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author | Helge Deller <deller@gmx.de> | 2014-04-04 12:39:33 +0200 |
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committer | Helge Deller <deller@gmx.de> | 2014-04-04 12:39:33 +0200 |
commit | ba637f0a5e7268df35f12b89b1443c9f4b3a42ff (patch) | |
tree | a74cc6ea6621cf893fd8ed7c35c42ded5116f460 | |
parent | e8b4221ea02ac427fd454b85c77bafc9a980bc32 (diff) | |
download | palo-ba637f0a5e7268df35f12b89b1443c9f4b3a42ff.tar.gz |
Provide pre-built README file to avoid dependency on lynx.
-rw-r--r-- | README | 288 | ||||
-rw-r--r-- | debian/control | 2 |
2 files changed, 289 insertions, 1 deletions
@@ -0,0 +1,288 @@ + palo PA-Risc/Linux Boot Loader + + Building palo + + If you are self hosted on PA-RISC/LInux you should already have palo on + your system. Assuming you have apt configured you can always run + "apt-get update; apt-get install palo" to obtain the latest released + version. + + If you need to build palo yourself, especially if you are + cross-compiling on x86, skip to the end of this document. + + Kernel Command Line + + Palo's boot loader parses the kernel command line to determine which + kernel to boot and optionally which ramdisk to load. Given a command + line: '0/vmlinux ... initrd=0/ramdisk ...', palo uses '0/vmlinux' as + the kernel file and '0/ramdisk' as the ramdisk file. Both names are + composed of a partition number followed by a file path name within that + partition. Partition number '0' is magic and refers to the kernel + (ramdisk) you placed on the boot medium with '-k' ('-r'). The path name + on the '0' partition is ignored, '0/vmlinux' and '0/xyzzy' work + identically, but it's a good idea to be consistent with what you'll + call kernels and ramdisks on an ext2 partition. + + Creating and Maintaining Bootable Disks + + Partitioned media usually refers to disks, in this case disks + partitioned by fdisk or a similar program. Normally your disk is + properly initialized when you install PA-RISC Linux, but if you need to + do it by hand here are some clues: + * Use fdisk or something to (re)partition the disk. When you are + finished, the disk must have a partition of type "F0" somewhere in + the first 2Gb. This is where the boot loader and an optional kernel + and ramdisk will be stored, so make it big enough for that -- at + least 4Mb (I like 8-16Mb). There must also be an ext2 partition + within the first 2Gb where you'll store your Linux kernel. + * Use mke2fs and mkswap as usual. + * Mount the partition, copy your kernel and any other interesting + files to it, unmount. + * Use palo to make the disk bootable: + $ palo \ + -c "5/vmlinux HOME=/ TERM=linux console=tty" \ + -k path/to/vmlinux \ + -I /dev/your-disk + + On a self-hosted system, you can accomplish the same thing by placing + the following into /etc/palo.conf: +--commandline=5/vmlinux HOME=/ TERM=linux console=tty +--recoverykernel=/boot/vmlinux +--init-partitioned=/dev/your-disk + + and running palo. + + -k path/to/vmlinux designates a kernel to be stored along with the + boot loader in the "F0" partition. You can omit this if you want, + since you'll usually be booting a kernel from an ext2 partition + instead. I like to have a kernel there just in case the ext2 one is + lost for some reason. I call it a recovery kernel. + -c 5/vmlinux must be changed for your situation. The number, 5, is + the partition number of your ext2 partition as reported by fdisk, + the same number you use when you mounted the partition (e.g., + "mount /dev/sdb5 /mnt"). "/vmlinux" is the path to your kernel + executable within your ext2 partition. The special partition number + "0" is used to load the "recovery" kernel which you placed into the + "F0" partition with -k. + -I /dev/your-disk tells palo to initialize the palo boot parameters + on the drive rather than preserving any existing parameters. + Use 'palo -?' or 'palo --help' for more information. + + You now have a partitioned bootable disk, try it! + + There is no need to run palo when you change the kernel in your ext2 + partition because it is located dynamically by the palo boot loader + when you boot. However there are probably some tasks which will again + require palo. + + Once you have a partitioned bootable disk, palo can be used to change + the default command line or kernel or boot loader. The most common task + is probably changing the "recovery" kernel: + + The update (-U) feature is currently disabled, perhaps permanently. The + usual method for maintaining your disk is to edit /etc/palo.conf and + rerun palo. + + ./palo -k path/to/vmlinux -U /dev/your-disk + + or command line: + ./palo -c "new command line" -U /dev/your-disk + + Which will normally be done in a self-hosted environment by editing + /etc/palo.conf and re-running palo. Hopefully you won't need to use + palo very often. + + Creating ISO9660 Bootable CD-ROMs + + Bootable CDs are often used for installation. In short the process is: + 1. Master your CD image but don't burn it. The image MUST contain the + kernel(s), iplboot, and ramdisk file (if used). + 2. Run palo to make the image bootable: + ./palo -k path/to/vmlinux \ + -b iplboot \ + -c '0/vmlinux ....' \ + -C your-iso-image + -C tells palo to prepare a CD-ROM image. 