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man:boot

BOOT(7) Linux Programmer's Manual BOOT(7)

NAME

     boot - System bootup process based on UNIX System V Release 4

DESCRIPTION

     The  bootup  process  (or "boot sequence") varies in details among sys-
     tems, but can be roughly divided into phases controlled by the  follow-
     ing components:
     1.  hardware
     2.  operating system (OS) loader
     3.  kernel
     4.  root user-space process (init and inittab)
     5.  boot scripts
     Each of these is described below in more detail.
 Hardware
     After  power-on  or hard reset, control is given to a program stored in
     read-only memory (normally PROM); for historical reasons involving  the
     personal computer, this program is often called "the BIOS".
     This  program  normally  performs  a basic self-test of the machine and
     accesses nonvolatile memory to read further parameters.  This memory in
     the  PC  is  battery-backed  CMOS memory, so most people refer to it as
     "the CMOS"; outside of the PC world, it is usually called  "the  NVRAM"
     (nonvolatile RAM).
     The  parameters  stored in the NVRAM vary among systems, but as a mini-
     mum, they should specify which device can supply an OS  loader,  or  at
     least  which  devices  may be probed for one; such a device is known as
     "the boot device".  The hardware boot stage loads the OS loader from  a
     fixed position on the boot device, and then transfers control to it.
     Note:  The  device from which the OS loader is read may be attached via
            a network, in which case the  details  of  booting  are  further
            specified  by protocols such as DHCP, TFTP, PXE, Etherboot, etc.
 OS loader
     The main job of the OS loader is to locate the kernel on  some  device,
     load  it,  and run it.  Most OS loaders allow interactive use, in order
     to enable specification of an alternative kernel  (maybe  a  backup  in
     case  the  one  last  compiled  isn't functioning) and to pass optional
     parameters to the kernel.
     In a traditional PC, the OS loader is located in the  initial  512-byte
     block of the boot device; this block is known as "the MBR" (Master Boot
     Record).
     In most systems, the OS loader is very  limited  due  to  various  con-
     straints.   Even  on  non-PC systems, there are some limitations on the
     size and complexity of this loader, but the size limitation of  the  PC
     MBR (512 bytes, including the partition table) makes it almost impossi-
     ble to squeeze much functionality into it.
     Therefore, most systems split the role of loading the OS between a pri-
     mary  OS loader and a secondary OS loader; this secondary OS loader may
     be located within a larger portion of persistent  storage,  such  as  a
     disk partition.
     In Linux, the OS loader is often either lilo(8) or grub(8).
 Kernel
     When  the  kernel  is  loaded, it initializes various components of the
     computer and operating system; each portion of software responsible for
     such  a  task  is usually consider "a driver" for the applicable compo-
     nent.  The kernel starts the virtual memory swapper  (it  is  a  kernel
     process,  called  "kswapd"  in  a modern Linux kernel), and mounts some
     filesystem at the root path, /.
     Some of the parameters that may be passed to the kernel relate to these
     activities  (for  example,  the default root filesystem can be overrid-
     den); for further information on Linux kernel  parameters,  read  boot-
     param(7).
     Only then does the kernel create the initial userland process, which is
     given the number 1  as  its  PID  (process  ID).   Traditionally,  this
     process executes the program /sbin/init, to which are passed the param-
     eters that haven't already been handled by the kernel.
 Root user-space process
     Note:  The following description applies to an OS based on UNIX  System
            V  Release  4.   However,  a  number of widely used systems have
            adopted a related but fundamentally different approach known  as
            systemd(1),  for  which  the  bootup  process is detailed in its
            associated bootup(7).
     When /sbin/init starts, it reads /etc/inittab for further instructions.
     This  file  defines  what  should be run when the /sbin/init program is
     instructed to enter a particular run-level, giving the administrator an
     easy  way to establish an environment for some usage; each run-level is
     associated with a set of services (for example, run-level S is  single-
     user mode, and run-level 2 entails running most network services).
     The  administrator  may  change  the current run-level via init(1), and
     query the current run-level via runlevel(8).
     However, since it is not convenient to manage  individual  services  by
     editing  this  file, /etc/inittab only bootstraps a set of scripts that
     actually start/stop the individual services.
 Boot scripts
     Note:  The following description applies to an OS based on UNIX  System
            V  Release  4.  However, a number of widely used systems (Slack-
            ware Linux, FreeBSD, OpenBSD) have a somewhat  different  scheme
            for boot scripts.
     For  each  managed  service  (mail, nfs server, cron, etc.), there is a
     single startup script located in a specific directory  (/etc/init.d  in
     most  versions  of  Linux).   Each of these scripts accepts as a single
     argument the word "start" (causing it to start the service) or the word
     "stop"  (causing  it  to  stop the service).  The script may optionally
     accept other "convenience" parameters (e.g., "restart" to stop and then
     start,  "status"  to  display  the  service status, etc.).  Running the
     script without parameters displays the possible arguments.
 Sequencing directories
     To make specific scripts start/stop at specific  run-levels  and  in  a
     specific  order, there are sequencing directories, normally of the form
     /etc/rc[0-6S].d.  In each of these directories, there are  links  (usu-
     ally symbolic) to the scripts in the /etc/init.d directory.
     A primary script (usually /etc/rc) is called from inittab(5); this pri-
     mary script calls each service's script via  a  link  in  the  relevant
     sequencing  directory.   Each link whose name begins with 'S' is called
     with the argument "start" (thereby starting the  service).   Each  link
     whose  name begins with 'K' is called with the argument "stop" (thereby
     stopping the service).
     To define the starting or stopping order within the same run-level, the
     name  of  a link contains an order-number.  Also, for clarity, the name
     of a link usually ends with the name of the service to which it refers.
     For  example,  the link /etc/rc2.d/S80sendmail starts the sendmail ser-
     vice on runlevel 2.  This happens after /etc/rc2.d/S12syslog is run but
     before /etc/rc2.d/S90xfs is run.
     To manage these links is to manage the boot order and run-levels; under
     many systems, there are tools to help with  this  task  (e.g.,  chkcon-
     fig(8)).
 Boot configuration
     A program that provides a service is often called a "daemon".  Usually,
     a daemon may receive various command-line options and  parameters.   To
     allow  a system administrator to change these inputs without editing an
     entire boot script, some separate configuration file is  used,  and  is
     located  in  a  specific  directory where an associated boot script may
     find it (/etc/sysconfig on older Red Hat systems).
     In older UNIX systems, such a file contained the  actual  command  line
     options  for a daemon, but in modern Linux systems (and also in HP-UX),
     it just contains shell variables.  A boot script in  /etc/init.d  reads
     and includes its configuration file (that is, it "sources" its configu-
     ration file) and then uses the variable values.

FILES

     /etc/init.d/, /etc/rc[S0-6].d/, /etc/sysconfig/

SEE ALSO

     init(1), systemd(1), inittab(5), bootparam(7), bootup(7),  runlevel(8),
     shutdown(8)

COLOPHON

     This  page  is  part of release 4.16 of the Linux man-pages project.  A
     description of the project, information about reporting bugs,  and  the
     latest     version     of     this    page,    can    be    found    at
     https://www.kernel.org/doc/man-pages/.

Linux 2015-03-11 BOOT(7)

/data/webs/external/dokuwiki/data/pages/man/boot.txt · Last modified: 2019/05/17 09:32 by 127.0.0.1

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