9boot: add wait word

[plan9front.git] / sys / man / 8 / 9boot

diff --git a/sys/man/8/9boot b/sys/man/8/9boot
index 3ef167b2b1358d60d6854b010fe2f31624725b8e..bf1f204edc6cbc5b00f3119db61b0198e10e0eb6 100644 (file)
--- a/sys/man/8/9boot
+++ b/sys/man/8/9boot
@@ -1,76 +1,85 @@
 .TH 9BOOT 8
 .SH NAME
 .TH 9BOOT 8
 .SH NAME

-9bootfat, 9bootiso, 9bootpxe \- bootloaders for pc FAT, ISO and PXE network booting
+9bootfat, 9bootiso, 9bootpxe \- PC bootloader for FAT, ISO and PXE network booting

 .SH SYNOPSIS
 .SH SYNOPSIS

-started by BIOS or chainloaded by partition bootsector
+Started by PC BIOS or chainloaded by partition bootsector

 .SH DESCRIPTION
 .SH DESCRIPTION

-The bootloader is responsible for reading the
+9boot is the bootloader used on PCs to start the Plan 9 kernel.
+Its task is to read and parse the

 .IR plan9.ini (8)
 .IR plan9.ini (8)

-boot parameters and booting a kernel. It interprets the
+configuration file, gather some basic system information like
+the amount of usable system memory, do some basic system
+initialization and load the kernel from the boot media into memory.
+
+After reading the configuration, the loader will automatically 
+attempt to boot the kernel that was specified by the

 .B bootfile=
 .B bootfile=

-parameter as a file path on the current boot media
-to locate the kernel image. The path should be in all
-lower case except for
-.IR 9bootpxe
-wich supports case sensitive file names. Read parameters
-are echoed on the console. The boot procedure
-can be interrupted by pressing any key after the configuration
-was read. The interactive boot console is indicated with a
-.B >
-prompt. The syntax of the boot console is the same as in
+parameter. If there is no such parameter, a key
+gets pressed on the keyboard or the kernel file was not
+found then the loader enters the interactive
+boot console.
+
+The syntax of the boot console is the same as in

 the
 .IR plan9.ini (8)
 the
 .IR plan9.ini (8)

-file. The word
+file.
+.BR
+The word

 .B clear
 .B clear

-will reset all current parameters. The word
+[
+.I prefix
+]
+can be used to remove parameters from the current configuration.
+If a
+.IR prefix
+is specified, the first parameter that matches the prefix
+is removed. If the
+.IR prefix
+argument is omitted, the whole configuration will be reset.
+If the word
+.B wait
+appears in the configuration then
+.IR 9boot
+will return to the console prompt after processing the file.
+
+The word

 .B boot
 .B boot

-will end the console and resume booting the kernel. The boot
-console is entered automatically when: boot failed, no
-.B bootfile=
-parameter was specified or no 
-.IR plan9.ini (8)
-was found.
+will end the console and resume booting the kernel.
+
+There are many ways to boot a PC so
+.IR 9boot
+was split into a number of distinct programs one for each boot
+method.

 .SH FAT BOOTING
 .SH FAT BOOTING

-The
-.IR 9bootfat
-program is responsible for loading the kernel from
-the
-.IR 9fat
-partition into memory and passing it the
+When booting Plan 9 from a harddisk or USB pen drive, a
+FAT16/32 partition
+.IR (9fat) 
+is used to store the kernel and 

 .IR plan9.ini (8)
 .IR plan9.ini (8)

-boot parameters. It is chainloaded by
-.IR pbs,
-wich locates it in the root of the active
-FAT partition. The
-.B plan9.ini
-file is read from the root directory of the FAT
-filesystem.
+configuration. Due to size limitations, instead of loading
+the kernel directly, the bootsector
+.IR (pbs)
+of the FAT partition loads
+a 2nd stage bootloader 
+.IR (9bootfat)
+from the root directory of the filesystem.

 .SH CD-ROM BOOTING
 .SH CD-ROM BOOTING

-Booting from CD-ROM requires
+Booting from CD-ROM requires only the 

 .IR 9bootiso
 .IR 9bootiso

-to be included in the ISO-9660 image under
+bootloader to be included in the ISO-9660 image under

 .B 386/9bootiso,
 .B 386/9bootiso,

-set as a non emulation bootblock. See
-.IR mk9660 (8).
-The BIOS loads the first 2K of 
-.B 386/9bootiso
-into memory and then executes the program. The remainder
-of the file is then read to complete the chainloading process.
+set as a non-emulation bootblock (see
+.IR mk9660 (8)).

 Boot parameters are read from
 .B cfg/plan9.ini.
 .SH NETWORK BOOTING
 Boot parameters are read from
 .B cfg/plan9.ini.
 .SH NETWORK BOOTING

-With a PXE capable BIOS and network card it is possible for
-a machine to download
-.IR 9bootpxe
-and a kernel from a tftp server. The location of
+With a PXE capable BIOS and network card one can download

 .IR 9bootpxe
 .IR 9bootpxe

-is defined by the
-.B bootf=/386/9bootpxe
-line in the tftp server's
+and boot the kernel from a TFTP server (see
+.IR dhcpd (8)
+and

 .IR ndb (6)
 .IR ndb (6)

-entry.
-.BR
-Once started,
+for details). Once started,

 .IR 9bootpxe
 will read the file
 .B /cfg/pxe/$ether
 .IR 9bootpxe
 will read the file
 .B /cfg/pxe/$ether


@@ -80,5 +89,15 @@ is the MAC address of the client's network card
 in lower case hex, and use this as its
 .IR plan9.ini (8)
 file.
 in lower case hex, and use this as its
 .IR plan9.ini (8)
 file.

+.SH FILES
+.B /386/pbs
+.br
+.B /386/9bootfat
+.br
+.B /386/9bootiso
+.br
+.B /386/9bootpxe

 .SH SOURCE
 .SH SOURCE

-.BR /sys/src/boot/pc .
+.BR /sys/src/boot/pc
+.SH "SEE ALSO"
+.IR plan9.ini (8)