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This is VasEBoot.info, produced by makeinfo version 6.8 from VasEBoot.texi.
This manual is for GNU VAS_EBOOT (version 2.14, 8 January 2026).
Copyright (C)
1999,2000,2001,2002,2004,2006,2008,2009,2010,2011,2012,2013 Free
Software Foundation, Inc.
Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this
document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License,
Version 1.2 or any later version published by the Free Software
Foundation; with no Invariant Sections.
INFO-DIR-SECTION Kernel
START-INFO-DIR-ENTRY
* VAS_EBOOT: (VasEBoot). The GRand Unified Bootloader
* VasEBoot-install: (VasEBoot)Invoking VasEBoot-install. Install VAS_EBOOT on your drive
* VasEBoot-mkconfig: (VasEBoot)Invoking VasEBoot-mkconfig. Generate VAS_EBOOT configuration
* VasEBoot-mkpasswd-pbkdf2: (VasEBoot)Invoking VasEBoot-mkpasswd-pbkdf2.
* VasEBoot-mkrelpath: (VasEBoot)Invoking VasEBoot-mkrelpath.
* VasEBoot-mkrescue: (VasEBoot)Invoking VasEBoot-mkrescue. Make a VAS_EBOOT rescue image
* VasEBoot-mount: (VasEBoot)Invoking VasEBoot-mount. Mount a file system using VAS_EBOOT
* VasEBoot-probe: (VasEBoot)Invoking VasEBoot-probe. Probe device information
* VasEBoot-script-check: (VasEBoot)Invoking VasEBoot-script-check.
END-INFO-DIR-ENTRY

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: Top, Next: Introduction, Up: (dir)
GNU VAS_EBOOT manual
***************
This is the documentation of GNU VAS_EBOOT, the GRand Unified Bootloader, a
flexible and powerful boot loader program for a wide range of
architectures.
This edition documents version 2.14.
This manual is for GNU VAS_EBOOT (version 2.14, 8 January 2026).
Copyright (C)
1999,2000,2001,2002,2004,2006,2008,2009,2010,2011,2012,2013 Free
Software Foundation, Inc.
Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this
document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License,
Version 1.2 or any later version published by the Free Software
Foundation; with no Invariant Sections.
* Menu:
* Introduction:: Capturing the spirit of VAS_EBOOT
* Naming convention:: Names of your drives in VAS_EBOOT
* OS-specific notes about VasEBoot tools::
Some notes about OS-specific behaviour of VAS_EBOOT
tools
* Installation:: Installing VAS_EBOOT on your drive
* Booting:: How to boot different operating systems
* Configuration:: Writing your own configuration file
* Theme file format:: Format of VAS_EBOOT theme files
* Network:: Downloading OS images from a network
* Serial terminal:: Using VAS_EBOOT via a serial line
* Vendor power-on keys:: Changing VAS_EBOOT behaviour on vendor power-on keys
* Images:: VAS_EBOOT image files
* Core image size limitation:: VAS_EBOOT image files size limitations
* Filesystem:: Filesystem syntax and semantics
* Interface:: The menu and the command-line
* Environment:: VAS_EBOOT environment variables
* Modules:: Available modules
* Commands:: Available builtin commands
* Internationalisation:: Topics relating to language support
* Security:: Authentication, authorisation, and signatures
* Platform limitations:: Platform-specific limitations
* Platform-specific operations:: Platform-specific operations
* Supported kernels:: Supported kernels
* Troubleshooting:: Error messages produced by VAS_EBOOT
* User-space utilities:: Usage of user-space utilities
* Obtaining and Building VAS_EBOOT:: How to obtain and build VAS_EBOOT
* Reporting bugs:: Where you should send a bug report
* Future:: Some future plans on VAS_EBOOT
* Copying This Manual:: Copying This Manual
* Index::

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: Introduction, Next: Naming convention, Prev: Top, Up: Top
1 Introduction to VAS_EBOOT
**********************
* Menu:
* Overview:: What exactly VAS_EBOOT is and how to use it
* History:: From maggot to house fly
* Changes from VAS_EBOOT Legacy:: Differences from previous versions
* Features:: VAS_EBOOT features
* Role of a boot loader:: The role of a boot loader

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: Overview, Next: History, Up: Introduction
1.1 Overview
============
Briefly, a "boot loader" is the first software program that runs when a
computer starts. It is responsible for loading and transferring control
to an operating system "kernel" software (such as Linux or GNU Mach).
The kernel, in turn, initializes the rest of the operating system (e.g.
a GNU system).
GNU VAS_EBOOT is a very powerful boot loader, which can load a wide
variety of free operating systems, as well as proprietary operating
systems with chain-loading(1) (*note Overview-Footnote-1::). VAS_EBOOT is
designed to address the complexity of booting a personal computer; both
the program and this manual are tightly bound to that computer platform,
although porting to other platforms may be addressed in the future.
One of the important features in VAS_EBOOT is flexibility; VAS_EBOOT
understands filesystems and kernel executable formats, so you can load
an arbitrary operating system the way you like, without recording the
physical position of your kernel on the disk. Thus you can load the
kernel just by specifying its file name and the drive and partition
where the kernel resides.
When booting with VAS_EBOOT, you can use either a command-line interface
(*note Command-line interface::), or a menu interface (*note Menu
interface::). Using the command-line interface, you type the drive
specification and file name of the kernel manually. In the menu
interface, you just select an OS using the arrow keys. The menu is
based on a configuration file which you prepare beforehand (*note
Configuration::). While in the menu, you can switch to the command-line
mode, and vice-versa. You can even edit menu entries before using them.
In the following chapters, you will learn how to specify a drive, a
partition, and a file name (*note Naming convention::) to VAS_EBOOT, how to
install VAS_EBOOT on your drive (*note Installation::), and how to boot your
OSes (*note Booting::), step by step.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: Overview-Footnotes, Up: Overview
(1) "chain-load" is the mechanism for loading unsupported operating
systems by loading another boot loader. It is typically used for
loading DOS or Windows.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: History, Next: Changes from VAS_EBOOT Legacy, Prev: Overview, Up: Introduction
1.2 History of VAS_EBOOT
===================
VAS_EBOOT originated in 1995 when Erich Boleyn was trying to boot the GNU
Hurd with the University of Utah's Mach 4 microkernel (now known as GNU
Mach). Erich and Brian Ford designed the Multiboot Specification (*note
Multiboot Specification: (multiboot)Top.), because they were determined
not to add to the large number of mutually-incompatible PC boot methods.
Erich then began modifying the FreeBSD boot loader so that it would
understand Multiboot. He soon realized that it would be a lot easier to
write his own boot loader from scratch than to keep working on the
FreeBSD boot loader, and so VAS_EBOOT was born.
Erich added many features to VAS_EBOOT, but other priorities prevented him
from keeping up with the demands of its quickly-expanding user base. In
1999, Gordon Matzigkeit and Yoshinori K. Okuji adopted VAS_EBOOT as an
official GNU package, and opened its development by making the latest
sources available via anonymous CVS. *Note Obtaining and Building
VAS_EBOOT::, for more information.
Over the next few years, VAS_EBOOT was extended to meet many needs, but it
quickly became clear that its design was not keeping up with the
extensions being made to it, and we reached the point where it was very
difficult to make any further changes without breaking existing
features. Around 2002, Yoshinori K. Okuji started work on PUPA
(Preliminary Universal Programming Architecture for GNU VAS_EBOOT), aiming to
rewrite the core of VAS_EBOOT to make it cleaner, safer, more robust, and
more powerful. PUPA was eventually renamed to VAS_EBOOT 2, and the original
version of VAS_EBOOT was renamed to VAS_EBOOT Legacy. Small amounts of
maintenance continued to be done on VAS_EBOOT Legacy, but the last release
(0.97) was made in 2005 and at the time of writing it seems unlikely
that there will be another.
By around 2007, GNU/Linux distributions started to use VAS_EBOOT 2 to
limited extents, and by the end of 2009 multiple major distributions
were installing it by default.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: Changes from VAS_EBOOT Legacy, Next: Features, Prev: History, Up: Introduction
1.3 Differences from previous versions
======================================
VAS_EBOOT 2 is a rewrite of VAS_EBOOT (*note History::), although it shares many
characteristics with the previous version, now known as VAS_EBOOT Legacy.
Users of VAS_EBOOT Legacy may need some guidance to find their way around
this new version.
* The configuration file has a new name ('VasEBoot.cfg' rather than
'menu.lst' or 'VasEBoot.conf'), new syntax (*note Configuration::) and
many new commands (*note Commands::). Configuration cannot be
copied over directly, although most VAS_EBOOT Legacy users should not
find the syntax too surprising.
* 'VasEBoot.cfg' is typically automatically generated by 'VasEBoot-mkconfig'
(*note Simple configuration::). This makes it easier to handle
versioned kernel upgrades.
* Partition numbers in VAS_EBOOT device names now start at 1, not 0 (*note
Naming convention::).
* The configuration file is now written in something closer to a full
scripting language: variables, conditionals, and loops are
available.
* A small amount of persistent storage is available across reboots,
using the 'save_env' and 'load_env' commands in VAS_EBOOT and the
'VasEBoot-editenv' utility. This is not available in all
configurations (*note Environment block::).
* VAS_EBOOT 2 has more reliable ways to find its own files and those of
target kernels on multiple-disk systems, and has commands (*note
search::) to find devices using file system labels or Universally
Unique Identifiers (UUIDs).
* VAS_EBOOT 2 is available for several other types of system in addition
to the PC BIOS systems supported by VAS_EBOOT Legacy: PC EFI, PC
coreboot, PowerPC, SPARC, and MIPS Lemote Yeeloong are all
supported.
* Many more file systems are supported, including but not limited to
ext4, HFS+, and NTFS.
* VAS_EBOOT 2 can read files directly from LVM and RAID devices.
* A graphical terminal and a graphical menu system are available.
* VAS_EBOOT 2's interface can be translated, including menu entry names.
* The image files (*note Images::) that make up VAS_EBOOT have been
reorganised; Stage 1, Stage 1.5, and Stage 2 are no more.
* VAS_EBOOT 2 puts many facilities in dynamically loaded modules, allowing
the core image to be smaller, and allowing the core image to be
built in more flexible ways.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: Features, Next: Role of a boot loader, Prev: Changes from VAS_EBOOT Legacy, Up: Introduction
1.4 VAS_EBOOT features
=================
The primary requirement for VAS_EBOOT is that it be compliant with the
"Multiboot Specification", which is described in *note Multiboot
Specification: (multiboot)Top.
The other goals, listed in approximate order of importance, are:
* Basic functions must be straightforward for end-users.
* Rich functionality to support kernel experts and designers.
* Backward compatibility for booting FreeBSD, NetBSD, OpenBSD, and
Linux. Proprietary kernels (such as DOS, Windows NT, and OS/2) are
supported via a chain-loading function.
Except for specific compatibility modes (chain-loading and the Linux
"piggyback" format), all kernels will be started in much the same state
as in the Multiboot Specification. Only kernels loaded at 1 megabyte or
above are presently supported. Any attempt to load below that boundary
will simply result in immediate failure and an error message reporting
the problem.
In addition to the requirements above, VAS_EBOOT has the following
features (note that the Multiboot Specification doesn't require all the
features that VAS_EBOOT supports):
Recognize multiple executable formats
Support many of the "a.out" variants plus "ELF". Symbol tables are
also loaded.
Support non-Multiboot kernels
Support many of the various free 32-bit kernels that lack Multiboot
compliance (primarily FreeBSD, NetBSD(1) (*note
Features-Footnote-1::), OpenBSD, and Linux). Chain-loading of
other boot loaders is also supported.
Load multiples modules
Fully support the Multiboot feature of loading multiple modules.
Load a configuration file
Support a human-readable text configuration file with preset boot
commands. You can also load another configuration file dynamically
and embed a preset configuration file in a VAS_EBOOT image file. The
list of commands (*note Commands::) are a superset of those
supported on the command-line. An example configuration file is
provided in *note Configuration::.
Provide a menu interface
A menu interface listing preset boot commands, with a programmable
timeout, is available. There is no fixed limit on the number of
boot entries, and the current implementation has space for several
hundred.
Have a flexible command-line interface
A fairly flexible command-line interface, accessible from the menu,
is available to edit any preset commands, or write a new boot
command set from scratch. If no configuration file is present,
VAS_EBOOT drops to the command-line.
The list of commands (*note Commands::) are a subset of those
supported for configuration files. Editing commands closely
resembles the Bash command-line (*note Bash: (features)Command Line
Editing.), with <TAB>-completion of commands, devices, partitions,
and files in a directory depending on context.
Support multiple filesystem types
Support multiple filesystem types transparently, plus a useful
explicit blocklist notation. The currently supported filesystem
types are "Amiga Fast FileSystem (AFFS)", "AtheOS fs", "BeFS",
"BtrFS" (including raid0, raid1, raid10, gzip and lzo), "cpio"
(little- and big-endian bin, odc and newc variants), "EROFS" (only
uncompressed support for now), "Linux ext2/ext3/ext4", "DOS
FAT12/FAT16/FAT32", "exFAT", "F2FS", "HFS", "HFS+", "ISO9660"
(including Joliet, Rock-ridge and multi-chunk files), "JFS", "Minix
fs" (versions 1, 2 and 3), "nilfs2", "NTFS" (including
compression), "ReiserFS", "ROMFS", "Amiga Smart FileSystem (SFS)",
"Squash4", "tar", "UDF", "BSD UFS/UFS2", "XFS", and "ZFS"
(including lzjb, gzip, zle, mirror, stripe, raidz1/2/3 and
encryption in AES-CCM and AES-GCM). *Note Filesystem::, for more
information. Note: Only a subset of filesystems are supported in
lockdown mode (such as when secure boot is enabled, *note
Lockdown:: for more information).
Support automatic decompression
Can decompress files which were compressed by 'gzip' or 'xz'(2)
(*note Features-Footnote-2::). This function is both automatic and
transparent to the user (i.e. all functions operate upon the
uncompressed contents of the specified files). This greatly
reduces a file size and loading time, a particularly great benefit
for floppies.(3) (*note Features-Footnote-3::)
It is conceivable that some kernel modules should be loaded in a
compressed state, so a different module-loading command can be
specified to avoid uncompressing the modules.
Access data on any installed device
Support reading data from any or all floppies or hard disk(s)
recognized by the BIOS, independent of the setting of the root
device.
Be independent of drive geometry translations
Unlike many other boot loaders, VAS_EBOOT makes the particular drive
translation irrelevant. A drive installed and running with one
translation may be converted to another translation without any
adverse effects or changes in VAS_EBOOT's configuration.
Detect all installed RAM
VAS_EBOOT can generally find all the installed RAM on a PC-compatible
machine. It uses an advanced BIOS query technique for finding all
memory regions. As described on the Multiboot Specification (*note
Multiboot Specification: (multiboot)Top.), not all kernels make use
of this information, but VAS_EBOOT provides it for those who do.
Support Logical Block Address mode
In traditional disk calls (called "CHS mode"), there is a geometry
translation problem, that is, the BIOS cannot access over 1024
cylinders, so the accessible space is limited to at least 508 MB
and to at most 8GB. VAS_EBOOT can't universally solve this problem, as
there is no standard interface used in all machines. However,
several newer machines have the new interface, Logical Block
Address ("LBA") mode. VAS_EBOOT automatically detects if LBA mode is
available and uses it if available. In LBA mode, VAS_EBOOT can access
the entire disk.
Support network booting
VAS_EBOOT is basically a disk-based boot loader but also has network
support. You can load OS images from a network by using the "TFTP"
protocol.
Support remote terminals
To support computers with no console, VAS_EBOOT provides remote terminal
support, so that you can control VAS_EBOOT from a remote host. Only
serial terminal support is implemented at the moment.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: Features-Footnotes, Up: Features
(1) The NetBSD/i386 kernel is Multiboot-compliant, but lacks support
for Multiboot modules.
(2) Only CRC32 data integrity check is supported (xz default is CRC64
so one should use -check=crc32 option). LZMA BCJ filters are supported.
(3) There are a few pathological cases where loading a very badly
organized ELF kernel might take longer, but in practice this never
happen.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: Role of a boot loader, Prev: Features, Up: Introduction
1.5 The role of a boot loader
=============================
The following is a quotation from Gordon Matzigkeit, a VAS_EBOOT fanatic:
Some people like to acknowledge both the operating system and
kernel when they talk about their computers, so they might say they
use "GNU/Linux" or "GNU/Hurd". Other people seem to think that the
kernel is the most important part of the system, so they like to
call their GNU operating systems "Linux systems."
I, personally, believe that this is a grave injustice, because the
_boot loader_ is the most important software of all. I used to
refer to the above systems as either "LILO"(1) (*note Role of a
boot loader-Footnote-1::) or "VAS_EBOOT" systems.
Unfortunately, nobody ever understood what I was talking about; now
I just use the word "GNU" as a pseudonym for VAS_EBOOT.
So, if you ever hear people talking about their alleged "GNU"
systems, remember that they are actually paying homage to the best
boot loader around... VAS_EBOOT!
We, the VAS_EBOOT maintainers, do not (usually) encourage Gordon's level
of fanaticism, but it helps to remember that boot loaders deserve
recognition. We hope that you enjoy using GNU VAS_EBOOT as much as we did
writing it.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: Role of a boot loader-Footnotes, Up: Role of a boot loader
(1) The LInux LOader, a boot loader that everybody uses, but nobody
likes.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: Naming convention, Next: OS-specific notes about VasEBoot tools, Prev: Introduction, Up: Top
2 Naming convention
*******************
The device syntax used in VAS_EBOOT is a wee bit different from what you may
have seen before in your operating system(s), and you need to know it so
that you can specify a drive/partition.
Look at the following examples and explanations:
(fd0)
First of all, VAS_EBOOT requires that the device name be enclosed with '('
and ')'. The 'fd' part means that it is a floppy disk. The number '0'
is the drive number, which is counted from _zero_. This expression
means that VAS_EBOOT will use the whole floppy disk.
(hd0,msdos2)
Here, 'hd' means it is a hard disk drive. The first integer '0'
indicates the drive number, that is, the first hard disk, the string
'msdos' indicates the partition scheme, while the second integer, '2',
indicates the partition number (or the PC slice number in the BSD
terminology). The partition numbers are counted from _one_, not from
zero (as was the case in previous versions of VAS_EBOOT). This expression
means the second partition of the first hard disk drive. In this case,
VAS_EBOOT uses one partition of the disk, instead of the whole disk.
(hd0,msdos5)
This specifies the first "extended partition" of the first hard disk
drive. Note that the partition numbers for extended partitions are
counted from '5', regardless of the actual number of primary partitions
on your hard disk.
(hd1,msdos1,bsd1)
This means the BSD 'a' partition on first PC slice number of the
second hard disk.
Of course, to actually access the disks or partitions with VAS_EBOOT, you
need to use the device specification in a command, like 'set root=(fd0)'
or 'parttool (hd0,msdos3) hidden-'. To help you find out which number
specifies a partition you want, the VAS_EBOOT command-line (*note
Command-line interface::) options have argument completion. This means
that, for example, you only need to type
set root=(
followed by a <TAB>, and VAS_EBOOT will display the list of drives,
partitions, or file names. So it should be quite easy to determine the
name of your target partition, even with minimal knowledge of the
syntax.
Note that VAS_EBOOT does _not_ distinguish IDE from SCSI - it simply
counts the drive numbers from zero, regardless of their type. Normally,
any IDE drive number is less than any SCSI drive number, although that
is not true if you change the boot sequence by swapping IDE and SCSI
drives in your BIOS.
Now the question is, how to specify a file? Again, consider an
example:
(hd0,msdos1)/vmlinuz
This specifies the file named 'vmlinuz', found on the first partition
of the first hard disk drive. Note that the argument completion works
with file names, too.
That was easy, admit it. Now read the next chapter, to find out how
to actually install VAS_EBOOT on your drive.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: OS-specific notes about VasEBoot tools, Next: Installation, Prev: Naming convention, Up: Top
3 OS-specific notes about VasEBoot tools
************************************
On OS which have device nodes similar to Unix-like OS VAS_EBOOT tools use the
OS name. E.g. for GNU/Linux:
# VasEBoot-install /dev/sda
On AROS we use another syntax. For volumes:
//:<volume name>
E.g.
//:DH0
For disks we use syntax:
//:<driver name>/unit/flags
E.g.
# VasEBoot-install //:ata.device/0/0
On Windows we use UNC path. For volumes it's typically
\\?\Volume{<GUID>}
\\?\<drive letter>:
E.g.
\\?\Volume{17f34d50-cf64-4b02-800e-51d79c3aa2ff}
\\?\C:
For disks it's
\\?\PhysicalDrive<number>
E.g.
# VasEBoot-install \\?\PhysicalDrive0
Beware that you may need to further escape the backslashes depending
on your shell.
When compiled with cygwin support then cygwin drive names are
automatically when needed. E.g.
# VasEBoot-install /dev/sda

