DELAY.4TH(8)

💅 DELAY.4TH — FreeBSD debugging boot module ✨

okay so bestie, let me put you on to delay.4th. that's the manual name btw — it lives in the System Manager's Manual section, and it's literally the little loader script that adds debugging energy to your boot 💖

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🌸 NAME 🌸

delay.4th — the FreeBSD debugging boot module 🎀

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✨ DESCRIPTION ✨

so the file that goes by the name of delay.4th is a set of commands designed to add debugging capabilities to loader(8). periodt. it's giving "small but mighty" 💅

but real talk — the commands of delay.4th by themselves are not enough for most uses. like, they're a supporting character, not the main character. please refer to the examples below for the most common situations, and to loader(8) for additional commands 🫶

Before using any of the commands provided in delay.4th, it must be included through the command:

include delay.4th

this line is already present in /boot/beastie.4th file, so it is not needed (and should not be re-issued) in a normal setup 🙈 like don't double up, bestie, that's not the vibe.

The commands provided by it are:

• delay_execute — executes the [string] procedure stored in the delay_command environment variable after loader_delay seconds ⏱️

If the optional delay_showdots environment variable is set, a continuous series of dots is printed 🫧 (yes, dots. an actual stream of them. iconic.)

During the duration, the user can either press Ctrl+C (or Esc) to abort or ENTER to proceed immediately 🔥

The environment variables that effect its behavior are:

• delay_command — the command to be executed by delay_execute 👑
• loader_delay — the duration (in seconds) to delay before executing delay_command ⏳
• delay_showdots — if set, will cause delay_execute to print a continuous series of dots during the delay duration 🍓

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🦋 FILES 🦋

• /boot/loader — the loader(8) 🧚
• /boot/delay.4th — delay.4th itself 💜
• /boot/loader.rc — loader(8) bootstrapping script 🌈

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🎀 EXAMPLES 🎀

introducing a 5-second delay before including another file from /boot/loader.rc — this is the whole entire slay:

include /boot/delay.4th
set delay_command="include /boot/other.4th"
set delay_showdots
set loader_delay=5
delay_execute

like… five seconds of vibes and dots before the next file loads. we love a dramatic pause 💅✨

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👀 SEE ALSO 👀

loader.conf(5), beastie.4th(8), loader(8), loader.4th(8)

go read those too, iykyk 📚

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⭐ HISTORY ⭐

The delay.4th set of commands first appeared in FreeBSD 9.0 🎉 so it's been serving looks for a minute.

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💖 AUTHORS 💖

The delay.4th set of commands was written by Devin Teske <dteske@FreeBSD.org> — thank you king 🫶👑

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ngl the whole point is: include it, set your env vars, call delay_execute, and enjoy the dots. don't re-include it if beastie.4th already did. that's the tea ☕💀

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and that's the page, bestie 🕰️✨ — this rendering comes from the Debian build dated May 18, 2011, filed under DELAY.4TH(8). mwah 💋