'iplboot' and + 'path/to/vmlinux' must be exactly the same files (same contents) + you previously copied into the future root file system or palo will + fail. I usually point those paths at the exact files in the + directory from which I mastered the CD just to be sure. + 3. Burn the CD and boot it. + + CD-ROM support at the moment is a bit of a hack. Here's how it works. + + palo currently treats CD-ROM as an unpartitioned sequential medium like + tape or bootp. Unlike other unpartitioned media, there is no room to + store the kernel and bootloader (iplboot) near the start of the + (ISO-standard) medium, so palo requires you to put those files into the + ISO file system. HP boot firmware requires the boot loader (iplboot) to + be a multiple of 2k in length and be stored contiguously on a 2k + boundary. Luckily the ISO file system meets all these criteria except + for the mod-2k length, which is achieved by padding iplboot. The palo + bootloader (iplboot) requires requires the kernel to be stored + contiguously (except when booting from ext2), and the ISO file system + works well for this too. + + When you run palo, it locates the boot loader and kernel (optionally + ramdisk) files in the ISO file system by doing a raw search through the + ISO image. That's why the files in the ISO file system, and those named + on the palo command line must be identical. Once found, pointers to + those files are stored in the appropriate places in the boot headers. + + Ideally palo and the boot loader would both understand the ISO file + system, but that'll take more investment than I'm interested in + supplying. If anyone pursues this, note that I've had good luck + leveraging code from aboot, one of the Alpha boot loaders. I recommend + starting with the ISO code from aboot-0.6 or later. + + It may be possible to place a MS-DOS partition table on a CD-ROM + therefore having an "F0" partition as on a hard disk, but I don't feel + confident this would be understandable by, say, a Windows box. + + Some Newer Features + + During installation testing several annoyances were discovered which + have been partly addressed by two new features: + 1. HP machines can use either a serial or a graphics boot console. + Palo now figures out which one you are using and adds the + appropriate "console=" to the end of the boot command line. It is + only added if you don't already have "console=" in your boot + command line. + 2. It would be nice to have a single bootable image, especially when + using CD-ROM. This requires proper console selection (see #1) and + booting a 32-bit or 64-bit kernel as appropriate for the hardware. + Palo can now place both a 32 and 64-bit kernel on sequential (or + CD-ROM) media. Simply use the -k (or --recoverykernel) option + twice, once for each kernel. The palo boot loader examines the + kernel name, which on sequential&CD-ROM is often "0/vmlinux", and + if it ends in "32" or "64" palo boots the requested kernel. However + if the name does not end in "32" or "64", palo chooses a kernel + based upon a recommendation by firmware, which is almost always the + right thing. (Note that a 32-bit kernel will be chosen to a 64-bit + one on hardware which can boot both. Change the kernel name to + 0/vmlinux64 if you want to force a 64-bit kernel.) + + Original Goals + + * #1 support target is PA/Linux on a disk by itself (another disk(s) + may contain a standard HP-UX installation) + * #2 support target is PA/Linux with kernel on sequential media such + as tape or tftp/bootp (or CD-ROM??????) + * #3 support target is PA/Linux kernel on HP-UX disk with second disk + for PA/Linux file system. (NOTE this is currently impossible with + the ELF32 compiler **This is now a non-goal** ) + * Not a support target: dual-boot HP-UX/Linux systems with both Linux + and HP-UX file systems on a single disk + * Possibility: write mnttab into palo so you can boot with "normal" + path names on that machine. If palo knew where to find + /etc/mnttab... + + Features + + PA/Linux partitioned hard disks: + * can be read/written by current Linux boxes, expecially x86 + * can be read/written by IA-64 Linux boxes + * are tolerated by IA-32 and IA-64 non-Linux boxes + * are not understood by the HP-UX secondary boot loader + * require no new disk partitioning tools + + Terminology + + palo is two programs, a boot loader, which is loaded by the HP firmware + into memory and then