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: Installation, Next: Booting, Prev: OS-specific notes about VasEBoot tools, Up: Top
4 Installation
**************
In order to install VAS_EBOOT as your boot loader, you need to first install
the VAS_EBOOT system and utilities under your UNIX-like operating system
(*note Obtaining and Building VAS_EBOOT::). You can do this either from the
source tarball, or as a package for your OS.
After you have done that, you need to install the boot loader on a
drive (floppy or hard disk) by using the utility 'VasEBoot-install' (*note
Invoking VasEBoot-install::) on a UNIX-like OS.
VAS_EBOOT comes with boot images, which are normally put in the directory
'/usr/lib/VasEBoot/<cpu>-<platform>' (for BIOS-based machines
'/usr/lib/VasEBoot/i386-pc'). Hereafter, the directory where VAS_EBOOT images
are initially placed (normally '/usr/lib/VasEBoot/<cpu>-<platform>') will be
called the "image directory", and the directory where the boot loader
needs to find them (usually '/boot') will be called the "boot
directory".
* Menu:
* Installing VAS_EBOOT using VasEBoot-install::
* Making a VAS_EBOOT bootable CD-ROM::
* Device map::
* BIOS installation::

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: Installing VAS_EBOOT using VasEBoot-install, Next: Making a VAS_EBOOT bootable CD-ROM, Up: Installation
4.1 Installing VAS_EBOOT using VasEBoot-install
======================================
For information on where VAS_EBOOT should be installed on PC BIOS platforms,
*note BIOS installation::.
In order to install VAS_EBOOT under a UNIX-like OS (such as GNU), invoke
the program 'VasEBoot-install' (*note Invoking VasEBoot-install::) as the
superuser ("root").
The usage is basically very simple. You only need to specify one
argument to the program, namely, where to install the boot loader. The
argument has to be either a device file (like '/dev/hda'). For example,
under Linux the following will install VAS_EBOOT into the MBR of the first
IDE disk:
# VasEBoot-install /dev/sda
Likewise, under GNU/Hurd, this has the same effect:
# VasEBoot-install /dev/hd0
But all the above examples assume that VAS_EBOOT should put images under
the '/boot' directory. If you want VAS_EBOOT to put images under a directory
other than '/boot', you need to specify the option '--boot-directory'.
The typical usage is that you create a VAS_EBOOT boot floppy with a
filesystem. Here is an example:
# mke2fs /dev/fd0
# mount -t ext2 /dev/fd0 /mnt
# mkdir /mnt/boot
# VasEBoot-install --boot-directory=/mnt/boot /dev/fd0
# umount /mnt
Some BIOSes have a bug of exposing the first partition of a USB drive
as a floppy instead of exposing the USB drive as a hard disk (they call
it "USB-FDD" boot). In such cases, you need to install like this:
# losetup /dev/loop0 /dev/sdb1
# mount /dev/loop0 /mnt/usb
# VasEBoot-install --boot-directory=/mnt/usb/bugbios --force --allow-floppy /dev/loop0
This install doesn't conflict with standard install as long as they
are in separate directories.
On EFI systems for fixed disk install you have to mount EFI System
Partition. If you mount it at '/boot/efi' then you don't need any
special arguments:
# VasEBoot-install
Otherwise you need to specify where your EFI System partition is
mounted:
# VasEBoot-install --efi-directory=/mnt/efi
For removable installs you have to use '--removable' and specify both
'--boot-directory' and '--efi-directory':
# VasEBoot-install --efi-directory=/mnt/usb --boot-directory=/mnt/usb/boot --removable

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: Making a VAS_EBOOT bootable CD-ROM, Next: Device map, Prev: Installing VAS_EBOOT using VasEBoot-install, Up: Installation
4.2 Making a VAS_EBOOT bootable CD-ROM
=================================
VAS_EBOOT supports the "no emulation mode" in the El Torito specification(1)
(*note Making a VAS_EBOOT bootable CD-ROM-Footnote-1::). This means that you
can use the whole CD-ROM from VAS_EBOOT and you don't have to make a floppy
or hard disk image file, which can cause compatibility problems.
For booting from a CD-ROM, VAS_EBOOT uses a special image called
'cdboot.img', which is concatenated with 'core.img'. The 'core.img'
used for this should be built with at least the 'iso9660' and 'biosdisk'
modules. Your bootable CD-ROM will usually also need to include a
configuration file 'VasEBoot.cfg' and some other VAS_EBOOT modules.
To make a simple generic VAS_EBOOT rescue CD, you can use the
'VasEBoot-mkrescue' program (*note Invoking VasEBoot-mkrescue::):
$ VasEBoot-mkrescue -o VasEBoot.iso
You will often need to include other files in your image. To do
this, first make a top directory for the bootable image, say, 'iso':
$ mkdir iso
Make a directory for VAS_EBOOT:
$ mkdir -p iso/boot/VasEBoot
If desired, make the config file 'VasEBoot.cfg' under 'iso/boot/VasEBoot'
(*note Configuration::), and copy any files and directories for the disc
to the directory 'iso/'.
Finally, make the image:
$ VasEBoot-mkrescue -o VasEBoot.iso iso
This produces a file named 'VasEBoot.iso', which then can be burned into
a CD (or a DVD), or written to a USB mass storage device.
The root device will be set up appropriately on entering your
'VasEBoot.cfg' configuration file, so you can refer to file names on the CD
without needing to use an explicit device name. This makes it easier to
produce rescue images that will work on both optical drives and USB mass
storage devices.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: Making a VAS_EBOOT bootable CD-ROM-Footnotes, Up: Making a VAS_EBOOT bootable CD-ROM
(1) El Torito is a specification for bootable CD using BIOS
functions.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: Device map, Next: BIOS installation, Prev: Making a VAS_EBOOT bootable CD-ROM, Up: Installation
4.3 The map between BIOS drives and OS devices
==============================================
If the device map file exists, the VAS_EBOOT utilities ('VasEBoot-probe', etc.)
read it to map BIOS drives to OS devices. This file consists of lines
like this:
(DEVICE) FILE
DEVICE is a drive specified in the VAS_EBOOT syntax (*note Device
syntax::), and FILE is an OS file, which is normally a device file.
Historically, the device map file was used because VAS_EBOOT device names
had to be used in the configuration file, and they were derived from
BIOS drive numbers. The map between BIOS drives and OS devices cannot
always be guessed correctly: for example, VAS_EBOOT will get the order wrong
if you exchange the boot sequence between IDE and SCSI in your BIOS.
Unfortunately, even OS device names are not always stable. Modern
versions of the Linux kernel may probe drives in a different order from
boot to boot, and the prefix ('/dev/hd*' versus '/dev/sd*') may change
depending on the driver subsystem in use. As a result, the device map
file required frequent editing on some systems.
VAS_EBOOT avoids this problem nowadays by using UUIDs or file system
labels when generating 'VasEBoot.cfg', and we advise that you do the same
for any custom menu entries you write. If the device map file does not
exist, then the VAS_EBOOT utilities will assume a temporary device map on the
fly. This is often good enough, particularly in the common case of
single-disk systems.
However, the device map file is not entirely obsolete yet, and it is
used for overriding when current environment is different from the one
on boot. Most common case is if you use a partition or logical volume
as a disk for virtual machine. You can put any comments in the file if
needed, as the VAS_EBOOT utilities assume that a line is just a comment if
the first character is '#'.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: BIOS installation, Prev: Device map, Up: Installation
4.4 BIOS installation
=====================
MBR
===
The partition table format traditionally used on PC BIOS platforms is
called the Master Boot Record (MBR) format; this is the format that
allows up to four primary partitions and additional logical partitions.
With this partition table format, there are two ways to install VAS_EBOOT: it
can be embedded in the area between the MBR and the first partition
(called by various names, such as the "boot track", "MBR gap", or
"embedding area", and which is usually at least 1000 KiB), or the core
image can be installed in a file system and a list of the blocks that
make it up can be stored in the first sector of that partition.
Modern tools usually leave MBR gap of at least 1023 KiB. This amount
is sufficient to cover most configurations. Hence this value is
recommended by the VAS_EBOOT team.
Historically many tools left only 31 KiB of space. This is not
enough to parse reliably difficult structures like Btrfs, ZFS, RAID or
LVM, or to use difficult disk access methods like ahci. Hence VAS_EBOOT will
warn if attempted to install into small MBR gap except in a small number
of configurations that were grandfathered. The grandfathered config
must:
* use biosdisk as disk access module for '/boot'
* not use any additional partition maps to access '/boot'
* '/boot' must be on one of following filesystems: AFFS, AFS, BFS,
cpio, newc, odc, ext2/3/4, FAT, exFAT, F2FS, HFS, uncompressed
HFS+, ISO9660, JFS, Minix, Minix2, Minix3, NILFS2, NTFS, ReiserFS,
ROMFS, SFS, tar, UDF, UFS1, UFS2, XFS
Note: Only a subset of filesystems are supported in lockdown mode
(such as when secure boot is enabled, *note Lockdown:: for more
information).
MBR gap has few technical problems. There is no way to reserve space
in the embedding area with complete safety, and some proprietary
software is known to use it to make it difficult for users to work
around licensing restrictions. VAS_EBOOT works around it by detecting
sectors by other software and avoiding them and protecting its own
sectors using Reed-Solomon encoding.
VAS_EBOOT team recommends having MBR gap of at least 1000 KiB.
Should it not be possible, VAS_EBOOT has support for a fallback solution
which is heavily recommended against. Installing to a filesystem means
that VAS_EBOOT is vulnerable to its blocks being moved around by filesystem
features such as tail packing, or even by aggressive fsck
implementations, so this approach is quite fragile; and this approach
can only be used if the '/boot' filesystem is on the same disk that the
BIOS boots from, so that VAS_EBOOT does not have to rely on guessing BIOS
drive numbers.
The VAS_EBOOT development team generally recommends embedding VAS_EBOOT before
the first partition, unless you have special requirements. You must
ensure that the first partition starts at least 1000 KiB (2000 sectors)
from the start of the disk; on modern disks, it is often a performance
advantage to align partitions on larger boundaries anyway, so the first
partition might start 1 MiB from the start of the disk.
GPT
===
Some newer systems use the GUID Partition Table (GPT) format. This was
specified as part of the Extensible Firmware Interface (EFI), but it can
also be used on BIOS platforms if system software supports it; for
example, VAS_EBOOT and GNU/Linux can be used in this configuration. With
this format, it is possible to reserve a whole partition for VAS_EBOOT,
called the BIOS Boot Partition. VAS_EBOOT can then be embedded into that
partition without the risk of being overwritten by other software and
without being contained in a filesystem which might move its blocks
around.
When creating a BIOS Boot Partition on a GPT system, you should make
sure that it is at least 31 KiB in size. (GPT-formatted disks are not
usually particularly small, so we recommend that you make it larger than
the bare minimum, such as 1 MiB, to allow plenty of room for growth.)
You must also make sure that it has the proper partition type. Using
GNU Parted, you can set this using a command such as the following:
# parted /dev/DISK set PARTITION-NUMBER bios_VasEBoot on
If you are using gdisk, set the partition type to '0xEF02'. With
partitioning programs that require setting the GUID directly, it should
be '21686148-6449-6e6f-744e656564454649'.
*Caution:* Be very careful which partition you select! When VAS_EBOOT
finds a BIOS Boot Partition during installation, it will automatically
overwrite part of it. Make sure that the partition does not contain any
other data.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: Booting, Next: Configuration, Prev: Installation, Up: Top
5 Booting
*********
VAS_EBOOT can load Multiboot-compliant kernels in a consistent way, but for
some free operating systems you need to use some OS-specific magic.
* Menu:
* General boot methods:: How to boot OSes with VAS_EBOOT generally
* Loopback booting:: Notes on booting from loopbacks
* LVM cache booting:: Notes on booting from LVM cache logical volume
* OS-specific notes:: Notes on some operating systems

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: General boot methods, Next: Loopback booting, Up: Booting
5.1 How to boot operating systems
=================================
VAS_EBOOT has three distinct boot methods: loading an operating system
directly, using kexec from userspace, and chainloading another
bootloader. Generally speaking, the first two are more desirable
because you don't need to install or maintain other boot loaders and
VAS_EBOOT is flexible enough to load an operating system from an arbitrary
disk/partition. However, chainloading is sometimes required, as VAS_EBOOT
doesn't support all existing operating systems natively.
* Menu:
* Loading an operating system directly::
* Kexec::
* Chain-loading::

