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GLOBAL OPTIONS
There are many possible keywords. The description that follows is almost literally from user.tex (just slightly abbreviated):
| backup=backup-file | Copy the original boot sector to backup-file (which may also be a device, such as /dev/null) instead of /boot/boot.NNNN. |
| boot=boot-device | Sets the name of the device (such as a hard disk partition) that contains the boot sector. If this keyword 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 the boot loader should wait before booting the first image. This is useful on systems that immediately boot from the hard disk after enabling the keyboard. The boot loader doesn't wait if delay is omitted or is set to zero. |
| disk=device-name | Defines non-standard parameters for the specified disk. See section "Disk Geometry" of user.tex for details. |
| disktab=disktab-file | Specifies the name of the disk parameter table. The map installer looks for /etc/disktab if disktab is omitted. The use of disktabs is discouraged. |
| fix-table | This allows LILO to adjust 3-D addresses in partition tables. Each partition entry contains a 3-D (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 (such as PC/MS-DOS or OS/2) are using the same disk, they may change the 3-D address. LILO can store its boot sector only on partitions where both address types correspond. LILO readjusts incorrect 3-D 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 repartition the drive with a program that does align partitions to tracks. Also, with some disks (such as 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. |
| 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 runtime 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 because 3-D 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, the 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 65,535 bytes. The map file has to be rebuilt if the message file is changed or moved. |
| nowarn | Disables warnings about possible future dangers. |
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| optional | The per-image option optional applies to all images. |
| password=password | The per-image option password=... applies to all images. |
| 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 | The per-image option restricted applies to all images. |
| serial=parameters | Enables control from a serial line. The specified serial port is initialized and the boot loader 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 the boot loader's attention. All boot images should be password-protected if the serial access is less secure than access to the console, such as if the line is connected to a modem. The parameter string has the following syntax: |
| <port>[,<bps>[<parity>[<bits>]]] | |
| <port>: The number of the serial port, zero-based. 0 corresponds to COM1 alias /dev/ttyS0, and so on. 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. The boot loader ignores input parity and strips the eighth bit. The following (uppercase or lowercase) 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 and 7 if parity is even or odd. | |
| If serial is set, the value of delay is automatically raised to 20. For example, serial=0,2400n8 initializes COM1 with the default parameters. | |
| timeout=tsecs | Sets a time-out (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 time-out is infinite. |
| verbose=level | Turns on a lot of progress reporting. Higher numbers give more verbose output. If _v is additionally specified on the LILO command line, the level is increased accordingly. The maximum verbosity level is 5. |
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.
PER-IMAGE SECTION
A per-image section starts with either a line
image=pathname
to indicate a file or device containing the boot image of a Linux kernel or a line
other=pathname
to indicate an arbitrary system to boot.
In the former case, if an image line specifies booting from a device, then one has to indicate the range of sectors to be mapped using
range=start-end
In the latter case (booting another system), there are the three options:
| loader=chain-loader | This specifies the chain loader that should be used. By default, /boot/chain.b is used. The chain loader must be specified if booting from a device other than the first hard or floppy disk. |