LILO.CONF(5)							File Formats Manual						      LILO.CONF(5)

NAME

       lilo.conf - configuration file for lilo

DESCRIPTION

       This file, by default /etc/lilo.conf, is read by the boot loader installer lilo (see lilo(8)).

       It might look as follows:

	      boot = /dev/hda
	      delay = 40
	      compact
	      vga = normal
	      root = /dev/hda1
	      read-only
	      image = /zImage-2.5.99
		      label = try
	      image = /zImage-1.0.9
		      label = 1.0.9
	      image = /tamu/vmlinuz
		   label = tamu
		   root = /dev/hdb2
		   vga = ask
	      other = /dev/hda3
		   label = dos
		   table = /dev/hda

       This configuration file specifies that lilo uses the Master Boot Record on /dev/hda. (For a discussion of the various ways to use lilo, and
       the interaction with other operating systems, see user.tex from the lilo documentation.)

       When booting, the boot loader will wait four seconds (40 deciseconds) for you to press Shift.  If you don't, then the  first  kernel  image
       mentioned  (/zImage-1.5.99,  that  you  probably  installed just five minutes ago) will be booted.  If you do, the boot loader will ask you
       which image to boot.  In case you forgot the possible choices, press [TAB] (or [?], if you have a US keyboard), and you will  be  presented
       with  a	menu.	You now have the choice of booting this brandnew kernel, or an old trusted kernel, or a kernel on another root file system
       (just in case you did something stupid on your usual rootfs), or booting a different operating system.  There can be up to 16  images  men-
       tioned in lilo.conf.

       As  can	be  seen above, a configuration file starts with a number of global options (the top 6 lines in the example), followed by descrip-
       tions of the options for the various images.  An option in an image description will override a global option.

GLOBAL OPTIONS

       There are many possible keywords. The description below is almost literally from user.tex (just slightly abbreviated).

       backup=backup-file
	      Copy the original boot sector to backup-file (which may also be a device, e.g.  /dev/null) instead of /boot/boot.NNNN.

       boot=boot-device
	      Sets the name of the device (e.g. a hard disk partition) that contains the boot sector. If this keyword is omitted, the boot  sector
	      is read from (and possibly written to) the device that is currently mounted as root.

       change-rules
	      Defines boot-time changes to partition type numbers (`hiding').  See section "Partition type change rules" of user.tex for details.

       compact
	      Tries  to  merge read requests for adjacent sectors into a single read request. This drastically reduces load time and keeps the map
	      smaller. Using `compact' is especially recommended when booting from a floppy disk.

       default=name
	      Uses the specified image as the default boot image. If `default' is omitted, the image appearing first in the configuration file	is
	      used.

       delay=tsecs
	      Specifies  the  number  of  tenths of a second the boot loader should wait before booting the first image. This is useful on systems
	      that immediately boot from the hard disk after enabling the keyboard.  The boot loader doesn't wait if `delay' is omitted or is  set
	      to zero.

       disk=device-name
	      Defines  non-standard parameters for the specified disk.	See section "Disk geometry" of user.tex for details.  Especially useful is
	      the `bios=' parameter.  The BIOS numbers your disks 0x80, 0x81, etc. and it is impossible to decide which Linux disk corresponds	to
	      which  BIOS  disk (since this depends on the BIOS setup, and on the type of BIOS), so if you have an unusual setup you need to state
	      the correspondence between Linux disks and BIOS disks.  For example,

		  disk=/dev/sda
			  bios=0x80
		  disk=/dev/hda
			  bios=0x81

	      would say that your SCSI disk is the first BIOS disk, and your (primary master) IDE disk is the second BIOS disk.

       disktab=disktab-file
	      Specifies the name of the disk parameter table.  The map installer looks for /etc/disktab if `disktab' is omitted. The use of  disk-
	      tabs is discouraged.

       fix-table
	      This  allows lilo to adjust 3D addresses in partition tables. Each partition entry contains a 3D (sector/head/cylinder) and a linear
	      address of the first and the last sector of the partition. If a partition is not track-aligned and if certain other  operating  sys-
	      tems (e.g. PC/MS-DOS or OS/2) are using the same disk, they may change the 3D address. lilo can store its boot sector only on parti-
	      tions where both address types correspond. lilo re-adjusts incorrect 3D start addresses if `fix-table' is set.