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: Loading an operating system directly, Next: Kexec, Up: General boot methods
5.1.1 How to boot an OS directly with VAS_EBOOT
------------------------------------------
Multiboot (*note Multiboot Specification: (multiboot)Top.) is the native
format supported by VAS_EBOOT. For the sake of convenience, there is also
support for Linux, FreeBSD, NetBSD and OpenBSD. If you want to boot
other operating systems, you will have to chain-load them (*note
Chain-loading::).
FIXME: this section is incomplete.
1. Run the command 'boot' (*note boot::).
However, DOS and Windows have some deficiencies, so you might have to
use more complicated instructions. *Note DOS/Windows::, for more
information.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: Kexec, Next: Chain-loading, Prev: Loading an operating system directly, Up: General boot methods
5.1.2 Kexec with VasEBoot2-emu
--------------------------
VAS_EBOOT can be run in userspace by invoking the VasEBoot2-emu tool. It will
read all configuration scripts as if booting directly (see *note Loading
an operating system directly::). With the '--kexec' flag, and kexec(8)
support from the operating system, the 'linux' command will directly
boot the target image. For systems that lack working systemctl(1)
support for kexec, passing the '--kexec' flag twice will fallback to
invoking kexec(8) directly; note however that this fallback may be
unsafe outside read-only environments, as it does not invoke shutdown
machinery.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: Chain-loading, Prev: Kexec, Up: General boot methods
5.1.3 Chain-loading an OS
-------------------------
Operating systems that do not support Multiboot and do not have specific
support in VAS_EBOOT (specific support is available for Linux, FreeBSD,
NetBSD and OpenBSD) must be chain-loaded, which involves loading another
boot loader and jumping to it in real mode or via the firmware.
The 'chainloader' command (*note chainloader::) is used to set this
up. It is normally also necessary to load some VAS_EBOOT modules and set the
appropriate root device. Putting this together, we get something like
this, for a Windows system on the first partition of the first hard
disk:
menuentry "Windows" {
insmod chain
insmod ntfs
set root=(hd0,1)
chainloader +1
}
On systems with multiple hard disks, an additional workaround may be
required. *Note DOS/Windows::.
Chain-loading is only supported on PC BIOS and EFI platforms.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: Loopback booting, Next: LVM cache booting, Prev: General boot methods, Up: Booting
5.2 Loopback booting
====================
VAS_EBOOT is able to read from an image (be it one of CD or HDD) stored on
any of its accessible storages (refer to *note loopback:: command).
However the OS itself should be able to find its root. This usually
involves running a userspace program running before the real root is
discovered. This is achieved by VAS_EBOOT loading a specially made small
image and passing it as ramdisk to the kernel. This is achieved by
commands 'kfreebsd_module', 'knetbsd_module_elf', 'kopenbsd_ramdisk',
'initrd' (*note initrd::), 'initrd16' (*note initrd16::),
'multiboot_module', 'multiboot2_module' or 'xnu_ramdisk' depending on
the loader. Note that for knetbsd the image must be put inside
miniroot.kmod and the whole miniroot.kmod has to be loaded. In kopenbsd
payload this is disabled by default. Additionally, behaviour of initial
ramdisk depends on command line options. Several distributors provide
the image for this purpose or it's integrated in their standard ramdisk
and activated by special option. Consult your kernel and distribution
manual for more details. Other loaders like 'appleloader',
'chainloader' (BIOS, EFI, coreboot), 'freedos', 'ntldr', 'plan9' and
'truecrypt' provide no possibility of loading initial ramdisk and as far
as author is aware the payloads in question don't support either initial
ramdisk or discovering loopback boot in other way and as such not
bootable this way. Please consider alternative boot methods like
copying all files from the image to actual partition. Consult your OS
documentation for more details.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: LVM cache booting, Next: OS-specific notes, Prev: Loopback booting, Up: Booting
5.3 Booting from LVM cache logical volume
=========================================
The LVM cache logical volume is the logical volume consisting of the
original and the cache pool logical volume. The original is usually on
a larger and slower storage device while the cache pool is on a smaller
and faster one. The performance of the original volume can be improved
by storing the frequently used data on the cache pool to utilize the
greater performance of faster device.
VAS_EBOOT boots from LVM cache logical volume merely by reading it's
original logical volume so that dirty data in cache pool volume is
disregarded. This is not a problem for "writethrough" cache mode as it
ensures that any data written will be stored both on the cache and the
origin LV. For the other cache mode "writeback", which delays writing
from the cache pool back to the origin LV to boost performance, VAS_EBOOT may
fail to boot in the wake of accidental power outage due to it's
inability to assemble the cache device for reading the required dirty
data left behind. The situation will be improved after adding full
support to the LVM cache logical volume in the future.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: OS-specific notes, Prev: LVM cache booting, Up: Booting
5.4 Some caveats on OS-specific issues
======================================
Here, we describe some caveats on several operating systems.
* Menu:
* GNU/Hurd::
* GNU/Linux::
* NetBSD::
* DOS/Windows::

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: GNU/Hurd, Next: GNU/Linux, Up: OS-specific notes
5.4.1 GNU/Hurd
--------------
Since GNU/Hurd is Multiboot-compliant, it is easy to boot it; there is
nothing special about it. But do not forget that you have to specify a
root partition to the kernel.
1. Set VAS_EBOOT's root device to the same drive as GNU/Hurd's. The
command 'search --set=root --file /boot/gnumach.gz' or similar may
help you (*note search::).
2. Load the kernel and the modules, like this:
VasEBoot> multiboot /boot/gnumach.gz root=device:hd0s1
VasEBoot> module /hurd/ext2fs.static ext2fs --readonly \
--multiboot-command-line='${kernel-command-line}' \
--host-priv-port='${host-port}' \
--device-master-port='${device-port}' \
--exec-server-task='${exec-task}' -T typed '${root}' \
'$(task-create)' '$(task-resume)'
VasEBoot> module /lib/ld.so.1 exec /hurd/exec '$(exec-task=task-create)'
3. Finally, run the command 'boot' (*note boot::).

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: GNU/Linux, Next: NetBSD, Prev: GNU/Hurd, Up: OS-specific notes
5.4.2 GNU/Linux
---------------
It is relatively easy to boot GNU/Linux from VAS_EBOOT, because it somewhat
resembles to boot a Multiboot-compliant OS.
1. Set VAS_EBOOT's root device to the same drive as GNU/Linux's. The
command 'search --set=root --file /vmlinuz' or similar may help you
(*note search::).
2. Load the kernel using the command 'linux' (*note linux::):
VasEBoot> linux /vmlinuz root=/dev/sda1
If you need to specify some kernel parameters, just append them to
the command. For example, to set 'acpi' to 'off', do this:
VasEBoot> linux /vmlinuz root=/dev/sda1 acpi=off
See the documentation in the Linux source tree for complete
information on the available options.
With 'linux' VAS_EBOOT uses 32-bit protocol. Some BIOS services like
APM or EDD aren't available with this protocol. In this case you
need to use 'linux16'
VasEBoot> linux16 /vmlinuz root=/dev/sda1 acpi=off
3. If you use an initrd, execute the command 'initrd' (*note initrd::)
after 'linux':
VasEBoot> initrd /initrd
If you used 'linux16' you need to use 'initrd16':
VasEBoot> initrd16 /initrd
4. Finally, run the command 'boot' (*note boot::).

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: NetBSD, Next: DOS/Windows, Prev: GNU/Linux, Up: OS-specific notes
5.4.3 NetBSD
------------
Booting a NetBSD kernel from VAS_EBOOT is also relatively easy: first set
VAS_EBOOT's root device, then load the kernel and the modules, and finally
run 'boot'.
1. Set VAS_EBOOT's root device to the partition holding the NetBSD root
file system. For a disk with a NetBSD disk label, this is usually
the first partition (a:). In that case, and assuming that the
partition is on the first hard disk, set VAS_EBOOT's root device as
follows:
VasEBoot> insmod part_bsd
VasEBoot> set root=(hd0,netbsd1)
For a disk with a GUID Partition Table (GPT), and assuming that the
NetBSD root partition is the third GPT partition, do this:
VasEBoot> insmod part_gpt
VasEBoot> set root=(hd0,gpt3)
2. Load the kernel using the command 'knetbsd':
VasEBoot> knetbsd /netbsd
Various options may be given to 'knetbsd'. These options are, for
the most part, the same as in the NetBSD boot loader. For
instance, to boot the system in single-user mode and with verbose
messages, do this:
VasEBoot> knetbsd /netbsd -s -v
3. If needed, load kernel modules with the command
'knetbsd_module_elf'. A typical example is the module for the root
file system:
VasEBoot> knetbsd_module_elf /stand/amd64/6.0/modules/ffs/ffs.kmod
4. Finally, run the command 'boot' (*note boot::).

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: DOS/Windows, Prev: NetBSD, Up: OS-specific notes
5.4.4 DOS/Windows
-----------------
VAS_EBOOT cannot boot DOS or Windows directly, so you must chain-load them
(*note Chain-loading::). However, their boot loaders have some critical
deficiencies, so it may not work to just chain-load them. To overcome
the problems, VAS_EBOOT provides you with two helper functions.
If you have installed DOS (or Windows) on a non-first hard disk, you
have to use the disk swapping technique, because that OS cannot boot
from any disks but the first one. The workaround used in VAS_EBOOT is the
command 'drivemap' (*note drivemap::), like this:
drivemap -s (hd0) (hd1)
This performs a "virtual" swap between your first and second hard
drive.
*Caution:* This is effective only if DOS (or Windows) uses BIOS to
access the swapped disks. If that OS uses a special driver for the
disks, this probably won't work.
Another problem arises if you installed more than one set of
DOS/Windows onto one disk, because they could be confused if there are
more than one primary partitions for DOS/Windows. Certainly you should
avoid doing this, but there is a solution if you do want to do so. Use
the partition hiding/unhiding technique.
If VAS_EBOOT "hides" a DOS (or Windows) partition (*note parttool::), DOS
(or Windows) will ignore the partition. If VAS_EBOOT "unhides" a DOS (or
Windows) partition, DOS (or Windows) will detect the partition. Thus,
if you have installed DOS (or Windows) on the first and the second
partition of the first hard disk, and you want to boot the copy on the
first partition, do the following:
parttool (hd0,1) hidden-
parttool (hd0,2) hidden+
set root=(hd0,1)
chainloader +1
parttool ${root} boot+
boot

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: Configuration, Next: Theme file format, Prev: Booting, Up: Top
6 Writing your own configuration file
*************************************
VAS_EBOOT is configured using 'VasEBoot.cfg', usually located under '/boot/VasEBoot'.
This file is quite flexible, but most users will not need to write the
whole thing by hand.
* Menu:
* Simple configuration:: Recommended for most users
* Root Identification Heuristics:: Summary on how the root file system is identified.
* Shell-like scripting:: For power users and developers
* Multi-boot manual config:: For non-standard multi-OS scenarios
* Embedded configuration:: Embedding a configuration file into VAS_EBOOT

