NAME

installboot − install boot blocks in a disk partition

SYNOPSIS

installboot [ −v | −l ] bootfile protobootblk bootdevice

DESCRIPTION

When the PROM monitor boots from a disk partition, it loads code from the boot block area of the partition.  This code, in turn, loads the boot(8) program (usually /boot). The boot block also contains a table of the disk block numbers occupied by the boot program. Installboot determines which disk block numbers are occupied by the boot program, fills in the table, and writes both the boot block code and the table onto the disk.  Installboot must be run whenever the boot program is installed, since the block numbers occupied by the boot program may change when it is written onto the disk. 

Bootfile is the name of the boot program, usually /boot. On the Sun-3 and Sun-4 this file has the same format as that required for booting over the network (tftpboot). The file has no header, and has been stripped. Protobootblk is the boot block code that block numbers of the boot program are inserted into.  This is usually /usr/mdec/bootxx, where xx is the type of disk on which the boot program resides (for example, xy). This program must be linked with the -N flag of ld(1). Bootdevice is the disk device where the boot block code is to be installed. 

OPTIONS

−v Verbose mode.  Display information about the size of the boot program, etc. 

−l Print out the list of block numbers of the boot program. 

EXAMPLE

To install the boot block onto the root partition on a Xylogics disk. 

example% installboot /boot /usr/mdec/bootxy /dev/xy0a
example%

For an SCSI disk, use /usr/mdec/bootsd, and /dev/sd0a.

SEE ALSO

boot(8S), monitor(8S)

System Administration for the Sun Workstation

Installing UNIX on the Sun Workstation

BUGS

Previous versions of the boot block code could find /boot by interpreting the file system on the partition from which it was being booted, but this is no longer the case. 

Sun Release 3.2  —  Last change: 19 February 1987