	      WARNING: This does not guarantee that other operating systems may not attempt to reset the address later. It is also  possible  that
	      this  change  has other, unexpected side-effects. The correct fix is to re-partition the drive with a program that does align parti-
	      tions to tracks. Also, with some disks (e.g. some large EIDE disks with address translation enabled), under some	circumstances,	it
	      may even be unavoidable to have conflicting partition table entries.

       force-backup=backup-file
	      Like `backup', but overwrite an old backup copy if it exists.

       ignore-table
	      tells lilo to ignore corrupt partition tables.

       install=boot-sector
	      Install the specified file as the new boot sector.  If `install' is omitted, /boot/boot.b is used as the default.

       linear Generate	linear	sector addresses instead of sector/head/cylinder addresses. Linear addresses are translated at run time and do not
	      depend on disk geometry. Note that boot disks may not be portable if `linear' is used, because the BIOS  service	to  determine  the
	      disk  geometry  does not work reliably for floppy disks. When using `linear' with large disks, /sbin/lilo may generate references to
	      inaccessible disk areas, because 3D sector addresses are not known before boot time.

       lba32  Generate 32-bit Logical Block Addresses instead of sector/head/cylinder addresses. If the  BIOS  supports  packet  addressing,  then
	      packet  calls  will  be  used to access the disk. This allows booting from any partition on disks greater than 8.4Gb, the translated
	      geometry limit for C:H:S addressing. If the BIOS does not support packet addressing, then 'lba32' addresses are translated to C:H:S,
	      just as for 'linear'. Using 'lba32', all floppy disk references are retained in C:H:S form.

       lock   Enables  automatic recording of boot command lines as the defaults for the following boots. This way, lilo "locks" on a choice until
	      it is manually overridden.

       map=map-file
	      Specifies the location of the map file. If `map' is omitted, the file /boot/map is used.

       message=message-file
	      specifies a file containing a message that is displayed before the boot prompt. No message is displayed while waiting for a shifting
	      key  after  printing  "LILO  ". In the message, the FF character ([Ctrl L]) clears the local screen. The size of the message file is
	      limited to 65535 bytes. The map file has to be rebuilt if the message file is changed or moved.

       nowarn Disables warnings about possible future dangers.

       optional
	      The per-image option `optional' (see below) applies to all images.

       password=password
	      The per-image option `password=...' (see below) applies to all images.

       prompt forces entering the boot prompt without expecting any prior key-presses. Unattended reboots are impossible if `prompt'  is  set  and
	      `timeout' isn't.

       restricted
	      The per-image option `restricted' (see below) applies to all images.

       serial=parameters
	      enables control from a serial line. The specified serial port is initialized and the boot loader is accepting input from it and from
	      the PC's keyboard. Sending a break on the serial line corresponds to pressing a shift key on the console in order to  get  the  boot
	      loader's	attention.   All  boot images should be password-protected if the serial access is less secure than access to the console,
	      e.g. if the line is connected to a modem. The parameter string has the following syntax:

		  <port>[,<bps>[<parity>[<bits>]]]

	      <port>:  the number of the serial port, zero-based. 0 corresponds to COM1 alias /dev/ttyS0, etc. All four  ports	can  be  used  (if
	      present).

	      <bps>:  the baud rate of the serial port. The following baud rates are supported: 110, 150, 300, 600, 1200, 2400, 4800 and 9600 bps.
	      Default is 2400 bps.

	      <parity>:  the parity used on the serial line. The boot loader ignores input parity and strips the 8th bit. The following (upper	or
	      lower case) characters are used to describe the parity:  n  for no parity,  e for even parity and  o  for odd parity.

	      <bits>:  the number of bits in a character. Only 7 and 8 bits are supported. Default is 8 if parity is "none", 7 if parity is "even"
	      or "odd".

	      If `serial' is set, the value of `delay' is automatically raised to 20.

	      Example: serial=0,2400n8 initializes COM1 with the default parameters.

       timeout=tsecs
	      sets a timeout (in tenths of a second) for keyboard input. If no key is pressed for the specified time, the first image is automati-
	      cally booted. Similarly, password input is aborted if the user is idle for too long. The default timeout is infinite.

       verbose=level
	      Turns  on lots of progress reporting. Higher numbers give more verbose output. If  -v  is additionally specified on the lilo command
	      line, the level is increased accordingly. The maximum verbosity level is 5.