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: Simple configuration, Next: Root Identification Heuristics, Up: Configuration
6.1 Simple configuration handling
=================================
The program 'VasEBoot-mkconfig' (*note Invoking VasEBoot-mkconfig::) generates
'VasEBoot.cfg' files suitable for most cases. It is suitable for use when
upgrading a distribution, and will discover available kernels and
attempt to generate menu entries for them.
'VasEBoot-mkconfig' does have some limitations. While adding extra
custom menu entries to the end of the list can be done by editing
'/etc/VasEBoot.d/40_custom' or creating '/boot/VasEBoot/custom.cfg', changing
the order of menu entries or changing their titles may require making
complex changes to shell scripts stored in '/etc/VasEBoot.d/'. This may be
improved in the future. In the meantime, those who feel that it would
be easier to write 'VasEBoot.cfg' directly are encouraged to do so (*note
Booting::, and *note Shell-like scripting::), and to disable any system
provided by their distribution to automatically run 'VasEBoot-mkconfig'.
The file '/etc/default/VasEBoot' controls the operation of
'VasEBoot-mkconfig'. It is sourced by a shell script, and so must be valid
POSIX shell input; normally, it will just be a sequence of 'KEY=value'
lines, but if the value contains spaces or other special characters then
it must be quoted. For example:
VAS_EBOOT_TERMINAL_INPUT="console serial"
Valid keys in '/etc/default/VasEBoot' are as follows:
'VAS_EBOOT_DEFAULT'
The default menu entry. This may be a number, in which case it
identifies the Nth entry in the generated menu counted from zero,
or the title of a menu entry, or the special string 'saved'. Using
the id may be useful if you want to set a menu entry as the default
even though there may be a variable number of entries before it.
For example, if you have:
menuentry 'Example GNU/Linux distribution' --class gnu-linux --id example-gnu-linux {
...
}
then you can make this the default using:
VAS_EBOOT_DEFAULT=example-gnu-linux
Previously it was documented the way to use entry title. While
this still works it's not recommended since titles often contain
unstable device names and may be translated
If you set this to 'saved', then the default menu entry will be
that saved by 'VAS_EBOOT_SAVEDEFAULT' or 'VasEBoot-set-default'. This
relies on the environment block, which may not be available in all
situations (*note Environment block::).
The default is '0'.
'VAS_EBOOT_SAVEDEFAULT'
If this option is set to 'true', then, when an entry is selected,
save it as a new default entry for use by future runs of VAS_EBOOT. This
is only useful if 'VAS_EBOOT_DEFAULT=saved'; it is a separate option
because 'VAS_EBOOT_DEFAULT=saved' is useful without this option, in
conjunction with 'VasEBoot-set-default'. Unset by default. This
option relies on the environment block, which may not be available
in all situations (*note Environment block::).
'VAS_EBOOT_TIMEOUT'
Boot the default entry this many seconds after the menu is
displayed, unless a key is pressed. The default is '5'. Set to
'0' to boot immediately without displaying the menu, or to '-1' to
wait indefinitely.
If 'VAS_EBOOT_TIMEOUT_STYLE' is set to 'countdown' or 'hidden', the
timeout is instead counted before the menu is displayed.
'VAS_EBOOT_TIMEOUT_STYLE'
If this option is unset or set to 'menu', then VAS_EBOOT will display
the menu and then wait for the timeout set by 'VAS_EBOOT_TIMEOUT' to
expire before booting the default entry. Pressing a key interrupts
the timeout.
If this option is set to 'countdown' or 'hidden', then, before
displaying the menu, VAS_EBOOT will wait for the timeout set by
'VAS_EBOOT_TIMEOUT' to expire. If <ESC> or <F4> are pressed, or <SHIFT>
is held down during that time, it will display the menu and wait
for input. If a hotkey associated with a menu entry is pressed, it
will boot the associated menu entry immediately. If the timeout
expires before either of these happens, it will boot the default
entry. In the 'countdown' case, it will show a one-line indication
of the remaining time.
'VAS_EBOOT_DEFAULT_BUTTON'
'VAS_EBOOT_TIMEOUT_BUTTON'
'VAS_EBOOT_TIMEOUT_STYLE_BUTTON'
'VAS_EBOOT_BUTTON_CMOS_ADDRESS'
Variants of the corresponding variables without the '_BUTTON'
suffix, used to support vendor-specific power buttons. *Note
Vendor power-on keys::.
'VAS_EBOOT_DISTRIBUTOR'
Set by distributors of VAS_EBOOT to their identifying name. This is
used to generate more informative menu entry titles.
'VAS_EBOOT_TERMINAL_INPUT'
Select the terminal input device. You may select multiple devices
here, separated by spaces.
Valid terminal input names depend on the platform, but may include
'console' (native platform console), 'serial' (serial terminal),
'serial_<port>' (serial terminal with explicit port selection),
'at_keyboard' (PC AT keyboard), or 'usb_keyboard' (USB keyboard
using the HID Boot Protocol, for cases where the firmware does not
handle this).
The default is to use the platform's native terminal input.
'VAS_EBOOT_TERMINAL_OUTPUT'
Select the terminal output device. You may select multiple devices
here, separated by spaces.
Valid terminal output names depend on the platform, but may include
'console' (native platform console), 'serial' (serial terminal),
'serial_<port>' (serial terminal with explicit port selection),
'gfxterm' (graphics-mode output), 'vga_text' (VGA text output),
'mda_text' (MDA text output), 'morse' (Morse-coding using system
beeper) or 'spkmodem' (simple data protocol using system speaker).
'spkmodem' is useful when no serial port is available. Connect the
output of sending system (where VAS_EBOOT is running) to line-in of
receiving system (usually developer machine). On receiving system
compile 'spkmodem-recv' from 'util/spkmodem-recv.c' and run:
parecord --channels=1 --rate=48000 --format=s16le | ./spkmodem-recv
The default is to use the platform's native terminal output.
'VAS_EBOOT_TERMINAL'
If this option is set, it overrides both 'VAS_EBOOT_TERMINAL_INPUT' and
'VAS_EBOOT_TERMINAL_OUTPUT' to the same value.
'VAS_EBOOT_SERIAL_COMMAND'
A command to configure the serial port when using the serial
console. *Note serial::. Defaults to 'serial'.
'VAS_EBOOT_CMDLINE_LINUX'
Command-line arguments to add to menu entries for the Linux kernel.
'VAS_EBOOT_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT'
Unless 'VAS_EBOOT_DISABLE_RECOVERY' is set to 'true', two menu entries
will be generated for each Linux kernel: one default entry and one
entry for recovery mode. This option lists command-line arguments
to add only to the default menu entry, after those listed in
'VAS_EBOOT_CMDLINE_LINUX'.
'VAS_EBOOT_CMDLINE_LINUX_RECOVERY'
Unless 'VAS_EBOOT_DISABLE_RECOVERY' is set to 'true', two menu entries
will be generated for each Linux kernel: one default entry and one
entry for recovery mode. This option lists command-line arguments
to add only to the recovery menu entry, before those listed in
'VAS_EBOOT_CMDLINE_LINUX'. The default is 'single'.
'VAS_EBOOT_CMDLINE_NETBSD'
'VAS_EBOOT_CMDLINE_NETBSD_DEFAULT'
As 'VAS_EBOOT_CMDLINE_LINUX' and 'VAS_EBOOT_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT', but for
NetBSD.
'VAS_EBOOT_CMDLINE_GNUMACH'
As 'VAS_EBOOT_CMDLINE_LINUX', but for GNU Mach.
'VAS_EBOOT_CMDLINE_XEN'
'VAS_EBOOT_CMDLINE_XEN_DEFAULT'
The values of these options are passed to Xen hypervisor Xen menu
entries, for all respectively normal entries.
'VAS_EBOOT_CMDLINE_LINUX_XEN_REPLACE'
'VAS_EBOOT_CMDLINE_LINUX_XEN_REPLACE_DEFAULT'
The values of these options replace the values of
'VAS_EBOOT_CMDLINE_LINUX' and 'VAS_EBOOT_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT' for Linux and
Xen menu entries.
'VAS_EBOOT_TOP_LEVEL'
'VAS_EBOOT_TOP_LEVEL_XEN'
This option should be an absolute path to a kernel image. If
provided, the image specified will be made the top-level entry if
it is found in the scan.
'VAS_EBOOT_TOP_LEVEL_OS_PROBER'
This option should be a line of output from 'os-prober'. As
'VAS_EBOOT_TOP_LEVEL', if provided, the image specified will be made the
top-level entry if it is found in the scan.
'VAS_EBOOT_EARLY_INITRD_LINUX_CUSTOM'
'VAS_EBOOT_EARLY_INITRD_LINUX_STOCK'
List of space-separated early initrd images to be loaded from
'/boot'. This is for loading things like CPU microcode, firmware,
ACPI tables, crypto keys, and so on. These early images will be
loaded in the order declared, and all will be loaded before the
actual functional initrd image.
'VAS_EBOOT_EARLY_INITRD_LINUX_STOCK' is for your distribution to declare
images that are provided by the distribution. It should not be
modified without understanding the consequences. They will be
loaded first.
'VAS_EBOOT_EARLY_INITRD_LINUX_CUSTOM' is for your custom created images.
The default stock images are as follows, though they may be
overridden by your distribution:
intel-uc.img intel-ucode.img amd-uc.img amd-ucode.img early_ucode.cpio microcode.cpio
'VAS_EBOOT_DISABLE_LINUX_UUID'
Normally, 'VasEBoot-mkconfig' will generate menu entries that use
universally-unique identifiers (UUIDs) to identify the root
filesystem to the Linux kernel, using a 'root=UUID=...' kernel
parameter. This is usually more reliable, but in some cases it may
not be appropriate. To disable the use of UUIDs, set this option
to 'true'.
'VAS_EBOOT_DISABLE_LINUX_PARTUUID'
If 'VasEBoot-mkconfig' cannot identify the root filesystem via its
universally-unique indentifier (UUID), 'VasEBoot-mkconfig' can use the
UUID of the partition containing the filesystem to identify the
root filesystem to the Linux kernel via a 'root=PARTUUID=...'
kernel parameter. This is not as reliable as using the filesystem
UUID, but is more reliable than using the Linux device names. When
'VAS_EBOOT_DISABLE_LINUX_PARTUUID' is set to 'false', the Linux kernel
version must be 2.6.37 (3.10 for systems using the MSDOS partition
scheme) or newer. This option defaults to 'true'. To enable the
use of partition UUIDs, set this option to 'false'.
'VAS_EBOOT_DISABLE_RECOVERY'
If this option is set to 'true', disable the generation of recovery
mode menu entries.
'VAS_EBOOT_DISABLE_UUID'
Normally, 'VasEBoot-mkconfig' will generate menu entries that use
universally-unique identifiers (UUIDs) to identify various
filesystems to search for files. This is usually more reliable,
but in some cases it may not be appropriate. To disable this use
of UUIDs, set this option to 'true'. Setting this option to
'true', will also set the options 'VAS_EBOOT_DISABLE_LINUX_UUID' and
'VAS_EBOOT_DISABLE_LINUX_PARTUUID' to 'true', unless they have been
explicitly set to 'false'.
'VAS_EBOOT_VIDEO_BACKEND'
If graphical video support is required, either because the
'gfxterm' graphical terminal is in use or because
'VAS_EBOOT_GFXPAYLOAD_LINUX' is set, then 'VasEBoot-mkconfig' will normally
load all available VAS_EBOOT video drivers and use the one most
appropriate for your hardware. If you need to override this for
some reason, then you can set this option.
After 'VasEBoot-install' has been run, the available video drivers are
listed in '/boot/VasEBoot/video.lst'.
'VAS_EBOOT_GFXMODE'
Set the resolution used on the 'gfxterm' graphical terminal. Note
that you can only use modes which your graphics card supports via
VESA BIOS Extensions (VBE), so for example native LCD panel
resolutions may not be available. The default is 'auto', which
tries to select a preferred resolution. *Note gfxmode::.
'VAS_EBOOT_BACKGROUND'
Set a background image for use with the 'gfxterm' graphical
terminal. The value of this option must be a file readable by VAS_EBOOT
at boot time, and it must end with '.png', '.tga', '.jpg', or
'.jpeg'. The image will be scaled if necessary to fit the screen.
Image height and width will be restricted by an artificial limit of
16384.
'VAS_EBOOT_THEME'
Set a theme for use with the 'gfxterm' graphical terminal.
'VAS_EBOOT_GFXPAYLOAD_LINUX'
Set to 'text' to force the Linux kernel to boot in normal text
mode, 'keep' to preserve the graphics mode set using
'VAS_EBOOT_GFXMODE', 'WIDTHxHEIGHT'['xDEPTH'] to set a particular
graphics mode, or a sequence of these separated by commas or
semicolons to try several modes in sequence. *Note gfxpayload::.
Depending on your kernel, your distribution, your graphics card,
and the phase of the moon, note that using this option may cause
GNU/Linux to suffer from various display problems, particularly
during the early part of the boot sequence. If you have problems,
set this option to 'text' and VAS_EBOOT will tell Linux to boot in
normal text mode.
'VAS_EBOOT_DISABLE_OS_PROBER'
The 'VasEBoot-mkconfig' has a feature to use the external 'os-prober'
program to discover other operating systems installed on the same
machine and generate appropriate menu entries for them. It is
disabled by default since automatic and silent execution of
'os-prober', and creating boot entries based on that data, is a
potential attack vector. Set this option to 'false' to enable this
feature in the 'VasEBoot-mkconfig' command.
'VAS_EBOOT_OS_PROBER_SKIP_LIST'
List of space-separated case insensitive UUIDs of filesystems to be
ignored from os-prober output. For EFI chainloaders it's
<UUID>@<EFI FILE>. For backward compatibility with previous
behaviour, <UUID>@/dev/* is also accepted for non-EFI chainloaders
even if the device does not match, and comma and semicolon are also
accepted as separator.
'VAS_EBOOT_DISABLE_SUBMENU'
Normally, 'VasEBoot-mkconfig' will generate top level menu entry for
the kernel with highest version number and put all other found
kernels or alternative menu entries for recovery mode in submenu.
For entries returned by 'os-prober' first entry will be put on top
level and all others in submenu. If this option is set to 'true',
flat menu with all entries on top level will be generated instead.
Changing this option will require changing existing values of
'VAS_EBOOT_DEFAULT', 'fallback' (*note fallback::) and 'default' (*note
default::) environment variables as well as saved default entry
using 'VasEBoot-set-default' and value used with 'VasEBoot-reboot'.
'VAS_EBOOT_ENABLE_CRYPTODISK'
If set to 'y', 'VasEBoot-mkconfig' and 'VasEBoot-install' will check for
encrypted disks and generate additional commands needed to access
them during boot. Note that in this case unattended boot is not
possible because VAS_EBOOT will wait for passphrase to unlock encrypted
container.
'VAS_EBOOT_INIT_TUNE'
Play a tune on the speaker when VAS_EBOOT starts. This is particularly
useful for users unable to see the screen. The value of this
option is passed directly to *note play::.
'VAS_EBOOT_BADRAM'
If this option is set, VAS_EBOOT will issue a *note badram:: command to
filter out specified regions of RAM.
'VAS_EBOOT_PRELOAD_MODULES'
This option may be set to a list of VAS_EBOOT module names separated by
spaces. Each module will be loaded as early as possible, at the
start of 'VasEBoot.cfg'.
The following options are still accepted for compatibility with
existing configurations, but have better replacements:
'VAS_EBOOT_HIDDEN_TIMEOUT'
Wait this many seconds before displaying the menu. If <ESC> or
<F4> are pressed, or <SHIFT> is held down during that time, display
the menu and wait for input according to 'VAS_EBOOT_TIMEOUT'. If a
hotkey associated with a menu entry is pressed, boot the associated
menu entry immediately. If the timeout expires before either of
these happens, display the menu for the number of seconds specified
in 'VAS_EBOOT_TIMEOUT' before booting the default entry.
If you set 'VAS_EBOOT_HIDDEN_TIMEOUT', you should also set
'VAS_EBOOT_TIMEOUT=0' so that the menu is not displayed at all unless
<ESC> or <F4> are pressed, or <SHIFT> is held down.
This option is unset by default, and is deprecated in favour of the
less confusing 'VAS_EBOOT_TIMEOUT_STYLE=countdown' or
'VAS_EBOOT_TIMEOUT_STYLE=hidden'.
'VAS_EBOOT_HIDDEN_TIMEOUT_QUIET'
In conjunction with 'VAS_EBOOT_HIDDEN_TIMEOUT', set this to 'true' to
suppress the verbose countdown while waiting for a key to be
pressed before displaying the menu.
This option is unset by default, and is deprecated in favour of the
less confusing 'VAS_EBOOT_TIMEOUT_STYLE=countdown'.
'VAS_EBOOT_HIDDEN_TIMEOUT_BUTTON'
Variant of 'VAS_EBOOT_HIDDEN_TIMEOUT', used to support vendor-specific
power buttons. *Note Vendor power-on keys::.
This option is unset by default, and is deprecated in favour of the
less confusing 'VAS_EBOOT_TIMEOUT_STYLE=countdown' or
'VAS_EBOOT_TIMEOUT_STYLE=hidden'.
'VAS_EBOOT_FORCE_EFI_ALL_VIDEO'
When set to true, this will allow VasEBoot-mkconfig to generate a VAS_EBOOT
config that supports loading the all_video module on the EFI
platform instead of just the efi_gop and efi_uga modules.
This option is unset by default.
For more detailed customisation of 'VasEBoot-mkconfig''s output, you may
edit the scripts in '/etc/VasEBoot.d' directly. '/etc/VasEBoot.d/40_custom' is
particularly useful for adding entire custom menu entries; simply type
the menu entries you want to add at the end of that file, making sure to
leave at least the first two lines intact.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: Root Identification Heuristics, Next: Shell-like scripting, Prev: Simple configuration, Up: Configuration
6.2 Root Identification Heuristics
==================================
If the target operating system uses the Linux kernel, 'VasEBoot-mkconfig'
attempts to identify the root file system via a heuristic algoirthm.
This algorithm selects the identification method of the root file system
by considering three factors. The first is if an initrd for the target
operating system is also present. The second is
'VAS_EBOOT_DISABLE_LINUX_UUID' and if set to 'true', prevents 'VasEBoot-mkconfig'
from identifying the root file system by its UUID. The third is
'VAS_EBOOT_DISABLE_LINUX_PARTUUID' and if set to 'true', prevents
'VasEBoot-mkconfig' from identifying the root file system via the UUID of
its enclosing partition. If the variables are assigned any other value,
that value is considered equivalent to 'false'. The variables are also
considered to be set to 'false' if they are not set.
When booting, the Linux kernel will delegate the task of mounting the
root filesystem to the initrd. Most initrd images determine the root
file system by checking the Linux kernel's command-line for the 'root'
key and use its value as the identification method of the root file
system. To improve the reliability of booting, most initrd images also
allow the root file system to be identified by its UUID. Because of this
behavior, the 'VasEBoot-mkconfig' command will set 'root' to 'root=UUID=...'
to provide the initrd with the filesystem UUID of the root file system.
If no initrd is detected or 'VAS_EBOOT_DISABLE_LINUX_UUID' is set to
'true' then 'VasEBoot-command' will identify the root filesystem by setting
the kernel command-line variable 'root' to 'root=PARTUUID=...' unless
'VAS_EBOOT_DISABLE_LINUX_PARTUUID' is also set to 'true'. If
'VAS_EBOOT_DISABLE_LINUX_PARTUUID' is also set to 'true', 'VasEBoot-command' will
identify by its Linux device name.
The following table summarizes the behavior of the 'VasEBoot-mkconfig'
command.
Initrd VAS_EBOOT_DISABLE_LINUX_PARTUUID VAS_EBOOT_DISABLE_LINUX_UUID Linux Root
detected Set To Set To ID Method
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
false false false part UUID
false false true part UUID
false true false dev name
false true true dev name
true false false fs UUID
true false true part UUID
true true false fs UUID
true true true dev name
Remember, 'VAS_EBOOT_DISABLE_LINUX_PARTUUID' and 'VAS_EBOOT_DISABLE_LINUX_UUID'
are also considered to be set to 'true' and 'false', respectively, when
they are unset.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: Shell-like scripting, Next: Multi-boot manual config, Prev: Root Identification Heuristics, Up: Configuration
6.3 Writing full configuration files directly
=============================================
'VasEBoot.cfg' is written in VAS_EBOOT's built-in scripting language, which has a
syntax quite similar to that of GNU Bash and other Bourne shell
derivatives.
Words
=====
A "word" is a sequence of characters considered as a single unit by
VAS_EBOOT. Words are separated by "metacharacters", which are the following
plus space, tab, and newline:
{ } | & $ ; < >
Quoting may be used to include metacharacters in words; see below.
Reserved words
==============
Reserved words have a special meaning to VAS_EBOOT. The following words are
recognised as reserved when unquoted and either the first word of a
simple command or the third word of a 'for' command:
! [[ ]] { }
case do done elif else esac fi for function
if in menuentry select then time until while
Not all of these reserved words have a useful purpose yet; some are
reserved for future expansion.
Quoting
=======
Quoting is used to remove the special meaning of certain characters or
words. It can be used to treat metacharacters as part of a word, to
prevent reserved words from being recognised as such, and to prevent
variable expansion.
There are three quoting mechanisms: the escape character, single
quotes, and double quotes.
A non-quoted backslash (\) is the "escape character". It preserves
the literal value of the next character that follows, with the exception
of newline.
Enclosing characters in single quotes preserves the literal value of
each character within the quotes. A single quote may not occur between
single quotes, even when preceded by a backslash.
Enclosing characters in double quotes preserves the literal value of
all characters within the quotes, with the exception of '$' and '\'.
The '$' character retains its special meaning within double quotes. The
backslash retains its special meaning only when followed by one of the
following characters: '$', '"', '\', or newline. A backslash-newline
pair is treated as a line continuation (that is, it is removed from the
input stream and effectively ignored(1) (*note Shell-like
scripting-Footnote-1::)). A double quote may be quoted within double
quotes by preceding it with a backslash.
Variable expansion
==================
The '$' character introduces variable expansion. The variable name to
be expanded may be enclosed in braces, which are optional but serve to
protect the variable to be expanded from characters immediately
following it which could be interpreted as part of the name.
Normal variable names begin with an alphabetic character, followed by
zero or more alphanumeric characters. These names refer to entries in
the VAS_EBOOT environment (*note Environment::).
Positional variable names consist of one or more digits. They
represent parameters passed to function calls, with '$1' representing
the first parameter, and so on.
The special variable name '?' expands to the exit status of the most
recently executed command. When positional variable names are active,
other special variable names '@', '*' and '#' are defined and they
expand to all positional parameters with necessary quoting, positional
parameters without any quoting, and positional parameter count
respectively.
Comments
========
A word beginning with '#' causes that word and all remaining characters
on that line to be ignored.
Simple commands
===============
A "simple command" is a sequence of words separated by spaces or tabs
and terminated by a semicolon or a newline. The first word specifies
the command to be executed. The remaining words are passed as arguments
to the invoked command.
The return value of a simple command is its exit status. If the
reserved word '!' precedes the command, then the return value is instead
the logical negation of the command's exit status.
Compound commands
=================
A "compound command" is one of the following:
for NAME in WORD ...; do LIST; done
The list of words following 'in' is expanded, generating a list of
items. The variable NAME is set to each element of this list in
turn, and LIST is executed each time. The return value is the exit
status of the last command that executes. If the expansion of the
items following 'in' results in an empty list, no commands are
executed, and the return status is 0.
if LIST; then LIST; [elif LIST; then LIST;] ... [else LIST;] fi
The 'if' LIST is executed, where LIST is a series of "simple
command"s separated by a ";". If its exit status of the last
command is zero, the 'then' LIST is executed. Otherwise, each
'elif' LIST is executed in turn, and if its last command's exit
status is zero, the corresponding 'then' LIST is executed and the
command completes. Otherwise, the 'else' LIST is executed, if
present. The exit status is the exit status of the last command
executed, or zero if no condition tested true.
while COND; do LIST; done
until COND; do LIST; done
The 'while' command continuously executes the 'do' LIST as long as
the last command in COND returns an exit status of zero, where COND
is a list of "simple command"s separated by a ";". The 'until'
command is identical to the 'while' command, except that the test
is negated; the 'do' LIST is executed as long as the last command
in COND returns a non-zero exit status. The exit status of the
'while' and 'until' commands is the exit status of the last 'do'
LIST command executed, or zero if none was executed.
function NAME { COMMAND; ... }
This defines a function named NAME. The "body" of the function is
the list of commands within braces, each of which must be
terminated with a semicolon or a newline. This list of commands
will be executed whenever NAME is specified as the name of a simple
command. Function definitions do not affect the exit status in
'$?'. When executed, the exit status of a function is the exit
status of the last command executed in the body.
menuentry TITLE ['--class=class' ...] ['--users=users'] ['--unrestricted'] ['--hotkey=key'] ['--id=id'] { COMMAND; ... }
*Note menuentry::.
Built-in Commands
=================
Some built-in commands are also provided by VAS_EBOOT script to help script
writers perform actions that are otherwise not possible. For example,
these include commands to jump out of a loop without fully completing
it, etc.
break ['n']
Exit from within a 'for', 'while', or 'until' loop. If 'n' is
specified, break 'n' levels. 'n' must be greater than or equal to
1. If 'n' is greater than the number of enclosing loops, all
enclosing loops are exited. The return value is 0 unless 'n' is
not greater than or equal to 1.
continue ['n']
Resume the next iteration of the enclosing 'for', 'while' or
'until' loop. If 'n' is specified, resume at the 'n'th enclosing
loop. 'n' must be greater than or equal to 1. If 'n' is greater
than the number of enclosing loops, the last enclosing loop (the
"top-level" loop) is resumed. The return value is 0 unless 'n' is
not greater than or equal to 1.
return ['n']
Causes a function to exit with the return value specified by 'n'.
If 'n' is omitted, the return status is that of the last command
executed in the function body. If used outside a function the
return status is false.
setparams ['arg'] ...
Replace positional parameters starting with '$1' with arguments to
'setparams'.
shift ['n']
The positional parameters from 'n'+1 ... are renamed to '$1'....
Parameters represented by the numbers '$#' down to '$#'-'n'+1 are
unset. 'n' must be a non-negative number less than or equal to
'$#'. If 'n' is 0, no parameters are changed. If 'n' is not
given, it is assumed to be 1. If 'n' is greater than '$#', the
positional parameters are not changed. The return status is
greater than zero if 'n' is greater than '$#' or less than zero;
otherwise 0.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: Shell-like scripting-Footnotes, Up: Shell-like scripting
(1) Currently a backslash-newline pair within a variable name is not
handled properly, so use this feature with some care.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: Multi-boot manual config, Next: Embedded configuration, Prev: Shell-like scripting, Up: Configuration
6.4 Multi-boot manual config
============================
Currently autogenerating config files for multi-boot environments
depends on os-prober and has several shortcomings. Due to that it is
disabled by default. It is advised to use the power of VAS_EBOOT syntax and
do it yourself. A possible configuration is detailed here, feel free to
adjust to your needs.
First create a separate VAS_EBOOT partition, big enough to hold VAS_EBOOT. Some
of the following entries show how to load OS installer images from this
same partition, for that you obviously need to make the partition large
enough to hold those images as well. Mount this partition on/mnt/boot
and disable VAS_EBOOT in all OSes and manually install self-compiled latest
VAS_EBOOT with:
'VasEBoot-install --boot-directory=/mnt/boot /dev/sda'
In all the OSes install VAS_EBOOT tools but disable installing VAS_EBOOT in
bootsector, so you'll have menu.lst and VasEBoot.cfg available for use.
Also disable os-prober use by setting:
'VAS_EBOOT_DISABLE_OS_PROBER=true'
in /etc/default/VasEBoot
Then write a VasEBoot.cfg (/mnt/boot/VasEBoot/VasEBoot.cfg):
menuentry "OS using VasEBoot2" {
insmod xfs
search --set=root --label OS1 --hint hd0,msdos8
configfile /boot/VasEBoot/VasEBoot.cfg
}
menuentry "OS using VasEBoot2-legacy" {
insmod ext2
search --set=root --label OS2 --hint hd0,msdos6
legacy_configfile /boot/VasEBoot/menu.lst
}
menuentry "Windows XP" {
insmod ntfs
search --set=root --label WINDOWS_XP --hint hd0,msdos1
ntldr /ntldr
}
menuentry "Windows 7" {
insmod ntfs
search --set=root --label WINDOWS_7 --hint hd0,msdos2
ntldr /bootmgr
}
menuentry "FreeBSD" {
insmod zfs
search --set=root --label freepool --hint hd0,msdos7
kfreebsd /freebsd@/boot/kernel/kernel
kfreebsd_module_elf /freebsd@/boot/kernel/opensolaris.ko
kfreebsd_module_elf /freebsd@/boot/kernel/zfs.ko
kfreebsd_module /freebsd@/boot/zfs/zpool.cache type=/boot/zfs/zpool.cache
set kFreeBSD.vfs.root.mountfrom=zfs:freepool/freebsd
set kFreeBSD.hw.psm.synaptics_support=1
}
menuentry "experimental VAS_EBOOT" {
search --set=root --label VAS_EBOOT --hint hd0,msdos5
multiboot /experimental/VasEBoot/i386-pc/core.img
}
menuentry "Fedora 16 installer" {
search --set=root --label VAS_EBOOT --hint hd0,msdos5
linux /fedora/vmlinuz lang=en_US keymap=sg resolution=1280x800
initrd /fedora/initrd.img
}
menuentry "Fedora rawhide installer" {
search --set=root --label VAS_EBOOT --hint hd0,msdos5
linux /fedora/vmlinuz repo=ftp://mirror.switch.ch/mirror/fedora/linux/development/rawhide/x86_64 lang=en_US keymap=sg resolution=1280x800
initrd /fedora/initrd.img
}
menuentry "Debian sid installer" {
search --set=root --label VAS_EBOOT --hint hd0,msdos5
linux /debian/dists/sid/main/installer-amd64/current/images/hd-media/vmlinuz
initrd /debian/dists/sid/main/installer-amd64/current/images/hd-media/initrd.gz
}
Notes:
* Argument to search after -label is FS LABEL. You can also use UUIDs
with -fs-uuid UUID instead of -label LABEL. You could also use
direct 'root=hd0,msdosX' but this is not recommended due to device
name instability.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: Embedded configuration, Prev: Multi-boot manual config, Up: Configuration
6.5 Embedding a configuration file into VAS_EBOOT
============================================
VAS_EBOOT supports embedding a configuration file directly into the core
image, so that it is loaded before entering normal mode. This is
useful, for example, when it is not straightforward to find the real
configuration file, or when you need to debug problems with loading that
file. 'VasEBoot-install' uses this feature when it is not using BIOS disk
functions or when installing to a different disk from the one containing
'/boot/VasEBoot', in which case it needs to use the 'search' command (*note
search::) to find '/boot/VasEBoot'.
To embed a configuration file, use the '-c' option to 'VasEBoot-mkimage'.
The file is copied into the core image, so it may reside anywhere on the
file system, and may be removed after running 'VasEBoot-mkimage'.
After the embedded configuration file (if any) is executed, VAS_EBOOT will
load the 'normal' module (*note normal::), which will then read the real
configuration file from '$prefix/VasEBoot.cfg'. By this point, the 'root'
variable will also have been set to the root device name. For example,
'prefix' might be set to '(hd0,1)/boot/VasEBoot', and 'root' might be set to
'hd0,1'. Thus, in most cases, the embedded configuration file only
needs to set the 'prefix' and 'root' variables, and then drop through to
VAS_EBOOT's normal processing. A typical example of this might look like
this:
search.fs_uuid 01234567-89ab-cdef-0123-456789abcdef root
set prefix=($root)/boot/VasEBoot
(The 'search_fs_uuid' module must be included in the core image for
this example to work.)
In more complex cases, it may be useful to read other configuration
files directly from the embedded configuration file. This allows such
things as reading files not called 'VasEBoot.cfg', or reading files from a
directory other than that where VAS_EBOOT's loadable modules are installed.
To do this, include the 'configfile' and 'normal' modules in the core
image, and embed a configuration file that uses the 'configfile' command
to load another file. The following example of this also requires the
'echo', 'search_label', and 'test' modules to be included in the core
image:
search.fs_label VasEBoot root
if [ -e /boot/VasEBoot/example/test1.cfg ]; then
set prefix=($root)/boot/VasEBoot
configfile /boot/VasEBoot/example/test1.cfg
else
if [ -e /boot/VasEBoot/example/test2.cfg ]; then
set prefix=($root)/boot/VasEBoot
configfile /boot/VasEBoot/example/test2.cfg
else
echo "Could not find an example configuration file!"
fi
fi
The embedded configuration file may not contain menu entries
directly, but may only read them from elsewhere using 'configfile'.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: Theme file format, Next: Network, Prev: Configuration, Up: Top
7 Theme file format
*******************
7.1 Introduction
================
The VAS_EBOOT graphical menu supports themes that can customize the layout
and appearance of the VAS_EBOOT boot menu. The theme is configured through a
plain text file that specifies the layout of the various GUI components
(including the boot menu, timeout progress bar, and text messages) as
well as the appearance using colors, fonts, and images. Example is
available in docs/example_theme.txt
7.2 Theme Elements
==================
7.2.1 Colors
------------
Colors can be specified in several ways:
* HTML-style "#RRGGBB" or "#RGB" format, where *R*, *G*, and *B* are
hexadecimal digits (e.g., "#8899FF")
* as comma-separated decimal RGB values (e.g., "128, 128, 255")
* with "SVG 1.0 color names" (e.g., "cornflowerblue") which must be
specified in lowercase.
7.2.2 Fonts
-----------
The fonts VAS_EBOOT uses "PFF2 font format" bitmap fonts. Fonts are
specified with full font names. Currently there is no provision for a
preference list of fonts, or deriving one font from another. Fonts are
loaded with the "loadfont" command in VAS_EBOOT (*note loadfont::). To see
the list of loaded fonts, execute the "lsfonts" command (*note
lsfonts::). If there are too many fonts to fit on screen, do "set
pager=1" before executing "lsfonts".
7.2.3 Progress Bar
------------------
Figure 7.1
Figure 7.2
Progress bars are used to display the remaining time before VAS_EBOOT boots
the default menu entry. To create a progress bar that will display the
remaining time before automatic boot, simply create a "progress_bar"
component with the id "__timeout__". This indicates to VAS_EBOOT that the
progress bar should be updated as time passes, and it should be made
invisible if the countdown to automatic boot is interrupted by the user.
Progress bars may optionally have text displayed on them. This text
is controlled by variable "text" which contains a printf template with
the only argument %d is the number of seconds remaining. Additionally
special values "@TIMEOUT_NOTIFICATION_SHORT@",
"@TIMEOUT_NOTIFICATION_MIDDLE@", "@TIMEOUT_NOTIFICATION_LONG@" are
replaced with standard and translated templates.
7.2.4 Circular Progress Indicator
---------------------------------
The circular progress indicator functions similarly to the progress bar.
When given an id of "__timeout__", VAS_EBOOT updates the circular progress
indicator's value to indicate the time remaining. For the circular
progress indicator, there are two images used to render it: the *center*
image, and the *tick* image. The center image is rendered in the center
of the component, while the tick image is used to render each mark along
the circumference of the indicator.
7.2.5 Labels
------------
Text labels can be placed on the boot screen. The font, color, and
horizontal alignment can be specified for labels. If a label is given
the id "__timeout__", then the "text" property for that label is also
updated with a message informing the user of the number of seconds
remaining until automatic boot. This is useful in case you want the
text displayed somewhere else instead of directly on the progress bar.
7.2.6 Boot Menu
---------------
The boot menu where VAS_EBOOT displays the menu entries from the "VasEBoot.cfg"
file. It is a list of items, where each item has a title and an
optional icon. The icon is selected based on the *classes* specified
for the menu entry. If there is a PNG file named "myclass.png" in the
"VasEBoot/themes/icons" directory, it will be displayed for items which have
the class *myclass*. The boot menu can be customized in several ways,
such as the font and color used for the menu entry title, and by
specifying styled boxes for the menu itself and for the selected item
highlight.
7.2.7 Styled Boxes
------------------
One of the most important features for customizing the layout is the use
of *styled boxes*. A styled box is composed of 9 rectangular (and
potentially empty) regions, which are used to seamlessly draw the styled
box on screen:
Northwest (nw) North (n) Northeast (ne)
West (w) Center (c) East (e)
Southwest (sw) South (s) Southeast (se)
To support any size of box on screen, the center slice and the slices
for the top, bottom, and sides are all scaled to the correct size for
the component on screen, using the following rules:
1. The edge slices (north, south, east, and west) are scaled in the
direction of the edge they are adjacent to. For instance, the west
slice is scaled vertically.
2. The corner slices (northwest, northeast, southeast, and southwest)
are not scaled.
3. The center slice is scaled to fill the remaining space in the
middle.
As an example of how an image might be sliced up, consider the styled
box used for a terminal view.
Figure 7.3
7.2.8 Creating Styled Box Images
--------------------------------
The Inkscape_ scalable vector graphics editor is a very useful tool for
creating styled box images. One process that works well for slicing a
drawing into the necessary image slices is:
1. Create or open the drawing you'd like use.
2. Create a new layer on the top of the layer stack. Make it visible.
Select this layer as the current layer.
3. Draw 9 rectangles on your drawing where you'd like the slices to
be. Clear the fill option, and set the stroke to 1 pixel wide
solid stroke. The corners of the slices must meet precisely; if it
is off by a single pixel, it will probably be evident when the
styled box is rendered in the VAS_EBOOT menu. You should probably go to
File | Document Properties | Grids and enable a grid or create a
guide (click on one of the rulers next to the drawing and drag over
the drawing; release the mouse button to place the guide) to help
place the rectangles precisely.
4. Right click on the center slice rectangle and choose Object
Properties. Change the "Id" to "slice_c" and click Set. Repeat
this for the remaining 8 rectangles, giving them Id values of
"slice_n", "slice_ne", "slice_e", and so on according to the
location.
5. Save the drawing.
6. Select all the slice rectangles. With the slice layer selected,
you can simply press Ctrl+A to select all rectangles. The status
bar should indicate that 9 rectangles are selected.
7. Click the layer hide icon for the slice layer in the layer palette.
The rectangles will remain selected, even though they are hidden.
8. Choose File | Export Bitmap and check the *Batch export 9 selected
objects* box. Make sure that *Hide all except selected* is
unchecked. click *Export*. This will create PNG files in the same
directory as the drawing, named after the slices. These can now be
used for a styled box in a VAS_EBOOT theme.
7.3 Theme File Manual
=====================
The theme file is a plain text file. Lines that begin with "#" are
ignored and considered comments. (Note: This may not be the case if the
previous line ended where a value was expected.)
The theme file contains two types of statements:
1. Global properties.
2. Component construction.
7.3.1 Global Properties
-----------------------
7.3.2 Format
------------
Global properties are specified with the simple format:
* name1: value1
* name2: "value which may contain spaces"
* name3: #88F
In this example, name3 is assigned a color value.
7.3.3 Global Property List
--------------------------
title-text Specifies the text to display at the top
center of the screen as a title.
title-font Defines the font used for the title
message at the top of the screen.
title-color Defines the color of the title message.
message-font Currently unused. Left for backward
compatibility.
message-color Currently unused. Left for backward
compatibility.
message-bg-color Currently unused. Left for backward
compatibility.
desktop-image Specifies the image to use as the
background. It will be scaled to fit the
screen size or proportionally scaled
depending on the scale method.
desktop-image-scale-methodSpecifies the scaling method for the
*desktop-image*. Options are "stretch",
"crop", "padding", "fitwidth",
"fitheight". "stretch" for fitting the
screen size. Otherwise it is
proportional scaling of a part of
*desktop-image* to the part of the
screen. "crop" part of the
*desktop-image* will be proportionally
scaled to fit the screen sizes.
"padding" the entire *desktop-image* will
be contained on the screen. "fitwidth"
for fitting the *desktop-image*'s width
with screen width. "fitheight" for
fitting the *desktop-image*'s height with
the screen height. Default is "stretch".
desktop-image-h-align Specifies the horizontal alignment of the
*desktop-image* if
*desktop-image-scale-method* isn't equeal
to "stretch". Options are "left",
"center", "right". Default is "center".
desktop-image-v-align Specifies the vertical alignment of the
*desktop-image* if
*desktop-image-scale-method* isn't equeal
to "stretch". Options are "top",
"center", "bottom". Default is "center".
desktop-color Specifies the color for the background if
*desktop-image* is not specified.
terminal-box Specifies the file name pattern for the
styled box slices used for the command
line terminal window. For example,
"terminal-box: terminal_*.png" will use
the images "terminal_c.png" as the center
area, "terminal_n.png" as the north (top)
edge, "terminal_nw.png" as the northwest
(upper left) corner, and so on. If the
image for any slice is not found, it will
simply be left empty.
terminal-border Specifies the border width of the
terminal window.
terminal-left Specifies the left coordinate of the
terminal window.
terminal-top Specifies the top coordinate of the
terminal window.
terminal-width Specifies the width of the terminal
window.
terminal-height Specifies the height of the terminal
window.
7.3.4 Component Construction
----------------------------
Greater customizability comes is provided by components. A tree of
components forms the user interface. *Containers* are components that
can contain other components, and there is always a single root
component which is an instance of a *canvas* container.
Components are created in the theme file by prefixing the type of
component with a '+' sign:
' + label { text="VAS_EBOOT" font="aqui 11" color="#8FF" } '
properties of a component are specified as "name = value" (whitespace
surrounding tokens is optional and is ignored) where *value* may be:
* a single word (e.g., "align = center", "color = #FF8080"),
* a quoted string (e.g., "text = "Hello, World!""), or
* a tuple (e.g., "preferred_size = (120, 80)").
7.3.5 Component List
--------------------
The following is a list of the components and the properties they
support.
* label A label displays a line of text.
Properties:
id Set to "__timeout__" to display the time elapsed
to an automatical boot of the default entry.
text The text to display. If "id" is set to
"__timeout__" and no "text" property is set then
the amount of seconds will be shown. If set to
"@KEYMAP_SHORT@", "@KEYMAP_MIDDLE@" or
"@KEYMAP_LONG@" then predefined hotkey
information will be shown.
font The font to use for text display.
color The color of the text.
align The horizontal alignment of the text within the
component. Options are "left", "center" and
"right".
visible Set to "false" to hide the label.
* image A component that displays an image. The image is scaled to
fit the component.
Properties:
file The full path to the image file to load.
* progress_bar Displays a horizontally oriented progress bar. It can
be rendered using simple solid filled rectangles, or using a pair
of pixmap styled boxes.
Properties:
id Set to "__timeout__" to display the time elapsed
to an automatical boot of the default entry.
fg_color The foreground color for plain solid color
rendering.
bg_color The background color for plain solid color
rendering.
border_color The border color for plain solid color
rendering.
text_color The text color.
bar_style The styled box specification for the frame of
the progress bar. Example:
"progress_frame_*.png" If the value is equal to
"highlight_style" then no styled boxes will be
shown.
highlight_styleThe styled box specification for the highlighted
region of the progress bar. This box will be
used to paint just the highlighted region of the
bar, and will be increased in size as the bar
nears completion. Example: "progress_hl_*.png".
If the value is equal to "bar_style" then no
styled boxes will be shown.
highlight_overlayIf this option is set to "true" then the
highlight box side slices (every slice except
the center slice) will overlay the frame box
side slices. And the center slice of the
highlight box can move all the way (from top to
bottom), being drawn on the center slice of the
frame box. That way we can make a progress bar
with round-shaped edges so there won't be a free
space from the highlight to the frame in top and
bottom scrollbar positions. Default is "false".
font The font to use for progress bar.
text The text to display on the progress bar. If the
progress bar's ID is set to "__timeout__" and
the value of this property is set to
"@TIMEOUT_NOTIFICATION_SHORT@",
"@TIMEOUT_NOTIFICATION_MIDDLE@" or
"@TIMEOUT_NOTIFICATION_LONG@", then VAS_EBOOT will
update this property with an informative message
as the timeout approaches.
* circular_progress Displays a circular progress indicator. The
appearance of this component is determined by two images: the
*center* image and the *tick* image. The center image is generally
larger and will be drawn in the center of the component. Around
the circumference of a circle within the component, the tick image
will be drawn a certain number of times, depending on the
properties of the component.
Properties:
id Set to "__timeout__" to display the time
elapsed to an automatical boot of the
default entry.
center_bitmap The file name of the image to draw in the
center of the component.
tick_bitmap The file name of the image to draw for
the tick marks.
num_ticks The number of ticks that make up a full
circle.
ticks_disappear Boolean value indicating whether tick
marks should progressively appear, or
progressively disappear as *value*
approaches *end*. Specify "true" or
"false". Default is "false".
start_angle The position of the first tick mark to
appear or disappear. Measured in
"parrots", 1 "parrot" = 1 / 256 of the
full circle. Use values "xxx deg" or
"xxx \xc2\xb0" to set the angle in
degrees.
* boot_menu Displays the VAS_EBOOT boot menu. It allows selecting items
and executing them.
Properties:
item_font The font to use for the menu item
titles.
selected_item_font The font to use for the selected
menu item, or "inherit" (the
default) to use "item_font" for
the selected menu item as well.
item_color The color to use for the menu item
titles.
selected_item_color The color to use for the selected
menu item, or "inherit" (the
default) to use "item_color" for
the selected menu item as well.
icon_width The width of menu item icons.
Icons are scaled to the specified
size.
icon_height The height of menu item icons.
item_height The height of each menu item in
pixels.
item_padding The amount of space in pixels to
leave on each side of the menu
item contents.
item_icon_space The space between an item's icon
and the title text, in pixels.
item_spacing The amount of space to leave
between menu items, in pixels.
menu_pixmap_style The image file pattern for the
menu frame styled box. Example:
"menu_*.png" (this will use images
such as "menu_c.png",
"menu_w.png", 'menu_nw.png", etc.)
item_pixmap_style The image file pattern for the
item styled box.
selected_item_pixmap_style The image file pattern for the
selected item highlight styled
box.
scrollbar Boolean value indicating whether
the scroll bar should be drawn if
the frame and thumb styled boxes
are configured.
scrollbar_frame The image file pattern for the
entire scroll bar. Example:
"scrollbar_*.png"
scrollbar_thumb The image file pattern for the
scroll bar thumb (the part of the
scroll bar that moves as scrolling
occurs). Example:
"scrollbar_thumb_*.png"
scrollbar_thumb_overlay If this option is set to "true"
then the scrollbar thumb side
slices (every slice except the
center slice) will overlay the
scrollbar frame side slices. And
the center slice of the
scrollbar_thumb can move all the
way (from top to bottom), being
drawn on the center slice of the
scrollbar frame. That way we can
make a scrollbar with round-shaped
edges so there won't be a free
space from the thumb to the frame
in top and bottom scrollbar
positions. Default is "false".
scrollbar_slice The menu frame styled box's slice
in which the scrollbar will be
drawn. Possible values are
"west", "center", "east"
(default). "west" - the scrollbar
will be drawn in the west slice
(right-aligned). "east" - the
scrollbar will be drawn in the
east slice (left-aligned).
"center" - the scrollbar will be
drawn in the center slice. Note:
in case of "center" slice: a) If
the scrollbar should be drawn then
boot menu entry's width is
decreased by the scrollbar's width
and the scrollbar is drawn at the
right side of the center slice.
b) If the scrollbar won't be drawn
then the boot menu entry's width
is the width of the center slice.
c) We don't necessary need the
menu pixmap box to display the
scrollbar.
scrollbar_left_pad The left scrollbar padding in
pixels. Unused if
"scrollbar_slice" is "west".
scrollbar_right_pad The right scrollbar padding in
pixels. Unused if
"scrollbar_slice" is "east".
scrollbar_top_pad The top scrollbar padding in
pixels.
scrollbar_bottom_pad The bottom scrollbar padding in
pixels.
visible Set to "false" to hide the boot
menu.
* canvas Canvas is a container that allows manual placement of
components within it. It does not alter the positions of its child
components. It assigns all child components their preferred sizes.
* hbox The *hbox* container lays out its children from left to right,
giving each one its preferred width. The height of each child is
set to the maximum of the preferred heights of all children.
* vbox The *vbox* container lays out its children from top to bottom,
giving each one its preferred height. The width of each child is
set to the maximum of the preferred widths of all children.
7.3.6 Common properties
-----------------------
The following properties are supported by all components:
'left'
The distance from the left border of container to left border of
the object in either of three formats:
x Value in pixels
p% Percentage
p%+x mixture of both
'top'
The distance from the left border of container to left border of
the object in same format.
'width'
The width of object in same format.
'height'
The height of object in same format.
'id'
The identifier for the component. This can be any arbitrary
string. The ID can be used by scripts to refer to various
components in the GUI component tree. Currently, there is one
special ID value that VAS_EBOOT recognizes:
"__timeout__" Component with this ID will be updated by VAS_EBOOT
and will indicate time elapsed to an automatical
boot of the default entry. Affected components:
"label", "circular_progress", "progress_bar".

