File: //fbsd/boot/loader.help
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# T? DList available commands
?
Lists all available commands.
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# Tautoboot DBoot after a delay
autoboot [<delay> [<prompt>]]
Displays <prompt> or a default prompt, and counts down <delay> seconds
before attempting to boot. If <delay> is not specified, the default
value is 10.
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# Tbcachestat DGet disk block cache stats
bcachestat
Displays statistics about disk cache usage. For debugging only.
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# Tboot DBoot immediately
boot [<kernelname>] [-<arg> ...]
Boot the system. If arguments are specified, they are added to the
arguments for the kernel. If <kernelname> is specified, and a kernel
has not already been loaded, it will be booted instead of the default
kernel.
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# Techo DEcho arguments
echo [-n] [<message>]
Emits <message>, with no trailing newline if -n is specified. This is
most useful in conjunction with scripts and the '@' line prefix.
Variables are substituted by prefixing them with $, eg.
echo Current device is $currdev
will print the current device.
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# Theap DDisplay memory management statistics
heap
Requests debugging output from the heap manager. For debugging use
only.
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# Thelp DDisplay command help
help [topic [subtopic]]
help index
The help command displays help on commands and their usage.
In command help, a term enclosed with <...> indicates a value as
described by the term. A term enclosed with [...] is optional,
and may not be required by all forms of the command.
Some commands may not be available. Use the '?' command to list
most available commands.
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# Tinclude DRead commands from a script file
include <filename> [<filename> ...]
The entire contents of <filename> are read into memory before executing
commands, so it is safe to source a file from removable media.
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# Tload DLoad a kernel or module
load [-t <type>] <filename>
Loads the module contained in <filename> into memory. If no other
modules are loaded, <filename> must be a kernel or the command will
fail.
If -t is specified, the module is loaded as raw data of <type>, for
later use by the kernel or other modules. <type> may be any string.
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# Tls DList files
ls [-l] [<path>]
Displays a listing of files in the directory <path>, or the root
directory of the current device if <path> is not specified.
The -l argument displays file sizes as well; the process of obtaining
file sizes on some media may be very slow.
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# Tlsdev DList devices
lsdev [-v]
List all of the devices from which it may be possible to load modules.
If -v is specified, print more details.
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# Tlsmod DList modules
lsmod [-v]
List loaded modules. If [-v] is specified, print more details.
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# Tmore DPage files
more <filename> [<filename> ...]
Show contents of text files. When displaying the contents of more,
than one file, if the user elects to quit displaying a file, the
remaining files will not be shown.
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# Tpnpscan DScan for PnP devices
pnpscan [-v]
Scan for Plug-and-Play devices. This command is normally automatically
run as part of the boot process, in order to dynamically load modules
required for system operation.
If the -v argument is specified, details on the devices found will
be printed.
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# Tread DRead input from the terminal
read [-t <value>] [-p <prompt>] [<variable name>]
The read command reads a line of input from the terminal. If the
-t argument is specified, it will return nothing if no input has been
received after <value> seconds. (Any keypress will cancel the
timeout).
If -p is specified, <prompt> is printed before reading input. No
newline is emitted after the prompt.
If a variable name is supplied, the variable is set to the value read,
less any terminating newline.
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# Treboot DReboot the system
reboot
Causes the system to immediately reboot.
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# Tset DSet a variable
set <variable name>
set <variable name>=<value>
The set command is used to set variables.
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# Tset Sautoboot_delay DSet the default autoboot delay
set autoboot_delay=<value>
Sets the default delay for the autoboot command to <value> seconds.
Set value to -1 if you don't want to allow user to interrupt autoboot
process and escape to the loader prompt.
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# Tset Sboot_askname DPrompt for root device
set boot_askname
Instructs the kernel to prompt the user for the name of the root device
when the kernel is booted.
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# Tset Sboot_cdrom DMount root file system from CD-ROM
set boot_cdrom
Instructs the kernel to try to mount the root file system from CD-ROM.
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# Tset Sboot_ddb DDrop to the kernel debugger (DDB)
set boot_ddb
Instructs the kernel to start in the DDB debugger, rather than
proceeding to initialize when booted.
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# Tset Sboot_dfltroot DUse default root file system
set boot_dfltroot
Instructs the kernel to mount the statically compiled-in root
file system.
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# Tset Sboot_gdb DSelect gdb-remote mode for the kernel debugger
set boot_gdb
Selects gdb-remote mode for the kernel debugger by default.
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# Tset Sboot_multicons DUse multiple consoles
set boot_multicons
Enables multiple console support in the kernel early on boot.
In a running system, console configuration can be manipulated
by the conscontrol(8) utility.
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# Tset Sboot_mute DMute the console
set boot_mute
All console output is suppressed when console is muted.
In a running system, the state of console muting can be
manipulated by the conscontrol(8) utility.
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# Tset Sboot_pause DPause after each line during device probing
set boot_pause
During the device probe, pause after each line is printed.
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# Tset Sboot_serial DUse serial console
set boot_serial
Force the use of a serial console even when an internal console
is present.