       Additionally, the kernel configuration parameters append, ramdisk, read-only, read-write, root and vga can be set  in  the  global  options
       section. They are used as defaults if they aren't specified in the configuration sections of the respective kernel images.

PER-IMAGE SECTION
       A per-image section starts with either a line

	   image=pathname

       (to indicate a file or device containing the boot image of a Linux kernel), or a line

	   other=pathname

       to indicate an arbitrary system to boot.

       In the former case, if an image line specifies booting from a device, then one has to indicate the range of sectors to be mapped using

       range=start-end

       In the latter case (booting another system) there are the three options

       loader=chain-loader
	      This  specifies the chain loader that should be used.  By default /boot/chain.b is used. The chain loader must be specified if boot-
	      ing from a device other than the first hard or floppy disk.

       table=device
	      This specifies the device that contains the partition table.  The boot loader will not pass  partition  information  to  the  booted
	      operating  system  if this variable is omitted. (Some operating systems have other means to determine from which partition they have
	      been booted.  E.g., MS-DOS usually stores the geometry of the boot disk or partition in its boot sector.)  Note that /sbin/lilo must
	      be re-run if a partition table mapped referenced with `table' is modified.

       unsafe Do not access the boot sector at map creation time. This disables some sanity checks, including a partition table check. If the boot
	      sector is on a fixed-format floppy disk device, using UNSAFE avoids the need to put a readable disk into the drive when running  the
	      map installer. `unsafe' and `table' are mutually incompatible.

       In both cases the following options apply.

       label=name
	      The boot loader uses the main file name (without its path) of each image specification to identify that image.  A different name can
	      be used by setting the variable `label'.

       alias=name
	      A second name for the same entry can be used by specifying an alias.

       lock   (See above.)

       optional
	      Omit the image if it is not available at map creation time.  This is useful to specify test kernels that are not always present.

       password=password
	      Protect the image by a password.

       restricted
	      A password is only required to boot the image if parameters are specified on the command line (e.g. single).

KERNEL OPTIONS

       If the booted image is a Linux kernel, then one may pass command line parameters to this kernel.

       append=string
	      Appends the options specified to the parameter line passed to the kernel.  This is typically used to specify parameters of  hardware
	      that can't be entirely auto-detected or for which probing may be dangerous. Example:

		   append = "hd=64,32,202"

       literal=string
	      Like `append', but removes all other options (e.g. setting of the root device). Because vital options can be removed unintentionally
	      with `literal', this option cannot be set in the global options section.

       ramdisk=size
	      This specifies the size of the optional RAM disk. A value of zero indicates that no RAM disk should be created. If this variable	is
	      omitted, the RAM disk size configured into the boot image is used.

       read-only
	      This  specifies  that  the root file system should be mounted read-only.	Typically, the system startup procedure re-mounts the root
	      file system read-write later (e.g. after fsck'ing it).

       read-write
	      This specifies that the root file system should be mounted read-write.

       root=root-device
	      This specifies the device that should be mounted as root.  If the special name current is used, the root device is set to the device
	      on  which  the  root file system is currently mounted. If the root has been changed with	-r , the respective device is used. If the
	      variable `root' is omitted, the root device setting contained in the kernel image is used.  (And that is set at compile  time  using
	      the ROOT_DEV variable in the kernel Makefile, and can later be changed with the rdev(8) program.)

       vga=mode
	      This specifies the VGA text mode that should be selected when booting. The following values are recognized (case is ignored):

	      normal: select normal 80x25 text mode.

	      extended (or ext): select 80x50 text mode.

	      ask: stop and ask for user input (at boot time).

	      <number>:   use  the  corresponding  text  mode.	A  list  of available modes can be obtained by booting with  vga=ask  and pressing
	      [Enter].

	      If this variable is omitted, the VGA mode setting contained in the kernel image is used. (And that is set at compile time using  the
	      SVGA_MODE variable in the kernel Makefile, and can later be changed with the rdev(8) program.)

SEE ALSO

       lilo(8), rdev(8).
       The lilo distribution comes with very extensive documentation of which the above is an extract.

								   20 March 2000						      LILO.CONF(5)