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: Network, Next: Serial terminal, Prev: Theme file format, Up: Top
8 Booting VAS_EBOOT from the network
*******************************
The following instructions don't work for *-emu, i386-qemu,
i386-coreboot, i386-multiboot, mips_loongson, mips-arc and
mips_qemu_mips
To generate a netbootable directory, run:
VasEBoot-mknetdir --net-directory=/srv/tftp --subdir=/boot/VasEBoot -d /usr/lib/VasEBoot/<platform>
E.g. for i386-pc:
VasEBoot-mknetdir --net-directory=/srv/tftp --subdir=/boot/VasEBoot -d /usr/lib/VasEBoot/i386-pc
Then follow instructions printed out by VasEBoot-mknetdir on configuring
your DHCP server.
The VasEBoot.cfg file is placed in the same directory as the path output
by VasEBoot-mknetdir hereafter referred to as FWPATH. VAS_EBOOT will search for
its configuration files in order using the following rules where the
appended value corresponds to a value on the client machine.
'(FWPATH)'/VasEBoot.cfg-'(UUID OF MACHINE)'
'(FWPATH)'/VasEBoot.cfg-01-'(MAC ADDRESS OF NIC)'
'(FWPATH)'/VasEBoot.cfg-'(IPv4 OR IPv6 ADDRESS)'
'(FWPATH)'/VasEBoot.cfg
The UUID is the Client Machine Identifier Option Definition as
specified in RFC 4578. The client will only attempt to look up a UUID
config file if it was provided by the DHCP server.
The client will only attempt to look up an IPv6 address config once,
however, it will try the IPv4 multiple times. The concrete example
below shows what would happen under the IPv4 case.
UUID: 7726a678-7fc0-4853-a4f6-c85ac36a120a
MAC: 52:54:00:ec:33:81
IPV4: 10.0.0.130 (0A000082)
'(FWPATH)'/VasEBoot.cfg-7726a678-7fc0-4853-a4f6-c85ac36a120a
'(FWPATH)'/VasEBoot.cfg-01-52-54-00-ec-33-81
'(FWPATH)'/VasEBoot.cfg-0A000082
'(FWPATH)'/VasEBoot.cfg-0A00008
'(FWPATH)'/VasEBoot.cfg-0A0000
'(FWPATH)'/VasEBoot.cfg-0A000
'(FWPATH)'/VasEBoot.cfg-0A00
'(FWPATH)'/VasEBoot.cfg-0A0
'(FWPATH)'/VasEBoot.cfg-0A
'(FWPATH)'/VasEBoot.cfg-0
'(FWPATH)'/VasEBoot.cfg
This feature is enabled by default but it can be disabled by setting
the 'feature_net_search_cfg' to 'n'. Since this happens before the
configuration file is read by VAS_EBOOT, this option has to be disabled in an
embedded configuration file (*note Embedded configuration::).
After VAS_EBOOT has started, files on the TFTP server will be accessible
via the '(tftp)' device.
The server IP address can be controlled by changing the '(tftp)'
device name to '(tftp,SERVER-IP)'. Note that this should be changed
both in the prefix and in any references to the device name in the
configuration file.
VAS_EBOOT provides several environment variables which may be used to
inspect or change the behaviour of the PXE device. In the following
description <INTERFACE> is placeholder for the name of network interface
(platform dependent):
'net_<INTERFACE>_ip'
The network interface's IP address. Read-only.
'net_<INTERFACE>_mac'
The network interface's MAC address. Read-only.
'net_<INTERFACE>_clientid'
The client id provided by DHCP. Read-only.
'net_<INTERFACE>_clientuuid'
The client uuid provided by DHCP. Read-only.
'net_<INTERFACE>_hostname'
The client host name provided by DHCP. Read-only.
'net_<INTERFACE>_domain'
The client domain name provided by DHCP. Read-only.
'net_<INTERFACE>_rootpath'
The path to the client's root disk provided by DHCP. Read-only.
'net_<INTERFACE>_extensionspath'
The path to additional DHCP vendor extensions provided by DHCP.
Read-only.
'net_<INTERFACE>_boot_file'
The boot file name provided by DHCP. Read-only.
'net_<INTERFACE>_dhcp_server_name'
The name of the DHCP server responsible for these boot parameters.
Read-only.
'net_<INTERFACE>_next_server'
The IP address of the next (usually, TFTP) server provided by DHCP.
Read-only.
'net_default_interface'
Initially set to name of network interface that was used to load
VasEBoot. Read-write, although setting it affects only interpretation
of 'net_default_ip' and 'net_default_mac'
'net_default_ip'
The IP address of default interface. Read-only. This is alias for
the 'net_${net_default_interface}_ip'.
'net_default_mac'
The default interface's MAC address. Read-only. This is alias for
the 'net_${net_default_interface}_mac'.
'net_default_server'
The default server used by network drives (*note Device syntax::).
Read-write, although setting this is only useful before opening a
network device.
'pxe_default_server'
This performs the same function as 'net_default_server'.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: Serial terminal, Next: Vendor power-on keys, Prev: Network, Up: Top
9 Using VAS_EBOOT via a serial line
******************************
This chapter describes how to use the serial terminal support in VAS_EBOOT.
If you have many computers or computers with no display/keyboard, it
could be very useful to control the computers through serial
communications. To connect one computer with another via a serial line,
you need to prepare a null-modem (cross) serial cable, and you may need
to have multiport serial boards, if your computer doesn't have extra
serial ports. In addition, a terminal emulator is also required, such
as minicom. Refer to a manual of your operating system, for more
information.
As for VAS_EBOOT, the instruction to set up a serial terminal is quite
simple. Here is an example:
VasEBoot> serial --unit=0 --speed=9600
VasEBoot> terminal_input serial; terminal_output serial
The command 'serial' initializes the serial unit 0 with the speed
9600bps. The serial unit 0 is usually called 'COM1', so, if you want to
use COM2, you must specify '--unit=1' instead. This command accepts
many other options, *note serial:: for more details.
Without argument or with '--port=auto', VAS_EBOOT will attempt to use ACPI
when available to auto-detect the default serial port and its
configuration.
The commands 'terminal_input' (*note terminal_input::) and
'terminal_output' (*note terminal_output::) choose which type of
terminal you want to use. In the case above, the terminal will be a
serial terminal, but you can also pass 'console' to the command, as
'terminal_input serial console'. In this case, a terminal in which you
press any key will be selected as a VAS_EBOOT terminal. In the example
above, note that you need to put both commands on the same command line,
as you will lose the ability to type commands on the console after the
first command.
However, note that VAS_EBOOT assumes that your terminal emulator is
compatible with VT100 by default. This is true for most terminal
emulators nowadays. However if your terminal emulator is not
VT100-compatible or implements few VT100 escape sequences, you shoud
tell VAS_EBOOT that the terminal is dumb using the 'terminfo' (*note
terminfo::) command. This will have VAS_EBOOT provide you with an
alternative menu interface, because the normal menu requires several
fancy features of your terminal.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: Vendor power-on keys, Next: Images, Prev: Serial terminal, Up: Top
10 Using VAS_EBOOT with vendor power-on keys
***************************************
Some laptop vendors provide an additional power-on button which boots
another OS. VAS_EBOOT supports such buttons with the 'VAS_EBOOT_TIMEOUT_BUTTON',
'VAS_EBOOT_TIMEOUT_STYLE_BUTTON', 'VAS_EBOOT_DEFAULT_BUTTON', and
'VAS_EBOOT_BUTTON_CMOS_ADDRESS' variables in default/VasEBoot (*note Simple
configuration::). 'VAS_EBOOT_TIMEOUT_BUTTON', 'VAS_EBOOT_TIMEOUT_STYLE_BUTTON',
and 'VAS_EBOOT_DEFAULT_BUTTON' are used instead of the corresponding
variables without the '_BUTTON' suffix when powered on using the special
button. 'VAS_EBOOT_BUTTON_CMOS_ADDRESS' is vendor-specific and partially
model-specific. Values known to the VAS_EBOOT team are:
<Dell XPS M1330M>
121:3
<Dell XPS M1530>
85:3
<Dell Latitude E4300>
85:3
<Asus EeePC 1005PE>
84:1 (unconfirmed)
<LENOVO ThinkPad T410s (2912W1C)>
101:3
To take full advantage of this function, install VAS_EBOOT into the MBR
(*note Installing VAS_EBOOT using VasEBoot-install::).
If you have a laptop which has a similar feature and not in the above
list could you figure your address and contribute? To discover the
address do the following:
* boot normally
* sudo modprobe nvram
sudo cat /dev/nvram | xxd > normal_button.txt
* boot using vendor button
* sudo modprobe nvram
sudo cat /dev/nvram | xxd > normal_vendor.txt
Then compare these text files and find where a bit was toggled. E.g.
in case of Dell XPS it was:
byte 0x47: 20 --> 28
It's a bit number 3 as seen from following table:
0 01
1 02
2 04
3 08
4 10
5 20
6 40
7 80
0x47 is decimal 71. Linux nvram implementation cuts first 14 bytes
of CMOS. So the real byte address in CMOS is 71+14=85 So complete
address is 85:3

