Next: General per-image options
Up: Configuration
Previous: Syntax
/etc/lilo.conf begins with a possibly empty global options section.
Many global options can also be set from the command line, but storing
permanent options in the configuration file is more convenient.
The following global options are recognized:
- backup= backup_file
- Copy the original boot sector to
backup_file (which may also be a device, e.g. /dev/null)
instead of /boot/boot. number
- boot= boot_device
- Sets the name of the device (e.g.
a hard disk partition) that contains
the boot sector. If boot is omitted, the boot sector is read from
(and possibly written to) the device that is currently mounted as root.
- compact
- Tries to merge read requests for adjacent sectors into
a single read request. This drastically reduces load time and keeps the
map smaller. Using compact is especially recommended when booting
from a floppy disk.
- default= name
- Uses the specified image as the default
boot image. If default is omitted, the image appearing first in the
configuration file is used.
- delay= tsecs
- Specifies the number of tenths of a second
LILO should wait before booting the first image. This is useful on
systems that immediately boot from the hard disk after enabling the
keyboard. LILO doesn't wait if delay is omitted or if delay
is set to zero.
- disk= device_name
- Defines non-standard parameters
for the specified disk. See section 3.4 for details.
- disktab= disktab_file
- Specifies the name of the disk
parameter table (see section 3.4.3). The map installer looks for
/etc/disktab if disktab is omitted. The use of disktabs
is discouraged; see section 3.4 for a vastly superior approach.
- fix-table
- allows LILO to adjust 3D addresses
in partition
tables. Each partition entry contains a 3D (sector/head/cylinder) and a
linear address of the first and the last sector of the partition. If a
partition is not track-aligned and if certain other operating systems
(e.g. PC/MS-DOS or OS/2) are using the same disk, they may change the 3D
address. LILO can store its boot sector only on partitions where both
address types correspond. LILO re-adjusts incorrect 3D start addresses
if fix-table is set.
WARNING: This does not guarantee that other operating systems
may not attempt to reset the address later. It is also possible that this
change has other, unexpected side-effects. The correct fix is to
re-partition the drive with a program that does align partitions to tracks.
Also, with some disks (e.g. some large EIDE disks with address
translation enabled), under some circumstances, it may even be unavoidable
to have conflicting partition table entries.
- force-backup= backup_file
- Like backup, but
overwrite an old backup copy if it exists.
backup= backup_file
is ignored if force-backup appears in the same configuration file.
- ignore-table
- tells LILO to ignore corrupt partition tables.
- install= boot_sector
- Install the specified file as the
new boot sector. If install is omitted, /boot/boot.b is used
as the default.
- linear
- Generate linear sector addresses instead of
sector/head/cylinder addresses. Linear addresses are translated at run
time and do not depend on disk geometry. Note that boot disks
may not be portable if linear is used,
because the BIOS service to
determine the disk geometry does not work reliably for floppy disks.
When using linear with large disks, /sbin/lilo may
generate references to inaccessible disk areas (see section 1.3.1),
because 3D sector addresses are not known before boot time.
- lock
- Enables automatic recording of boot command lines as the
defaults for the following boots. This way, LILO ``locks'' on a
choice until it is manually overridden.
- map= map_file
- Specifies the location of the map file.
If map is omitted, a file /boot/map is used.
- message= message_file
- specifies a file containing a
message that is displayed before the boot prompt. No message is displayed
while waiting for a shifting key after printing ``LILO ''. In the message,
the FF
character (
Ctrl L
) clears the local screen. The size of the
message file is limited to 65535 bytes. The map file has to be rebuilt
if the message file is changed or moved.
- nowarn
- Disables warnings about possible future dangers.
- optional
- makes all images optional. (See below.)
- password= password
- sets a password for all images.
(See below.)
- prompt
- forces entering the boot prompt without expecting any
prior key-presses. Unattended reboots are impossible if prompt is
set and timeout isn't.
- restricted
- relaxes the password protection. (See below.)
- serial= parameters
- enables control from a serial line.
The specified serial port is initialized and LILO is accepting input from
it and from the PC's keyboard. Sending a break on the serial line
corresponds to pressing a shift key on the console in order to get
LILO 's attention. All boot images should be password-protected if the
serial access is less secure than access to the console, e.g. if the
line is connected to a modem. The parameter string has the following
syntax:
port, bps parity bits
The components bps, parity and bits can be
omitted. If a component is omitted, all following components have to
be omitted too. Additionally, the comma has to be omitted if only the
port number is specified.
- port
- the number of the serial port, zero-based. 0
corresponds to COM1 alias /dev/ttyS0, etc. All four
ports can be used (if present).
- bps
- the baud rate of the serial port. The following
baud rates are supported: 110, 150, 300, 600, 1200, 2400, 4800 and
9600 bps. Default is 2400 bps.
- parity
- the parity used on the serial line. LILO ignores
input parity and strips the 8th bit. The following (upper or lower
case) characters are used to describe the parity: n for no
parity, e for even parity and o for odd parity.
- bits
- the number of bits in a character. Only 7 and 8
bits are supported. Default is 8 if parity is ``none'', 7 if parity
is ``even'' or ``odd''.
If serial is set, the value of delay is automatically raised
to 20.
Example:
serial=0,2400n8" initializes COM1 with the
default parameters.
- timeout= tsecs
- sets a timeout (in tenths of a second) for
keyboard input. If no key is pressed for the specified time, the first
image is automatically booted. Similarly, password input is aborted if
the user is idle for too long. The default timeout is infinite.
- verbose= level
- Turns on lots of progress reporting.
Higher numbers give more verbose output. If -v is additionally
specified on the command line, level is increased accordingly.
The following verbosity levels exist:
- <0
- only warnings and errors are shown
- 0
- prints one line for each added or skipped image
- 1
- mentions names of important files and devices and why they
are accessed. Also displays informational messages for exceptional
but harmless conditions and prints the version number.
- 2
- displays statistics and processing of temporary files and
devices
- 3
- displays disk geometry information
- 4
- lists sector mappings as they are written into the map file
(i.e. after compaction, in a format suitable to pass it to the BIOS)
- 5
- lists the mapping of each sector (i.e. before compaction, raw)
When using the -q option, the levels have a slightly different
meaning:
- 0
- displays only image names
- 1
- also displays all global and per-image settings
- 2
- displays the address of the first map sector
Additionally, the kernel configuration parameters append, ramdisk,
read-only, read-write, root and vga can be set in
the global options section. They are used as defaults if they aren't specified
in the configuration sections of the respective kernel images. See below for a
description.
The plethora of options may be intimidating at first, but in ``normal''
configurations, hardly any options but boot, compact,
delay, root, and vga are used.
Next: General per-image options
Up: Configuration
Previous: Syntax
Ross Biro
Sat May 20 13:51:22 PDT 1995