table of contents
other versions
- wheezy 1.4.14+git20120819-1
SILO(8) | System Manager's Manual | SILO(8) |
NAME¶
SILO - Sparc Improved boot LOaderSYNOPSIS¶
/sbin/silo [-r root_path] [-b secondary] [-i primary] [-C config-file] [-S backup-file] [-s backup-file] [-J flash-image ] [-p {0|2}] [-fFtuUvV]DESCRIPTION¶
SILO can be used to boot Linux, SunOS, and/or Solaris. It is a program that runs from the PROM on your SPARC machine and allows for loading of operating systems. It also has extended features like the ability to load Linux kernels arbitrarily from an ext2, ext3, ufs, romfs or iso9660 filesystem.COMMAND-LINE OPTIONS¶
- -r root_path
- This does a chroot into root_path before performing any actions.
- -b secondary
- This tells SILO to use secondary as the second stage loader instead of /boot/second.b
- -i primary
- Install primary as the first stage loader instead of the default one (depending on other command line options and architecture of the machine /sbin/silo is being run on it is either /boot/first.b, /boot/ultra.b or /boot/fd.b).
- -C config
- specify alternate config file instead of /etc/silo.conf. The config file must reside on the same physical disk (though it can be on different partitions) as the secondary loader (usually /boot/second.b).
- -S backup-file
- This forces saving your old bootblock into file backup-file.
- -s backup-file
- This forces saving your old bootblock into file backup-file if and only if backup-file does not exist yet.
- -p {0|2}
- force PROM version to be 0 or 2 (default is autodetection).
- -f
- force overwriting of bootblock.
- -t
- store bootblock into the same partition as second stage loader. By default SILO on SCSI/IDE disks writes bootblock into masterboot (bootblock of partition starting at cylinder 0), with -t you change this behaviour.
- -V
- show version.
- -F
- Generate the bootblock for booting from the romfs
filesystem. To create a bootable romfs filesystem, usually floppy,
prepare the tree for that filesystem and run genromfs(8) and make
sure you pass it the -a 512 -A 2048,/.. options. Then mount it and
run /sbin/silo on it with the -F option. The procedure
usually goes like this:
genromfs -d directory/ -f device -a 512 -A 2048,/..
mount -t romfs device mountpoint
silo -r mountpoint -i /boot/fd.b -F
umount mountpoint
- -J flash-image
- Generate the bootblock for booting JavaStation off an flash
image. To create it, prepare the tree for that filesystem and run
genromfs(8) and make sure you pass it the -a512 option. You
have to keep 1KB of space before the filesystem for the ELF bootblock. THe
procedure usually goes like this:
dd if=/dev/zero of=flash.img bs=1k count=1
genromfs -a 512 -f romfs.img -d flash/
cat romfs.img >> flash.img
rm -f romfs.img
losetup /dev/loop0 -o 1024 flash.img
mount -t romfs -o ro /dev/loop0 /mnt
silo -J flash.img -i /boot/ieee32.b -r /mnt
umount /mnt
losetup -d /dev/loop0
jsflash flash.img
- -u
- Assume the machine is an UltraSPARC (the default is obviously the machine /sbin/silo is running on). This can be useful e.g. if you plan to move a disk from a 32bit box to a 64bit box, you run /sbin/silo -f -u and then after the shutdown move the disk.
- -U
- Assume the machine is not an UltraSPARC.
- -v
- Print PROM version and exit.
- -a
- Usually, when silo is run, it reads and checks the syntax of the silo.conf that will be used when the system boots. This is generally good, but sometimes you may wish to create a boot block when no silo.conf is available yet. The -a option will allow this check to fail. USE WITH CAUTION!
BOOT TIME OPERATION¶
When the PROM boots from a disk and partition on which SILO is installed, it will print the string SILO to the screen (if the second stage loader is moved away or is crippled it might actually print less letters from that string and die). If timeout is specified in silo.conf(5), it will wait like that until the user presses some key or until the timeout expires. If the timeout expires, the default image is booted, otherwise SILO continues normal operation, ie. prints the string boot: and waits for user input.boot: linux
boot: linux.old init=/bin/sh
boot: /pci@1f,4000/ide/ata@0,0/cmdk@0,0;4/boot/vmlinux.new root=/dev/hda4
boot: 2/boot/vmlinux initrd=/boot/initrd.img
boot: sd(0,2,0)2/boot/vmlinux.gz root=/dev/sdc2 init=/bin/sh ro
boot: cat /etc/silo.conf
boot: cat /sbus/espdma@1,280000/esp/sd@2,0;5/etc/inittab
boot: ls -lt /lib/modules/
boot: ls /pci@1f,4000/ide/ata@0,0/cmdk@0,0;2/lib/
AUTHOR¶
SILO was written by Jakub Jelinek (jakub@redhat.com) and is released under the conditions of the GNU General Public License. See the file COPYING for details. This man page was written by Donald Barnes (djb@redhat.com) and updated by the author.CREDITS¶
Mark AdlerSEE ALSO¶
silo.conf(5), mkisofs(8), genromfs(8)11 February 2000 | Linux |