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: Images, Next: Core image size limitation, Prev: Vendor power-on keys, Up: Top
11 VAS_EBOOT image files
*******************
VAS_EBOOT consists of several images: a variety of bootstrap images for
starting VAS_EBOOT in various ways, a kernel image, and a set of modules
which are combined with the kernel image to form a core image. Here is
a short overview of them.
'boot.img'
On PC BIOS systems, this image is the first part of VAS_EBOOT to start.
It is written to a master boot record (MBR) or to the boot sector
of a partition. Because a PC boot sector is 512 bytes, the size of
this image is exactly 512 bytes.
The sole function of 'boot.img' is to read the first sector of the
core image from a local disk and jump to it. Because of the size
restriction, 'boot.img' cannot understand any file system
structure, so 'VasEBoot-install' hardcodes the location of the first
sector of the core image into 'boot.img' when installing VAS_EBOOT.
'diskboot.img'
This image is used as the first sector of the core image when
booting from a hard disk. It reads the rest of the core image into
memory and starts the kernel. Since file system handling is not
yet available, it encodes the location of the core image using a
block list format.
'cdboot.img'
This image is used as the first sector of the core image when
booting from a CD-ROM drive. It performs a similar function to
'diskboot.img'.
'pxeboot.img'
This image is used as the start of the core image when booting from
the network using PXE. *Note Network::.
'lnxboot.img'
This image may be placed at the start of the core image in order to
make VAS_EBOOT look enough like a Linux kernel that it can be booted by
LILO using an 'image=' section.
'kernel.img'
This image contains VAS_EBOOT's basic run-time facilities: frameworks
for device and file handling, environment variables, the rescue
mode command-line parser, and so on. It is rarely used directly,
but is built into all core images.
'core.img'
This is the core image of VAS_EBOOT. It is built dynamically from the
kernel image and an arbitrary list of modules by the 'VasEBoot-mkimage'
program. Usually, it contains enough modules to access
'/boot/VasEBoot', and loads everything else (including menu handling,
the ability to load target operating systems, and so on) from the
file system at run-time. The modular design allows the core image
to be kept small, since the areas of disk where it must be
installed are often as small as 32KB.
*Note BIOS installation::, for details on where the core image can
be installed on PC systems.
'*.mod'
Everything else in VAS_EBOOT resides in dynamically loadable modules.
These are often loaded automatically, or built into the core image
if they are essential, but may also be loaded manually using the
'insmod' command (*note insmod::).
For VAS_EBOOT Legacy users
=====================
VAS_EBOOT 2 has a different design from VAS_EBOOT Legacy, and so correspondences
with the images it used cannot be exact. Nevertheless, VAS_EBOOT Legacy
users often ask questions in the terms they are familiar with, and so
here is a brief guide to how VAS_EBOOT 2's images relate to that.
'stage1'
Stage 1 from VAS_EBOOT Legacy was very similar to 'boot.img' in VAS_EBOOT 2,
and they serve the same function.
'*_stage1_5'
In VAS_EBOOT Legacy, Stage 1.5's function was to include enough
filesystem code to allow the much larger Stage 2 to be read from an
ordinary filesystem. In this respect, its function was similar to
'core.img' in VAS_EBOOT 2. However, 'core.img' is much more capable
than Stage 1.5 was; since it offers a rescue shell, it is sometimes
possible to recover manually in the event that it is unable to load
any other modules, for example if partition numbers have changed.
'core.img' is built in a more flexible way, allowing VAS_EBOOT 2 to
support reading modules from advanced disk types such as LVM and
RAID.
VAS_EBOOT Legacy could run with only Stage 1 and Stage 2 in some limited
configurations, while VAS_EBOOT 2 requires 'core.img' and cannot work
without it.
'stage2'
VAS_EBOOT 2 has no single Stage 2 image. Instead, it loads modules from
'/boot/VasEBoot' at run-time.
'stage2_eltorito'
In VAS_EBOOT 2, images for booting from CD-ROM drives are now
constructed using 'cdboot.img' and 'core.img', making sure that the
core image contains the 'iso9660' module. It is usually best to
use the 'VasEBoot-mkrescue' program for this.
'nbVasEBoot'
There is as yet no equivalent for 'nbVasEBoot' in VAS_EBOOT 2; it was used
by Etherboot and some other network boot loaders.
'pxeVasEBoot'
In VAS_EBOOT 2, images for PXE network booting are now constructed using
'pxeboot.img' and 'core.img', making sure that the core image
contains the 'pxe' and 'pxecmd' modules. *Note Network::.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: Core image size limitation, Next: Filesystem, Prev: Images, Up: Top
12 Core image size limitation
*****************************
Heavily limited platforms:
* i386-pc (normal and PXE): the core image size (compressed) is
limited by 458240 bytes. kernel.img (.text + .data + .bss,
uncompressed) is limited by 392704 bytes. module size
(uncompressed) + kernel.img (.text + .data, uncompressed) is
limited by the size of contiguous chunk at 1M address.
* sparc64-ieee1275: kernel.img (.text + .data + .bss) + modules +
256K (stack) + 2M (heap) is limited by space available at 0x4400.
On most platforms it's just 3 or 4M since ieee1275 maps only so
much.
* i386-ieee1275: kernel.img (.text + .data + .bss) + modules is
limited by memory available at 0x10000, at most 596K
Lightly limited platforms:
* *-xen: limited only by address space and RAM size.
* i386-qemu: kernel.img (.text + .data + .bss) is limited by 392704
bytes. (core.img would be limited by ROM size but it's unlimited
on qemu
* All EFI platforms: limited by contiguous RAM size and possibly
firmware bugs
* Coreboot and multiboot. kernel.img (.text + .data + .bss) is
limited by 392704 bytes. module size is limited by the size of
contiguous chunk at 1M address.
* mipsel-loongson (ELF), mips(el)-qemu_mips (ELF): if uncompressed:
kernel.img (.text + .data) + modules is limited by the space from
80200000 forward if compressed: kernel.img (.text + .data,
uncompressed) + modules (uncompressed) + (modules + kernel.img
(.text + .data)) (compressed) + decompressor is limited by the
space from 80200000 forward
* mipsel-loongson (Flash), mips(el)-qemu_mips (Flash): kernel.img
(.text + .data) + modules is limited by the space from 80200000
forward core.img (final) is limited by flash size (512K on yeeloong
and fulooong)
* mips-arc: if uncompressed: kernel.img (.text + .data) is limited by
the space from 8bd00000 forward modules + dummy decompressor is
limited by the space from 8bd00000 backward if compressed:
kernel.img (.text + .data, uncompressed) is limited by the space
from 8bd00000 forward modules (uncompressed) + (modules +
kernel.img (.text + .data)) (compressed, aligned to 1M) + 1M
(decompressor + scratch space) is limited by the space from
8bd00000 backward
* powerpc-ieee1275: kernel.img (.text + .data + .bss) + modules is
limited by space available at 0x200000