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# Tset Sboot_single DStart system in single-user mode
set boot_single
Prevents the kernel from initiating a multi-user startup; instead,
a single-user mode will be entered when the kernel has finished
device probes.
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# Tset Sboot_verbose DVerbose boot messages
set boot_verbose
Setting this variable causes extra debugging information to be printed
by the kernel during the boot phase.
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# Tset Sbootfile DSet the default boot file set
set bootfile=<filename>[;<filename>...]
Sets the default set of kernel boot filename(s). It may be overridden
by setting the bootfile variable to a semicolon-separated list of
filenames, each of which will be searched for in the module_path
directories. The default bootfile set is "kernel".
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# Tset Sconsole DSet the current console
set console[=<value>]
Sets the current console. If <value> is omitted, a list of valid
consoles will be displayed.
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# Tset Scurrdev DSet the current device
set currdev=<device>
Selects the default device. See lsdev for available devices.
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# Tset Sinit_path DSet the list of init candidates
set init_path=<path>[:<path>...]
Sets the list of binaries which the kernel will try to run as initial
process.
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# Tset Smodule_path DSet the module search path
set module_path=<path>[;<path>...]
Sets the list of directories which will be searched in for modules
named in a load command or implicitly required by a dependency. The
default module_path is "/boot/modules" with the kernel directory
prepended.
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# Tset Snum_ide_disks DSet the number of IDE disks
NOTE: this variable is deprecated, use root_disk_unit instead.
set num_ide_disks=<value>
When booting from a SCSI disk on a system with one or more IDE disks,
and where the IDE disks are the default boot device, it is necessary
to tell the kernel how many IDE disks there are in order to have it
correctly locate the SCSI disk you are booting from.
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# Tset Sprompt DSet the command prompt
set prompt=<value>
The command prompt is displayed when the loader is waiting for input.
Variable substitution is performed on the prompt. The default
prompt can be set with:
set prompt=\${interpret}
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# Tset Sroot_disk_unit DForce the root disk unit number.
set root_disk_unit=<value>
If the code which detects the disk unit number for the root disk is
confused, eg. by a mix of SCSI and IDE disks, or IDE disks with
gaps in the sequence (eg. no primary slave), the unit number can be
forced by setting this variable.
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# Tset Srootdev DSet the root filesystem
set rootdev=<path>
By default the value of $currdev is used to set the root filesystem
when the kernel is booted. This can be overridden by setting
$rootdev explicitly.
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# Tset Stunables DSet kernel tunable values
Various kernel tunable parameters can be overridden by specifying new
values in the environment.
set kern.ipc.nmbclusters=<value>
Set the number of mbuf clusters to be allocated. The value
cannot be set below the default determined when the kernel
was compiled.
set kern.ipc.nsfbufs=<value> NSFBUFS
Set the number of sendfile buffers to be allocated. This
overrides the value determined when the kernel was compiled.
set vm.kmem_size=<value> VM_KMEM_SIZE
Sets the size of kernel memory (bytes). This overrides
the value determined when the kernel was compiled.
set machdep.disable_mtrrs=1
Disable the use of i686 MTRRs (i386 only)
set net.inet.tcp.tcbhashsize=<value> TCBHASHSIZE
Overrides the compile-time set value of TCBHASHSIZE or
the preset default of 512. Must be a power of 2.
hw.syscons.sc_no_suspend_vtswitch=<value>
Disable VT switching on suspend.
value is 0 (default) or non-zero to enable.
set hw.physmem=<value> MAXMEM (i386 only)
Limits the amount of physical memory space available to
the system to <value> bytes. <value> may have a k, M or G
suffix to indicate kilobytes, megabytes and gigabytes
respectively. Note that the current i386 architecture
limits this value to 4GB.
On systems where memory cannot be accurately probed,
this option provides a hint as to the actual size of
system memory (which will be tested before use).
set hw.{acpi,pci}.host_start_mem=<value>
Sets the lowest address that the pci code will assign
when it doesn't have other information about the address
to assign (like from a pci bridge). This is only useful
in older systems without a pci bridge. Also, it only
impacts devices that the BIOS doesn't assign to, typically
CardBus bridges. The default <value> is 0x80000000, but
some systems need values like 0xf0000000, 0xfc000000 or
0xfe000000 may be suitable for older systems (the older
the system, the higher the number typically should be).
set hw.pci.enable_io_modes=<value>
Enable PCI resources which are left off by some BIOSes
or are not enabled correctly by the device driver.
value is 1 (default), but this may cause problems with
some peripherals. Set to 0 to disable.
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# Tshow DShow the values of variables
show [<variable>]
Displays the value of <variable>, or all variables if not specified.
Multiple paths can be separated with a semicolon.
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# Tsmap DDisplay BIOS SMAP table
smap
Displays the BIOS SMAP (system memory map) table.
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# Tunload DRemove all modules from memory
unload
This command removes any kernel and all loaded modules from memory.
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# Tunset DUnset a variable
unset <variable name>
If allowed, the named variable's value is discarded and the variable
is removed.
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