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authorHelge Deller <deller@gmx.de>2014-04-06 20:54:53 +0200
committerHelge Deller <deller@gmx.de>2014-04-06 20:54:53 +0200
commit7bda90bbc1d244357197d8470823f53120ec79ee (patch)
tree60efac9ae45aedffe9515f1c31fc5d9bff4c30c3
parent6523d8d8a9c090350f3b33dc0d68fa93c0f44e19 (diff)
downloadpalo-7bda90bbc1d244357197d8470823f53120ec79ee.tar.gz
Revert "Provide pre-built README file to avoid dependency on lynx."
Unnecessary and it breaks build on hppa. This reverts commit ba637f0a5e7268df35f12b89b1443c9f4b3a42ff.
-rw-r--r--README288
-rw-r--r--debian/control2
2 files changed, 1 insertions, 289 deletions
diff --git a/README b/README
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- 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 b4fb777..a31c4d5 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)
+Build-Depends: debhelper (>= 9), lynx
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