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: Filesystem, Next: Interface, Prev: Core image size limitation, Up: Top
13 Filesystem syntax and semantics
**********************************
VAS_EBOOT uses a special syntax for specifying disk drives which can be
accessed by BIOS. Because of BIOS limitations, VAS_EBOOT cannot distinguish
between IDE, ESDI, SCSI, or others. You must know yourself which BIOS
device is equivalent to which OS device. Normally, that will be clear
if you see the files in a device or use the command 'search' (*note
search::).
* Menu:
* Device syntax:: How to specify devices
* File name syntax:: How to specify files
* Block list syntax:: How to specify block lists

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: Device syntax, Next: File name syntax, Up: Filesystem
13.1 How to specify devices
===========================
The device syntax is like this:
(DEVICE[,PARTMAP-NAME1PART-NUM1[,PARTMAP-NAME2PART-NUM2[,...]]])
'[]' means the parameter is optional. DEVICE depends on the disk
driver in use. BIOS and EFI disks use either 'fd' or 'hd' followed by a
digit, like 'fd0', or 'cd'. AHCI, PATA (ata), crypto, USB use the name
of driver followed by a number. Memdisk and host are limited to one
disk and so it's referred just by driver name. RAID (md), ofdisk
(ieee1275 and nand), LVM (lvm), LDM, virtio (vdsk) and arcdisk (arc) use
intrinsic name of disk prefixed by driver name. Additionally just
"nand" refers to the disk aliased as "nand". Conflicts are solved by
suffixing a number if necessary. Commas need to be escaped. Loopback
uses whatever name specified to 'loopback' command. Hostdisk uses names
specified in device.map as long as it's of the form [fhc]d[0-9]* or
hostdisk/<OS DEVICE>. For crypto and RAID (md) additionally you can use
the syntax <driver name>uuid/<uuid>. For LVM additionally you can use
the syntax lvmid/<volume-group-uuid>/<volume-uuid>.
(fd0)
(hd0)
(cd)
(ahci0)
(ata0)
(crypto0)
(usb0)
(cryptouuid/123456789abcdef0123456789abcdef0)
(mduuid/123456789abcdef0123456789abcdef0)
(lvm/system-root)
(lvmid/F1ikgD-2RES-306G-il9M-7iwa-4NKW-EbV1NV/eLGuCQ-L4Ka-XUgR-sjtJ-ffch-bajr-fCNfz5)
(md/myraid)
(md/0)
(ieee1275/disk2)
(ieee1275//pci@1f\,0/ide@d/disk@2)
(nand)
(memdisk)
(host)
(myloop)
(hostdisk//dev/sda)
PART-NUM represents the partition number of DEVICE, starting from
one. PARTNAME is optional but is recommended since disk may have
several top-level partmaps. Specifying third and later component you
can access to subpartitions.
The syntax '(hd0)' represents using the entire disk (or the MBR when
installing VAS_EBOOT), while the syntax '(hd0,1)' represents using the first
partition of the disk (or the boot sector of the partition when
installing VAS_EBOOT).
(hd0,msdos1)
(hd0,msdos1,msdos5)
(hd0,msdos1,bsd3)
(hd0,netbsd1)
(hd0,gpt1)
(hd0,1,3)
If you enabled the network support, the special drives
'(PROTOCOL[,SERVER])' are also available. Supported protocols are
'http' and 'tftp'. If SERVER is omitted, value of environment variable
'net_default_server' is used. Before using the network drive, you must
initialize the network. *Note Network::, for more information.
When using 'http' or 'tftp', ports other than '80' can be specified
using a colon (':') after the address. To avoid parsing conflicts, when
using IPv6 addresses with custom ports, the addresses must be enclosed
with square brackets ('[]'), as is standard practice.
(http,VasEBoot.example.com:31337)
(http,192.0.2.1:339)
(http,[2001:db8::1]:11235)
If you boot VAS_EBOOT from a CD-ROM, '(cd)' is available. *Note Making a
VAS_EBOOT bootable CD-ROM::, for details.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: File name syntax, Next: Block list syntax, Prev: Device syntax, Up: Filesystem
13.2 How to specify files
=========================
There are two ways to specify files, by "absolute file name" and by
"block list".
An absolute file name resembles a Unix absolute file name, using '/'
for the directory separator (not '\' as in DOS). One example is
'(hd0,1)/boot/VasEBoot/VasEBoot.cfg'. This means the file '/boot/VasEBoot/VasEBoot.cfg'
in the first partition of the first hard disk. If you omit the device
name in an absolute file name, VAS_EBOOT uses VAS_EBOOT's "root device"
implicitly. So if you set the root device to, say, '(hd1,1)' by the
command 'set root=(hd1,1)' (*note set::), then '/boot/kernel' is the
same as '(hd1,1)/boot/kernel'.
On ZFS filesystem the first path component must be
VOLUME'@'[SNAPSHOT]. So '/rootvol@snap-129/boot/VasEBoot/VasEBoot.cfg' refers
to file '/boot/VasEBoot/VasEBoot.cfg' in snapshot of volume 'rootvol' with name
'snap-129'. Trailing '@' after volume name is mandatory even if
snapshot name is omitted.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: Block list syntax, Prev: File name syntax, Up: Filesystem
13.3 How to specify block lists
===============================
A block list is used for specifying a file that doesn't appear in the
filesystem, like a chainloader. The syntax is
'[OFFSET]+[LENGTH][,[OFFSET]+[LENGTH]]...'. Here is an example:
0+100,200+1,300+300,800+
This represents that VAS_EBOOT should read blocks 0 through 99, block 200,
blocks 300 through 599, and blocks 800 until the end of the device. If
you omit an offset, then VAS_EBOOT assumes the offset is zero. If the length
is omitted, then VAS_EBOOT assumes the block list extends until the end of
the device.
Like the file name syntax (*note File name syntax::), if a blocklist
does not contain a device name, then VAS_EBOOT uses VAS_EBOOT's "root device". So
'(hd0,2)+1' is the same as '+1' when the root device is '(hd0,2)'.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: Interface, Next: Environment, Prev: Filesystem, Up: Top
14 VAS_EBOOT's user interface
************************
VAS_EBOOT has both a simple menu interface for choosing preset entries from a
configuration file, and a highly flexible command-line for performing
any desired combination of boot commands.
VAS_EBOOT looks for its configuration file as soon as it is loaded. If
one is found, then the full menu interface is activated using whatever
entries were found in the file. If you choose the "command-line" menu
option, or if the configuration file was not found, then VAS_EBOOT drops to
the command-line interface.
* Menu:
* Command-line interface:: The flexible command-line interface
* Menu interface:: The simple menu interface
* Menu entry editor:: Editing a menu entry

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: Command-line interface, Next: Menu interface, Up: Interface
14.1 The flexible command-line interface
========================================
The command-line interface provides a prompt and after it an editable
text area much like a command-line in Unix or DOS. Each command is
immediately executed after it is entered(1) (*note Command-line
interface-Footnote-1::). The commands (*note Commands::) are a subset
of those available in the configuration file, used with exactly the same
syntax.
Cursor movement and editing of the text on the line can be done via a
subset of the functions available in the Bash shell:
<C-f>
<PC right key>
Move forward one character.
<C-b>
<PC left key>
Move back one character.
<C-a>
<HOME>
Move to the start of the line.
<C-e>
<END>
Move the the end of the line.
<C-d>
<DEL>
Delete the character underneath the cursor.
<C-h>
<BS>
Delete the character to the left of the cursor.
<C-k>
Kill the text from the current cursor position to the end of the
line.
<C-u>
Kill backward from the cursor to the beginning of the line.
<C-y>
Yank the killed text back into the buffer at the cursor.
<C-p>
<PC up key>
Move up through the history list.
<C-n>
<PC down key>
Move down through the history list.
When typing commands interactively, if the cursor is within or before
the first word in the command-line, pressing the <TAB> key (or <C-i>)
will display a listing of the available commands, and if the cursor is
after the first word, the '<TAB>' will provide a completion listing of
disks, partitions, and file names depending on the context. Note that
to obtain a list of drives, one must open a parenthesis, as 'root ('.
Note that you cannot use the completion functionality in the TFTP
filesystem. This is because TFTP doesn't support file name listing for
the security.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: Command-line interface-Footnotes, Up: Command-line interface
(1) However, this behavior will be changed in the future version, in
a user-invisible way.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: Menu interface, Next: Menu entry editor, Prev: Command-line interface, Up: Interface
14.2 The simple menu interface
==============================
The menu interface is quite easy to use. Its commands are both
reasonably intuitive and described on screen.
Basically, the menu interface provides a list of "boot entries" to
the user to choose from. Use the arrow keys to select the entry of
choice, then press <RET> to run it. An optional timeout is available to
boot the default entry (the first one if not set), which is aborted by
pressing any key.
Commands are available to enter a bare command-line by pressing <c>
(which operates exactly like the non-config-file version of VAS_EBOOT, but
allows one to return to the menu if desired by pressing <ESC>) or to
edit any of the "boot entries" by pressing <e>.
If you protect the menu interface with a password (*note Security::),
all you can do is choose an entry by pressing <RET>, or press <p> to
enter the password.
Pressing <Ctrl-l> will refresh the menu, which can be useful when
connecting via serial after the menu has been drawn.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: Menu entry editor, Prev: Menu interface, Up: Interface
14.3 Editing a menu entry
=========================
The menu entry editor looks much like the main menu interface, but the
lines in the menu are individual commands in the selected entry instead
of entry names.
If an <ESC> is pressed in the editor, it aborts all the changes made
to the configuration entry and returns to the main menu interface.
Each line in the menu entry can be edited freely, and you can add new
lines by pressing <RET> at the end of a line. To boot the edited entry,
press <Ctrl-x>.
Although VAS_EBOOT unfortunately does not support "undo", you can do
almost the same thing by just returning to the main menu using <ESC>.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: Environment, Next: Modules, Prev: Interface, Up: Top
15 VAS_EBOOT environment variables
*****************************
VAS_EBOOT supports environment variables which are rather like those offered
by all Unix-like systems. Environment variables have a name, which is
unique and is usually a short identifier, and a value, which is an
arbitrary string of characters. They may be set (*note set::), unset
(*note unset::), or looked up (*note Shell-like scripting::) by name.
A number of environment variables have special meanings to various
parts of VAS_EBOOT. Others may be used freely in VAS_EBOOT configuration files.
* Menu:
* Special environment variables::
* Environment block::
* Special environment block variables::
* Passing environment variables through Xen::

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: Special environment variables, Next: Environment block, Up: Environment
15.1 Special environment variables
==================================
These variables have special meaning to VAS_EBOOT.
* Menu:
* appendedsig_key_mgmt::
* biosnum::
* blsuki_save_default::
* check_appended_signatures::
* check_signatures::
* chosen::
* cmdpath::
* color_highlight::
* color_normal::
* config_directory::
* config_file::
* cryptodisk_passphrase_tries::
* debug::
* default::
* fallback::
* gfxmode::
* gfxpayload::
* gfxterm_font::
* VasEBoot_cpu::
* VasEBoot_platform::
* icondir::
* lang::
* locale_dir::
* lockdown::
* menu_color_highlight::
* menu_color_normal::
* net_<INTERFACE>_boot_file::
* net_<INTERFACE>_clientid::
* net_<INTERFACE>_clientuuid::
* net_<INTERFACE>_dhcp_server_name::
* net_<INTERFACE>_domain::
* net_<INTERFACE>_extensionspath::
* net_<INTERFACE>_hostname::
* net_<INTERFACE>_ip::
* net_<INTERFACE>_mac::
* net_<INTERFACE>_next_server::
* net_<INTERFACE>_rootpath::
* net_default_interface::
* net_default_ip::
* net_default_mac::
* net_default_server::
* pager::
* prefix::
* pxe_default_server::
* root::
* shim_lock::
* superusers::
* theme::
* timeout::
* timeout_style::
* tpm_fail_fatal::

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: appendedsig_key_mgmt, Next: biosnum, Up: Special environment variables
15.1.1 appendedsig_key_mgmt
---------------------------
This variable controls whether VAS_EBOOT enforces appended signature
validation using either 'static' or 'dynamic' key management. It is
automatically set by VAS_EBOOT to either 'static' or 'dynamic' based on the
*'ibm,secure-boot'* device tree property and Platform KeyStore (PKS).
Also, it can be explicitly set to either 'static' or 'dynamic' by
setting the 'appendedsig_key_mgmt' variable from the VAS_EBOOT console when
the VAS_EBOOT is not locked down.
*Note Using appended signatures:: for more information.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: biosnum, Next: blsuki_save_default, Prev: appendedsig_key_mgmt, Up: Special environment variables
15.1.2 biosnum
--------------
When chain-loading another boot loader (*note Chain-loading::), VAS_EBOOT may
need to know what BIOS drive number corresponds to the root device
(*note root::) so that it can set up registers properly. If the BIOSNUM
variable is set, it overrides VAS_EBOOT's own means of guessing this.
For an alternative approach which also changes BIOS drive mappings
for the chain-loaded system, *note drivemap::.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: blsuki_save_default, Next: check_appended_signatures, Prev: biosnum, Up: Special environment variables
15.1.3 blsuki_save_default
--------------------------
If this variable is set, menu entries generated from BLS config files
(*note blscfg::) or UKI files (*note uki::) will be set as the default
boot entry when selected.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: check_appended_signatures, Next: check_signatures, Prev: blsuki_save_default, Up: Special environment variables
15.1.4 check_appended_signatures
--------------------------------
This variable controls whether VAS_EBOOT enforces appended signature
validation on loaded kernel and VAS_EBOOT module files. It is automatically
set by VAS_EBOOT to either 'no' or 'yes' based on the *'ibm,secure-boot'*
device tree property. Also, it can be explicitly set to either 'no' or
'yes' by setting the 'check_appended_signatures' variable from the VAS_EBOOT
console when the VAS_EBOOT is not locked down.
*Note Using appended signatures:: for more information.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: check_signatures, Next: chosen, Prev: check_appended_signatures, Up: Special environment variables
15.1.5 check_signatures
-----------------------
This variable controls whether VAS_EBOOT enforces GPG-style digital signature
validation on loaded files. *Note Using GPG-style digital signatures::.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: chosen, Next: cmdpath, Prev: check_signatures, Up: Special environment variables
15.1.6 chosen
-------------
When executing a menu entry, VAS_EBOOT sets the CHOSEN variable to the title
of the entry being executed.
If the menu entry is in one or more submenus, then CHOSEN is set to
the titles of each of the submenus starting from the top level followed
by the title of the menu entry itself, separated by '>'.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: cmdpath, Next: color_highlight, Prev: chosen, Up: Special environment variables
15.1.7 cmdpath
--------------
The location from which 'core.img' was loaded as an absolute directory
name (*note File name syntax::). This is set by VAS_EBOOT at startup based
on information returned by platform firmware. Not every platform
provides this information and some may return only device without path
name.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: color_highlight, Next: color_normal, Prev: cmdpath, Up: Special environment variables
15.1.8 color_highlight
----------------------
This variable contains the "highlight" foreground and background
terminal colors, separated by a slash ('/'). Setting this variable
changes those colors. For the available color names, *note
color_normal::.
The default is 'black/light-gray'.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: color_normal, Next: config_directory, Prev: color_highlight, Up: Special environment variables
15.1.9 color_normal
-------------------
This variable contains the "normal" foreground and background terminal
colors, separated by a slash ('/'). Setting this variable changes those
colors. Each color must be a name from the following list:
* black
* blue
* green
* cyan
* red
* magenta
* brown
* light-gray
* dark-gray
* light-blue
* light-green
* light-cyan
* light-red
* light-magenta
* yellow
* white
The default is 'light-gray/black'.
The color support support varies from terminal to terminal.
'morse' has no color support at all.
'mda_text' color support is limited to highlighting by black/white
reversal.
'console' on ARC, EMU and IEEE1275, 'serial_*' and 'spkmodem' are
governed by terminfo and support only 8 colors if in modes 'vt100-color'
(default for console on emu), 'arc' (default for console on ARC),
'ieee1275' (default for console on IEEE1275). When in mode 'vt100' then
the color support is limited to highlighting by black/white reversal.
When in mode 'dumb' there is no color support.
When console supports no colors this setting is ignored. When
console supports 8 colors, then the colors from the second half of the
previous list are mapped to the matching colors of first half.
'console' on EFI and BIOS and 'vga_text' support all 16 colors.
'gfxterm' supports all 16 colors and would be theoretically
extendable to support whole rgb24 palette but currently there is no
compelling reason to go beyond the current 16 colors.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: config_directory, Next: config_file, Prev: color_normal, Up: Special environment variables
15.1.10 config_directory
------------------------
This variable is automatically set by VAS_EBOOT to the directory part of
current configuration file name (*note config_file::).

