire path name of current kernel
? lilo -M # write a Master Boot Loader on a device
? lilo -q # query map and show its content
? lilo -R # set default command line for next reboot
? lilo -T # tell more about specified topic
? lilo {-u|-U} # uninstall LiLO boot loader
lilo installs a boot loader that will be activated the next time you boot your system. The default configuration file /etc/lilo.conf (see manpage lilo.conf(5)) will contain most options, but many, including those which override the configuration file, may be specified on the command line.
This switch will be overridden by the appearance of prompt in the configuration file!
If .xxx is .dat then take this file to be a configuration file to set bitmap graphic parameters, which are transferred into the LILO header in the bitmap file of the same name.
When a .bmp file is modified using a graphics editor (e.g. GIMP), the LILO header will be lost. It can be restored using the dat file, which is used as a text-based backup for the LILO header information.
Compare with -P ignore, which bypasses certain partition table checks.
ignore is also used to bypass the partition table check for partition types within the partition table which might not allow the installation of a LILO boot sector. Compare with the '-F' flag, which overrides the check of the actual boot sector.
<global-option> allows the passing of any global option which may appear in the global section (top) of the configuration file (/etc/lilo.conf). For instance '-P nowarn' will pass the 'nowarn' option, just as though 'nowarn' appeared in the configuration file (same as the '-w' switch). Similarly '-P timeout=50' will add or override the 'timeout=' line in the configuration file. Note that the general -P switch actually duplicates a number of command line option switches. However, it is not strictly the same as some switches which cause an override of other options; e.g. '-g' (-P geometric), '-L' (-P lba32).
This Command line starts with image identifier (as shown during map file update), then space, then kernel parameters. The kernel parameters are appended to kernel command line constructed routinely. In either case, it there were parameters or not, such one-time command will be treated by loaders code, as if it is set at 'boot:' prompt. This could lead to 'password:' prompt at boot time. Be warned! Refer to lilo.conf(5) for details.
This option defines the backup save file in one of three ways: a save directory (default is '/boot') using the default filename 'boot.NNNN' in the defined directory; a pathname template to which '.NNNN' is appended (default would be '/boot/boot'); or the full pathname of the file, which must include the correct '.NNNN' suffix. When used with the -u option, the full file pathname must be set.
help print a list of available diagnostics
ChRul list the partition types subject to
Change-Rules
EBDA list Extended BIOS Data Area information
geom=<drive> list drive geometry for bios drive;
e.g. geom=0x80
geom list drive geometry for all drives
table=<drive> list the primary partition table;
e.g. table=/dev/sda
video list graphic modes available to boot
loader
RAID installations write the boot record to the RAID partition. Conditional writing of MBRs may occur to aid in making the RAID set bootable in a recovery situation, but all default actions may be overridden. Action similar to previous versions is achieved using the '-x mbr-only' switch.
lilo -z -M /dev/sda
lilo -M /dev/sda
The above command line options correspond to the key words in the config file indicated below.
-b bootdev boot=bootdev
-B file.bmp bitmap=file.bmp
-c compact
-d dsec delay=dsec
-D label default=label
-f file disktab=file
-g geometric
-l linear
-L lba32
-m mapfile map=mapfile
-P fix fix-table
-P ignore ignore-table
-s file backup=file
-S file force-backup=file
-v [N] verbose=N
-w nowarn
-x option raid-extra-boot=option
-Z option bios-passes-dl=option
The options described here may be specified at boot time on the command line when a kernel image is booted. These options are processed by LILO, and are removed from the command line before it is passed to the kernel, unless otherwise noted.
Loading...............
BIOS data check
The boot process takes place in two stages. The first stage loader is a single sector, and is loaded by the BIOS or by the loader in the MBR. It loads the multi-sector second stage loader, but is very space limited. When the first stage loader gets control, it types the letter 'L'; when it is ready to transfer control to the second stage loader it types the letter 'I'. If any error occurs, like a disk read error, it will put out a hexadecimal error code and then re-try the operation. All hex error codes are BIOS return values, except for the lilo-generated codes: 40, 99 and 9A. A partial list of error codes follows:
00 no error
01 invalid disk command
02 address mark not found
03 disk write-protected
04 sector not found
06 floppy disk removed
08 DMA overrun
0A bad sector flag
0B bad track flag
20 controller failure
40 seek failure (BIOS)
40 cylinder>1023 (LILO)
99 invalid second stage index sector (LILO)
9A no second stage loader signature (LILO)
AA drive not ready
FF sense operation failed
Error code 40 is generated by the BIOS, or by LILO during the conversion of a linear (24-bit) disk address to a geometric (C:H:S) address. On older systems which do not support lba32 (32-bit) addressing, this error may also be generated. Errors 99 and 9A usually mean the map file ('-m' or 'map=') is not readable, likely because LILO was not re-run after some system change, or there is a geometry mismatch between what LILO used (lilo -v3 to display) and what is actually being used by the BIOS (one of the lilo diagnostic disks, available in the source distribution, may be needed to diagnose this problem).
When the second stage loader has received control from the first stage, it prints the letter 'L', and when it has initialized itself, including verifying the "Descriptor Table" - the list of kernels/others to boot - it will print the letter "O", to form the full word "LILO", in uppercase.
All second stage loader error messages are English text and try to pinpoint, more or less successfully, the point of failure.
Configuration file options 'backup' and 'force-backup' should specify a backup directory or backup file pathname template on all RAID installations. Use of an explicit filename may not allow multiple backup files to be created correctly. It is best to use the default mechanism, as it works correctly in all cases.
Copyright (C) 1992-1998 Werner Almesberger Copyright (C) 1999-2007 John Coffman Copyright (C) 2009-2014 Joachim Wiedorn
Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without modification, are permitted under the terms of the BSD license found in the COPYING file.
lilo was written by:
Werner Almesberger (version 0 to 21), John Coffman (version 21.2 to 22.8), Joachim Wiedorn (since version 23.0).
This manual page was written by Werner Almesberger and Joachim Wiedorn <joodevel at joonet.de>.
lilo.conf(5), liloconfig(8), lilo-uuid-diskid(8), mkrescue(8), fdisk(8), mkinitrd(8)
| 2015-11-22 | 24.2 |