kernel man page on Solaris

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kernel(1M)		System Administration Commands		    kernel(1M)

NAME
       kernel  - UNIX system executable file containing basic operating system
       services

SYNOPSIS
       kernel-name [-asrvx] [-m smf_options] [-i altinit]

DESCRIPTION
       The operating system image, or kernel, is the  collection  of  software
       comprising the image files (unix and genunix) and the modules loaded at
       any instant in time. The system will not function without a  kernel  to
       control it.

       The kernel is loaded by the boot(1M) command in a machine-specific way.
       The kernel may be loaded from disk, CD-ROM, or DVD (diskfull  boot)  or
       over the network (diskless boot). In either case, the directories under
       /platform and /kernel must be readable and must contain executable code
       which is able to perform the required kernel service. If the -a flag is
       given, the user is able to supply different pathnames for  the  default
       locations  of the kernel and modules. See boot(1M) for more information
       on loading a specific kernel.

       The moddir variable contains a list of module directories separated  by
       whitespace.  moddir  can	 be  set  in the /etc/system file. The minimal
       default is:

	 /platform/platform-name/kernel /kernel /usr/kernel

       This default can be supplemented by a specific platform. It  is	common
       for many SPARC systems to override the default path with:

	 /platform/platform-name/kernel:/platform/hardware-class-name\
	     /kernel:/kernel:/usr/kernel

       where  platform-name  can be found using the -i option of uname(1), and
       hardware-class-name can be found using the -m option of uname(1).

       The kernel configuration can be controlled using the  /etc/system  file
       (see system(4)).

       genunix is the platform-independent component of the base kernel.

OPTIONS
       The following options are supported:

       -a

	   Asks	 the user for configuration information, such as where to find
	   the system file, where to mount root, and even override the name of
	   the	kernel	itself.	 Default responses will be contained in square
	   brackets ([ ]), and the user may simply enter  RETURN  to  use  the
	   default  response  (note  that RETURN is labeled ENTER on some key‐
	   boards). To help repair a damaged /etc/system file, enter /dev/null
	   at  the  prompt that asks for the pathname of the system configura‐
	   tion file. See system(4).

       -i altinit

	   Select an alternative executable  to	 be  the  primordial  process.
	   altinit  must be a valid path to an executable. The default primor‐
	   dial process is init(1M).

       -m smf_options

	   The smf_options include two categories of options to control	 boot‐
	   ing	behavior  of the service management facility: recovery options
	   and messages options.

	   Message options determine the type  and  amount  of	messages  that
	   smf(5) displays during boot. Service options determine the services
	   which are used to boot the system.

	   Recovery options

	   debug

	       Prints standard per-service output and all svc.startd  messages
	       to log.

	   milestone=[milestone]

	       Boot  with some SMF services temporarily disabled, as indicated
	       by milestone. milestone can be "none",  "single-user",  "multi-
	       user", "multi-user-server", or "all". See the milestone subcom‐
	       mand of svcadm(1M).

	   Messages options

	   quiet

	       Prints standard per-service output and error messages requiring
	       administrative intervention.

	   verbose

	       Prints standard per-service output with more informational mes‐
	       sages.

       -r

	   Reconfiguration boot. The system will probe all  attached  hardware
	   devices   and   configure   the  logical  namespace	in  /dev.  See
	   add_drv(1M) and rem_drv(1M) for additional information about	 main‐
	   taining device drivers.

       -s

	   Boots only to init level 's'. See init(1M).

       -v

	   Boots with verbose messages enabled. If this flag is not given, the
	   messages are still printed, but the output is directed to the  sys‐
	   tem logfile. See syslogd(1M).

       -x

	   Does	 not  boot  in	clustered mode. This option only has an effect
	   when a version of Sun Cluster software that	supports  this	option
	   has been installed.

EXAMPLES
       See boot(1M) for examples and instructions on how to boot.

FILES
       /kernel

	   Contains kernel components common to all platforms within a partic‐
	   ular instruction set that are needed for booting the system. of the
	   core image file.

       /platform/platform-name/kernel

	   The platform-specific kernel components.

       /platform/hardware-class-name/kernel

	   The kernel components specific to this hardware class.

       /usr/kernel

	   Contains kernel components common to all platforms within a partic‐
	   ular instruction set.

       The directories in this section can potentially contain	the  following
       subdirectories:

       drv

	   Loadable device drivers

       exec

	   The modules that execute programs stored in various file formats.

       fs

	   File system modules

       misc

	   Miscellaneous system-related modules

       sched

	   Operating system schedulers

       strmod

	   System V STREAMS loadable modules

       sys

	   Loadable system calls

   SPARC
       cpu

	   Processor specific modules

       tod

	   Time-Of-Day hardware interface modules

       As only 64-bit SPARC platforms are supported, all SPARC executable mod‐
       ules are contained within sparcv9 directories in the directories listed
       above.

   x86
       mach

	   x86 hardware support

       Modules	comprising  the	 32-bit	 x86 kernel are contained in the above
       directories, with the 64-bit x86	 kernel	 components  contained	within
       amd64 subdirectories.

ATTRIBUTES
       See attributes(5) for descriptions of the following attributes:

       ┌─────────────────────────────┬─────────────────────────────┐
       │      ATTRIBUTE TYPE	     │	    ATTRIBUTE VALUE	   │
       ├─────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────┤
       │Availability		     │SUNWcar, SUNWcarx		   │
       └─────────────────────────────┴─────────────────────────────┘

SEE ALSO
       uname(1),   isainfo(1),	 add_drv(1M),  boot(1M),  init(1M),  kadb(1M),
       rem_drv(1M),  savecore(1M),  svc.startd(1M),  svcadm(1M),  syslogd(1M),
       system(4), attributes(5), smf(5), devfs(7FS)

   SPARC Only
       monitor(1M)

DIAGNOSTICS
       The  kernel  gives  various  warnings and error messages. If the kernel
       detects an unrecoverable fault, it will panic or halt.

NOTES
       Reconfiguration boot will, by design, not remove /dev entries for  some
       classes of devices that have been physically removed from the system.

SunOS 5.10			  27 Nov 2007			    kernel(1M)
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