BOOTPARAMS(5)

📦
version 0.17 · 2 versions
, in debian bookworm, debian trixie, ubuntu jammy, ubuntu noble, ubuntu questing, ubuntu resolute, ubuntu stonking

💖 BOOTPARAMS 💖

okay bestie, gather round, because we're talking about bootparams — the boot parameter database. yes it's a whole thing and yes it's lowkey iconic 🎀

✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

/etc/bootparams

🌸 DESCRIPTION 🌸

so like, the bootparams file is where you tell your diskless clients what they're allowed to ask for when they boot up over the network. it's giving "here's your info, queen" 👑

every single client that this server supports has got to have its own entry in the bootparams file, and that entry holds the pathnames for its root area and — if it wants one — its swap area too. no entry, no boot. periodt 💅

now, each line in the file (and no, we are NOT counting comment lines that start with a #, those are just vibes) lists the client name first, and then all the pathnames that client is allowed to request by their logical names. the components get separated by a blank or a tab, and if you're feeling extra you can keep a line going onto multiple lines with a backslash \. multi-line slay ✨

for example:

dummy   root=host:/export/dummy/root \
        swap=host:/export/dummy/swap \
        dump=host:/export/dummy/swap

so when the client named "dummy" asks for the pathname of its logical "root", it gets handed the pathname host:/export/dummy/root as the response to its RPC request. 🫶

⚠️ and heads up: that host: part is not optional. it MUST be supplied, fr fr. don't forget it or it's not gonna work. 😭

🎀 FILES 🎀

  • /etc/bootparams — the default configuration file, aka the main character of this whole page 👑

🦋 SEE ALSO 🦋

and that's the whole vibe, bestie 💜 this was Linux NetKit (0.17), dated October 2, 1994 — old school but still eating, no cap 🌈⭐

📦 where this page comes from