LILO
Section: Maintenance Commands (8)
Updated: 31 Oct 2001
Index
NAME
lilo - install boot loader
SYNOPSIS
Main function:
/sbin/lilo
- install boot loader
Auxiliary uses:
/sbin/lilo -q
- query map
/sbin/lilo -R
- set default command line for next reboot
/sbin/lilo -I
- inquire path name of current kernel
/sbin/lilo -A
- activate a partition / show active partition
/sbin/lilo -M [-z]
- write a Master Boot Record on a device
- or clear the device serial number
/sbin/lilo -T
- tell more about specified topic
/sbin/lilo {-u|-U}
- uninstall lilo
DESCRIPTION
lilo
installs a boot loader that will be activated next time you boot.
It has lots of options.
- -A master-device [ N ]
-
Inquire of active partition on device
master-device;
e.g., "/dev/hda". With a number in the range 1 to 4, activate the specified
partition on the master device.
- -b bootdev
-
Specify the boot device; i.e., where the boot loader will be installed.
"-b /dev/hda" specifies the Master Boot Record; "-b /dev/sdb5" specifies
the first extended partition on the second SCSI disk.
- -c
-
Enable map compaction. This will merge read requests from adjacent
sectors. Speeds up the booting (especially from floppy).
- -C config-file
-
lilo
reads its instructions about what files to map from the specified
configuration file. This option overrides the use of the default config
file,
/etc/lilo.conf.
- -d delay
-
Specifies the delay time in tenths of a second (20 = 2 sec) before
automatically booting the first image. Gives you time to interrupt the
automatic boot process with Shift, Alt, Ctrl, ScrollLock, or CapsLock. If
interrupted, the `boot:' prompt is displayed. This switch is overriden by
the appearance of
prompt
in the config-file.
- -D label
-
Use the kernel with the given label, instead of the first one
in the list, as the default kernel to boot.
- -f disk-tab
-
Specify disk geometry parameter file. (The default is
/etc/disktab.)
- -g
-
Generate sector/head/cylinder (geometric) disk addresses. Limited to
cylinders up to 1023. Forces compatibility with older versions of LILO.
- -i boot-loader
-
Specify a file to be used as the new boot loader. (The default is
/boot/boot.b.)
- -I label[i|r]
-
The label of the running kernel can be found in the environment
variable BOOT_IMAGE after startup, or in the pseudo-file `/proc/cmdline'.
This command will print path name of the corresponding kernel file, or of
any initial ramdisk file ("i" or "r" option).
Note that this environment variable is set for the init(8) scripts and is
not, in general, made available to user shells.
- -l
-
Generate 24-bit linear sector addresses instead of sector/head/cylinder
addresses.
- -L
-
Generate 32-bit Logical Block Addresses instead of C:H:S addresses, allowing
access to all partitions on disks with more than 1024 cylinders.
- -m map-file
-
Use specified map file instead of the default.
- -M master-device [ mbr-file ]
-
Install a Master Boot Record on the device specified as
master-device.
The new MBR is copied by default from "/boot/mbr.b", unless a specific
file is named as the second argument. The primary partition table on
master-device
is undistrubed. If no device serial number is present, then generate one
and write it to the MBR.
- -p
-
Require interactive entry of all passwords specified as
in the configuration file.
- -P {fix|ignore}
-
Fix (or ignore) `corrupt' partition tables, i.e., partition tables
with linear and sector/head/cylinder addresses that do not correspond.
- -q
-
List the currently mapped files.
lilo
maintains a file, by default
/boot/map,
containing the name and location of the kernel(s) to boot.
This option will list the names therein. Use with -v for
more detailed information about the installed boot loader.
- -r root-directory
-
Before doing anything else, do a chroot to the indicated
directory. The new root directory must contain a
/dev
directory, and may need a
/boot
directory. It may also need an
/etc/lilo.conf file.
Used by the
mkbootdisk
shell script for creating a bootable floppy.