executed, and boot media management tool, which + initializes and updates bootable media such as disks. The palo boot + loader is stored in a file called iplboot. "IPL" is HP jargon for + Initial Program Loader. It's mostly called "the palo boot loader" in + this document. + + The boot media management tool is called palo, just as on x86 the LILO + boot media management tool is called lilo, though it's worth noting + that palo doesn't usually need to be used every time you build a new + kernel, as lilo does. + + Basic Media Format + + Bootable PA/Linux disks combine a standard MS-DOS partition table with + the data required for HP firmware to locate its boot loader, all within + the first 512-byte "sector" of the disk. Here is the detailed layout of + the first 512 bytes of the disk. Only these bytes can be depended upon! + The term "IPL" means Initial Program Loader e.g., boot loader in + HP-ese. + Offset (hex) Contents Why + + 0 0x80 These two bytes denote + 1 0x00 a LIF volume to HP firmware + + f0-f3 IPL_ADDR disk offset to beginning + of boot "IPL" loader. Must + not be zero. Must be a + multiple of 2kbytes. + Big endian. + + f4-f7 IPL_SIZE Size of boot loader in bytes. + Must be a multiple of 2kbytes. + Big endian. + + f8-f11 IPL_ENTRY Offset from the beginning + of the boot loader to its + entry point. This really + better be a multiple of 4bytes. + Big endian. + + 1b0-1ff P-TABLE DOS partition table, managed + by fdisk. + + Information about the kernel, command line, and ramdisk, is sandwiched + between the LIF magic number and the IPL_ADDR. Check out struct + firstblock in common.h for the details. The boot program must be + located within the first 2 Gb of the boot medium (a limitation of older + machines, which might not be permanent). + + palo works with both un-partitioned (usually sequential) media such as + tapes, and partitioned (usually random-access) media such as disks. The + media format for un-partitioned media is described first since it is a + subset of the format for partitioned media. In the remaining + discussion, the term sequential is synonymous with un-partitioned, and + random-access is synonymous with partitioned media. This restriction is + not present in the palo software however. + + On unpartitioned media, the partition table shown in the previous + figure is unused and set to values which will not be mistaken for a + partition table. The boot loader program is stored starting at 2kbytes + from the beginning of the medium and is followed by the kernel file and + optional ramdisk file. + + On partitioned media, which is usually random-access, for example + disks, the boot loader program must be stored in an area protected from + disk management software, and often cannot be located at the first + 2kbyte boundary as on sequential media. palo therefore places the boot + loader, and optionally a kernel and ramdisk, in a special partition, + created by fdisk, of type F0. HP-UX firmware requires the boot program + to be stored on the boot medium starting on a multiple of 2kbytes, + whereas the F0 partition might start on a 512-byte sector boundary. The + boot program starts within the F0 partition on the first 2k boundary, + which may be up to 3 sectors from the start of the partition. + + The format of the boot loader, kernel, and ramdisk are identical to the + sequential case except that some padding is added in order that + somewhat larger kernels and boot loaders can be added later without + re-writing the rest of the F0 partition (this feature may not yet be + supported by palo however). + + On partitioned media, palo can load a kernel from any ext2-formatted + partition which falls within the first 2G of the medium, in addition to + having a "sequential" kernel, perhaps best seen as a recovery kernel, + within the F0 partition. + + Really Building palo + + In the source directory type 'make'. On x86 you will need the PA-RISC + cross compilers installed and in your $PATH. + + You can use "make DESTDIR=/ install" to install palo in the normal + location. On x86 the cross compilers are usually in "/opt/palinux" so I + use "make DESTDIR=/opt/palinux install". Note that the palo executable + goes into "DESTDIR/sbin" which you may want to add to your $PATH. + + Palo can also be built in the normal way as a Debian package though it + cannot be cross-compiled as a Debian package. diff --git a/debian/control b/debian/control index a31c4d5..b4fb777 100644 --- a/debian/control +++ b/debian/control @@ -3,7 +3,7 @@ Section: admin Priority: optional Maintainer: Helge Deller <deller@gmx.de> Uploaders: -Build-Depends: debhelper (>= 9), lynx +Build-Depends: debhelper (>= 9) Standards-Version: 3.9.5 Homepage: http://git.kernel.org/cgit/linux/kernel/git/deller/palo.git Vcs-Browser: http://git.kernel.org/cgit/linux/kernel/git/deller/palo.git |