BOOT_MACPPC(8) OpenBSD System Manager's Manual (MacPPC) BOOT_MACPPC(8)NAMEboot_macppc - macppc system bootstrapping procedures
DESCRIPTION
System startup
When powered on, after a panic, or if the system is rebooted via
reboot(8) or shutdown(8), the Open Firmware will proceed to its
initialization, and will boot an operating system if the auto-boot?
variable is set to ``true'', or will wait for interactive commands
otherwise.
Boot process description
The Apple Open Firmware will normally load the kernel from the device and
filename as instructed by the boot-device and boot-file variables. If
the boot-file variable is empty, the OpenBSD bootloader will look for a
kernel named bsd, unless a different filename has been specified in the
boot command. To reset this variable to its default, empty, value, type
the following:
ok set-default boot-device
The OpenBSD bootstrap program is named ``ofwboot''. It can be installed
either in a HFS partition or in a MSDOS partition on the disk. If MBR
partitioning is chosen for the disk, the bootstrap program will be
installed automatically during the OpenBSD installation procedure. For
HFS shared disks, the ofwboot file must be installed manually. The
ofwboot program can be loaded from any Open Firmware recognized disk or
network device.
Boot process options
If invoked manually without parameters, or if the specified kernel could
not be loaded, the OpenBSD bootloader will let the user enter a boot
device, kernel filename and boot options.
If the special line exit is entered, the bootloader will attempt to
restart the machine.
The file specification used is of the form:
promdev:partition/filename options
where: ``promdev'' is an optional Open Firmware device name (such as
``hd'' or ``ide'') and ``partition'' is an optional disk partition
number. Normal line editing characters can be used when typing the file
specification.
The following options are recognized:
-a Prompt for the root filesystem and swap devices after the
devices have been configured.
-c Enter the ``User Kernel Config'' mode upon startup (see
boot_config(8)).
-d Enter the debugger, ddb(4), as soon as the kernel console has
been initialized.
-s Boot the system single-user. The system will be booted
multi-user unless this option is specified.
Abnormal system termination
In case of system crashes, the kernel will usually enter the kernel
debugger, ddb(4), unless it is not present in the kernel, or it is
disabled via the ddb.panic sysctl. Upon leaving ddb, or if ddb was not
entered, the kernel will halt the system if it was still in device
configuration phase, or attempt a dump to the configured dump device, if
possible. The crash dump will then be recovered by savecore(8) during
the next multi-user boot cycle. It is also possible to force other
behaviours from ddb.
Accessing the PROM
The prom can only be accessed during system reset, or at power-up. To
enter Open Firmware, press and hold ``Cntrl'' ``Cmd'' ``o'' ``f'' as the
machine resets until it enters the Open Firmware debugger.
On an Xserve using serial console the System Identifier button is used to
enter Open Firmware instead of the keyboard. To enter Open Firmware,
hold down the System Identifier button while pressing the Power button.
When the upper LED bank begins lighting up in sequence, repeatedly press
the System Identifier button until the seventh LED from the right is
highlighted in the lower bank. Now hold the System Identifier button for
two seconds, until all the top row LEDs light up.
FILES
/bsd default system kernel
/bsd.rd standalone installation kernel, suitable for disaster
recovery
/usr/mdec/ofwboot system bootstrap (usually installed on a stand-alone
FAT partition or an Apple HFS partition, to be
readable by Open Firmware)
SEE ALSOddb(4), boot_config(8), halt(8), init(8), reboot(8), savecore(8),
shutdown(8)OpenBSD 4.9 January 3, 2010 OpenBSD 4.9