- -R command line
-
This option sets the default command for the boot loader the next
time it executes. The boot loader will then erase this line: this
is a once-only command. It is typically used in reboot scripts,
just before calling `shutdown -r'. Used without any arguments, it will
cancel a lock-ed or fallback command line.
- -s save-file
-
When
lilo
overwrites the boot sector, it preserves the old contents in
a file, by default
/boot/boot.NNNN
where NNNN depends on the device. This option specifies an
alternate save file for the boot sector. (Or, together with the
-u option, specifies from where to restore the boot sector.)
- -S save-file
-
Normally,
lilo
will not overwrite an existing save file. This options says
that overwriting is allowed.
- -t
-
Test only. Do not really write a new boot sector or map file.
Use together with -v to find out what
lilo
is about to do.
- -T option
-
Print out system information, some of it extracted from the system
bios. This is more convenient than booting the LILO diagnostic
floppy on problem systems.
option
may be any one of the following:
-
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
- -u [device-name]
-
Uninstall lilo by copying the saved boot sector back.
The '-s' and '-C' switches may be used with this option.
The device-name is optional. A time-stamp is checked.
- -U [device-name]
-
Idem, but do not check the time-stamp.
- -v
-
Increase verbosity. Giving one to five -v options
will make lilo more verbose, or use, -v n (n=1..5) to
set verbosity level 'n'.
- -V
-
Print version number.
- -w
-
Suppress warning messages.
- -x option
-
For RAID installations only. The option may be any of the keywords
none,
auto,
mbr-only,
or a comma separated list of additional boot devices (no spaces allowed in
the list).
- -z
-
When used with the -M switch, clears the device serial number. Usually used
in the following sequence to generate a new device serial number:
lilo -z -M /dev/hda
lilo -M /dev/hda
The above command line options correspond to the key words
in the config file indicated below.
-
| -b bootdev | boot=bootdev
|
| -c | compact
|
| -d dsec | delay=dsec
|
| -D label | default=label
|
| -i boot-loader | install=boot-loader
|
| -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=level
|
| -w | nowarn
|
| -x option | raid-extra-boot=option
|
BOOT OPTIONS
The options described here may be specified at on the command line when a
kernel image is booted. These options are processed by LILO, and are
removed from the command line passed to the kernel, unless otherwise noted.
- lock
-
Locks the command line, as though 'lock' had been specified in 'lilo.conf.'
- mem=###[,K,M]
-
Specifies the maximum memory in the system in bytes, kilobytes, or megabytes.
This option is not removed from the command line, and is always passed to
the kernel.
- nobd
-
Suppresses collection of BIOS data. This option is reserved for use with
non-IBM-compliant BIOS's which hang up with an "s" at the end of the line:
Loading.........s
- vga=[ASK,EXT,EXTENDED,NORMAL]
-
Allows overriding the default video mode upon kernel startup.
INCOMPATIBILITIES
lilo
is known to have problems with the
reiserfs
introduced with the 2.2.x kernels, unless the file system is
mounted with the 'notail' option. This incompatibilty has been
resolved with reiserfs 3.6.18 and lilo 21.6.
Beginning with version 22.0, 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.
BUGS
Configuration file options `backup' and `force-backup' are not yet correctly
implemented for RAID installations. Use of the default boot record backup
mechanism seems to work okay, and should be used.
SEE ALSO
fdisk(8), lilo.conf(5), mkrescue(8), mkinitrd(8).
The lilo distribution comes with very extensive documentation.
This can be found in /usr/share/doc/lilo on Debian systems.
(lilo 22.1)
AUTHORS
Werner Almesberger <
almesber@lrc.epfl.ch> (to ver.21)
John Coffman <
johninsd@san.rr.com> (21.2 & later)
Index
- NAME
-
- SYNOPSIS
-
- DESCRIPTION
-
- BOOT OPTIONS
-
- INCOMPATIBILITIES
-
- BUGS
-
- SEE ALSO
-
- AUTHORS
-
This document was created by
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Time: 23:28:07 GMT, January 30, 2004