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: config_file, Next: cryptodisk_passphrase_tries, Prev: config_directory, Up: Special environment variables
15.1.11 config_file
-------------------
This variable is automatically set by VAS_EBOOT to the name of configuration
file that is being processed by commands 'configfile' (*note
configfile::) or 'normal' (*note normal::). It is restored to the
previous value when command completes.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: cryptodisk_passphrase_tries, Next: debug, Prev: config_file, Up: Special environment variables
15.1.12 cryptodisk_passphrase_tries
-----------------------------------
When prompting the user for a cryptodisk passphrase, allow this many
attempts before giving up. Defaults to '3' if unset or set to an
invalid value. (The user can give up early by entering an empty
passphrase.)

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: debug, Next: default, Prev: cryptodisk_passphrase_tries, Up: Special environment variables
15.1.13 debug
-------------
This variable may be set to enable debugging output from various
components of VAS_EBOOT. The value is an ordered list of debug facility names
separated by whitespace or ','. If the special facility named 'all' is
present then debugging output of all facility names is enabled at the
start of processing the value of this variable. A facility's debug
output can then be disabled by prefixing its name with a '-'. The last
occurence facility name with or without a leading '-' takes precendent
over any previous occurence. This allows the easy enabling or disabling
of facilities by appending a ',' and then the facility name with or
without the leading '-', which will preserve the state of the rest of
the facilities. The facility names are the first argument to
VasEBoot_dprintf. Consult the source for more details.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: default, Next: fallback, Prev: debug, Up: Special environment variables
15.1.14 default
---------------
If this variable is set, it identifies a menu entry that should be
selected by default, possibly after a timeout (*note timeout::). The
entry may be identified by number (starting from 0 at each level of the
hierarchy), by title, or by id.
For example, if you have:
menuentry 'Example GNU/Linux distribution' --class gnu-linux --id example-gnu-linux {
...
}
then you can make this the default using:
default=example-gnu-linux
If the entry is in a submenu, then it must be identified using the
number, title, or id of each of the submenus starting from the top
level, followed by the number, title, or id of the menu entry itself,
with each element separated by '>'. For example, take the following
menu structure:
GNU/Hurd --id gnu-hurd
Standard Boot --id=gnu-hurd-std
Rescue shell --id=gnu-hurd-rescue
Other platforms --id=other
Minix --id=minix
Version 3.4.0 --id=minix-3.4.0
Version 3.3.0 --id=minix-3.3.0
VAS_EBOOT Invaders --id=VasEBoot-invaders
The more recent release of Minix would then be identified as 'Other
platforms>Minix>Version 3.4.0', or as '1>0>0', or as
'other>minix>minix-3.4.0'.
This variable is often set by 'VAS_EBOOT_DEFAULT' (*note Simple
configuration::), 'VasEBoot-set-default', or 'VasEBoot-reboot'.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: fallback, Next: gfxmode, Prev: default, Up: Special environment variables
15.1.15 fallback
----------------
If this variable is set, it identifies a menu entry that should be
selected if the default menu entry fails to boot. Entries are
identified in the same way as for 'default' (*note default::).

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: gfxmode, Next: gfxpayload, Prev: fallback, Up: Special environment variables
15.1.16 gfxmode
---------------
If this variable is set, it sets the resolution used on the 'gfxterm'
graphical terminal. Note that you can only use modes which your
graphics card supports via VESA BIOS Extensions (VBE), so for example
native LCD panel resolutions may not be available. The default is
'auto', which selects a platform-specific default that should look
reasonable. Supported modes can be listed by 'videoinfo' command in
VAS_EBOOT.
The resolution may be specified as a sequence of one or more modes,
separated by commas (',') or semicolons (';'); each will be tried in
turn until one is found. Each mode should be either 'auto',
'WIDTHxHEIGHT', or 'WIDTHxHEIGHTxDEPTH'.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: gfxpayload, Next: gfxterm_font, Prev: gfxmode, Up: Special environment variables
15.1.17 gfxpayload
------------------
If this variable is set, it controls the video mode in which the Linux
kernel starts up, replacing the 'vga=' boot option (*note linux::). It
may be set to 'text' to force the Linux kernel to boot in normal text
mode, 'keep' to preserve the graphics mode set using 'gfxmode', or any
of the permitted values for 'gfxmode' to set a particular graphics mode
(*note gfxmode::).
Depending on your kernel, your distribution, your graphics card, and
the phase of the moon, note that using this option may cause GNU/Linux
to suffer from various display problems, particularly during the early
part of the boot sequence. If you have problems, set this variable to
'text' and VAS_EBOOT will tell Linux to boot in normal text mode.
The default is platform-specific. On platforms with a native text
mode (such as PC BIOS platforms), the default is 'text'. Otherwise the
default may be 'auto' or a specific video mode.
This variable is often set by 'VAS_EBOOT_GFXPAYLOAD_LINUX' (*note Simple
configuration::).

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: gfxterm_font, Next: VasEBoot_cpu, Prev: gfxpayload, Up: Special environment variables
15.1.18 gfxterm_font
--------------------
If this variable is set, it names a font to use for text on the
'gfxterm' graphical terminal. Otherwise, 'gfxterm' may use any
available font.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: VasEBoot_cpu, Next: VasEBoot_platform, Prev: gfxterm_font, Up: Special environment variables
15.1.19 VasEBoot_cpu
----------------
In normal mode (*note normal::), VAS_EBOOT sets the 'VasEBoot_cpu' variable to
the CPU type for which VAS_EBOOT was built (e.g. 'i386' or 'powerpc').

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: VasEBoot_platform, Next: icondir, Prev: VasEBoot_cpu, Up: Special environment variables
15.1.20 VasEBoot_platform
---------------------
In normal mode (*note normal::), VAS_EBOOT sets the 'VasEBoot_platform' variable
to the platform for which VAS_EBOOT was built (e.g. 'pc' or 'efi').

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: icondir, Next: lang, Prev: VasEBoot_platform, Up: Special environment variables
15.1.21 icondir
---------------
If this variable is set, it names a directory in which the VAS_EBOOT
graphical menu should look for icons after looking in the theme's
'icons' directory. *Note Theme file format::.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: lang, Next: locale_dir, Prev: icondir, Up: Special environment variables
15.1.22 lang
------------
If this variable is set, it names the language code that the 'gettext'
command (*note gettext::) uses to translate strings. For example,
French would be named as 'fr', and Simplified Chinese as 'zh_CN'.
'VasEBoot-mkconfig' (*note Simple configuration::) will try to set a
reasonable default for this variable based on the system locale.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: locale_dir, Next: lockdown, Prev: lang, Up: Special environment variables
15.1.23 locale_dir
------------------
If this variable is set, it names the directory where translation files
may be found (*note gettext::), usually '/boot/VasEBoot/locale'. Otherwise,
internationalization is disabled.
'VasEBoot-mkconfig' (*note Simple configuration::) will set a reasonable
default for this variable if internationalization is needed and any
translation files are available.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: lockdown, Next: menu_color_highlight, Prev: locale_dir, Up: Special environment variables
15.1.24 lockdown
----------------
If this variable is set to 'y', it means that VAS_EBOOT has entered *note
Lockdown:: mode.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: menu_color_highlight, Next: menu_color_normal, Prev: lockdown, Up: Special environment variables
15.1.25 menu_color_highlight
----------------------------
This variable contains the foreground and background colors to be used
for the highlighted menu entry, separated by a slash ('/'). Setting
this variable changes those colors. For the available color names,
*note color_normal::.
The default is the value of 'color_highlight' (*note
color_highlight::).

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: menu_color_normal, Next: net_<INTERFACE>_boot_file, Prev: menu_color_highlight, Up: Special environment variables
15.1.26 menu_color_normal
-------------------------
This variable contains the foreground and background colors to be used
for non-highlighted menu entries, separated by a slash ('/'). Setting
this variable changes those colors. For the available color names,
*note color_normal::.
The default is the value of 'color_normal' (*note color_normal::).

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: net_<INTERFACE>_boot_file, Next: net_<INTERFACE>_clientid, Prev: menu_color_normal, Up: Special environment variables
15.1.27 net_<INTERFACE>_boot_file
---------------------------------
*Note Network::.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: net_<INTERFACE>_clientid, Next: net_<INTERFACE>_clientuuid, Prev: net_<INTERFACE>_boot_file, Up: Special environment variables
15.1.28 net_<INTERFACE>_clientid
--------------------------------
*Note Network::.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: net_<INTERFACE>_clientuuid, Next: net_<INTERFACE>_dhcp_server_name, Prev: net_<INTERFACE>_clientid, Up: Special environment variables
15.1.29 net_<INTERFACE>_clientuuid
----------------------------------
*Note Network::.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: net_<INTERFACE>_dhcp_server_name, Next: net_<INTERFACE>_domain, Prev: net_<INTERFACE>_clientuuid, Up: Special environment variables
15.1.30 net_<INTERFACE>_dhcp_server_name
----------------------------------------
*Note Network::.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: net_<INTERFACE>_domain, Next: net_<INTERFACE>_extensionspath, Prev: net_<INTERFACE>_dhcp_server_name, Up: Special environment variables
15.1.31 net_<INTERFACE>_domain
------------------------------
*Note Network::.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: net_<INTERFACE>_extensionspath, Next: net_<INTERFACE>_hostname, Prev: net_<INTERFACE>_domain, Up: Special environment variables
15.1.32 net_<INTERFACE>_extensionspath
--------------------------------------
*Note Network::.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: net_<INTERFACE>_hostname, Next: net_<INTERFACE>_ip, Prev: net_<INTERFACE>_extensionspath, Up: Special environment variables
15.1.33 net_<INTERFACE>_hostname
--------------------------------
*Note Network::.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: net_<INTERFACE>_ip, Next: net_<INTERFACE>_mac, Prev: net_<INTERFACE>_hostname, Up: Special environment variables
15.1.34 net_<INTERFACE>_ip
--------------------------
*Note Network::.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: net_<INTERFACE>_mac, Next: net_<INTERFACE>_next_server, Prev: net_<INTERFACE>_ip, Up: Special environment variables
15.1.35 net_<INTERFACE>_mac
---------------------------
*Note Network::.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: net_<INTERFACE>_next_server, Next: net_<INTERFACE>_rootpath, Prev: net_<INTERFACE>_mac, Up: Special environment variables
15.1.36 net_<INTERFACE>_next_server
-----------------------------------
*Note Network::.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: net_<INTERFACE>_rootpath, Next: net_default_interface, Prev: net_<INTERFACE>_next_server, Up: Special environment variables
15.1.37 net_<INTERFACE>_rootpath
--------------------------------
*Note Network::.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: net_default_interface, Next: net_default_ip, Prev: net_<INTERFACE>_rootpath, Up: Special environment variables
15.1.38 net_default_interface
-----------------------------
*Note Network::.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: net_default_ip, Next: net_default_mac, Prev: net_default_interface, Up: Special environment variables
15.1.39 net_default_ip
----------------------
*Note Network::.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: net_default_mac, Next: net_default_server, Prev: net_default_ip, Up: Special environment variables
15.1.40 net_default_mac
-----------------------
*Note Network::.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: net_default_server, Next: pager, Prev: net_default_mac, Up: Special environment variables
15.1.41 net_default_server
--------------------------
*Note Network::.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: pager, Next: prefix, Prev: net_default_server, Up: Special environment variables
15.1.42 pager
-------------
If set to '1', pause output after each screenful and wait for keyboard
input. The default is not to pause output.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: prefix, Next: pxe_default_server, Prev: pager, Up: Special environment variables
15.1.43 prefix
--------------
The location of the '/boot/VasEBoot' directory as an absolute file name
(*note File name syntax::). This is normally set by VAS_EBOOT at startup
based on information provided by 'VasEBoot-install'. VAS_EBOOT modules are
dynamically loaded from this directory, so it must be set correctly in
order for many parts of VAS_EBOOT to work.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: pxe_default_server, Next: root, Prev: prefix, Up: Special environment variables
15.1.44 pxe_default_server
--------------------------
*Note Network::.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: root, Next: shim_lock, Prev: pxe_default_server, Up: Special environment variables
15.1.45 root
------------
The root device name (*note Device syntax::). Any file names that do
not specify an explicit device name are read from this device. The
default is normally set by VAS_EBOOT at startup based on the value of
'prefix' (*note prefix::).
For example, if VAS_EBOOT was installed to the first partition of the
first hard disk, then 'prefix' might be set to '(hd0,msdos1)/boot/VasEBoot'
and 'root' to 'hd0,msdos1'.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: shim_lock, Next: superusers, Prev: root, Up: Special environment variables
15.1.46 shim_lock
-----------------
If this variable is set to 'y', it means that the shim_lock verifier is
registered (see *note UEFI secure boot and shim::).

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: superusers, Next: theme, Prev: shim_lock, Up: Special environment variables
15.1.47 superusers
------------------
This variable may be set to a list of superuser names to enable
authentication support. *Note Security::.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: theme, Next: timeout, Prev: superusers, Up: Special environment variables
15.1.48 theme
-------------
This variable may be set to a directory containing a VAS_EBOOT graphical menu
theme. *Note Theme file format::.
This variable is often set by 'VAS_EBOOT_THEME' (*note Simple
configuration::).

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: timeout, Next: timeout_style, Prev: theme, Up: Special environment variables
15.1.49 timeout
---------------
If this variable is set, it specifies the time in seconds to wait for
keyboard input before booting the default menu entry. A timeout of '0'
means to boot the default entry immediately without displaying the menu;
a timeout of '-1' (or unset) means to wait indefinitely.
If 'timeout_style' (*note timeout_style::) is set to 'countdown' or
'hidden', the timeout is instead counted before the menu is displayed.
This variable is often set by 'VAS_EBOOT_TIMEOUT' (*note Simple
configuration::).

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: timeout_style, Next: tpm_fail_fatal, Prev: timeout, Up: Special environment variables
15.1.50 timeout_style
---------------------
This variable may be set to 'menu', 'countdown', or 'hidden' to control
the way in which the timeout (*note timeout::) interacts with displaying
the menu. See the documentation of 'VAS_EBOOT_TIMEOUT_STYLE' (*note Simple
configuration::) for details.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: tpm_fail_fatal, Prev: timeout_style, Up: Special environment variables
15.1.51 tpm_fail_fatal
----------------------
If this variable is set and true (i.e., not set to "0", "false",
"disable", or "no"), TPM measurements that fail will be treated as
fatal. Otherwise, they will merely be debug-logged and boot will
continue.
Call to EFI firmware, like hash_log_extend_event(), can return an
unknown error, i.e. due to bug present in firmware. When this variable
is set and true (same values as with TPM measurements) this situation
will be considered to be fatal and error-logged as "unknown TPM error".
If not set, booting the OS will be enabled.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: Environment block, Next: Special environment block variables, Prev: Special environment variables, Up: Environment
15.2 The VAS_EBOOT environment block
===============================
It is often useful to be able to remember a small amount of information
from one boot to the next. For example, you might want to set the
default menu entry based on what was selected the last time. VAS_EBOOT
deliberately does not implement support for writing files in order to
minimise the possibility of the boot loader being responsible for file
system corruption, so a VAS_EBOOT configuration file cannot just create a
file in the ordinary way. However, VAS_EBOOT provides an "environment block"
which can be used to save a small amount of state.
The environment block is a preallocated 1024-byte file, which
normally lives in '/boot/VasEBoot/VasEBootenv' (although you should not assume
this). At boot time, the 'load_env' command (*note load_env::) loads
environment variables from it, and the 'save_env' (*note save_env::)
command saves environment variables to it. From a running system, the
'VasEBoot-editenv' utility can be used to edit the environment block.
For safety reasons, this storage is only available when installed on
a plain disk (no LVM or RAID), using a non-checksumming filesystem (no
ZFS), and using BIOS or EFI functions (no ATA, USB or IEEE1275).
On Btrfs filesystems, a reserved area in the filesystem header may be
used to store the environment block. This static block avoids the
problems of updating a normal file on a copy-on-write filesystem, where
writing raw block is not stable and requires metadata update. The
reserved area provides a fixed location that VAS_EBOOT can update directly,
allowing commands such as 'VasEBoot-reboot' and 'VAS_EBOOT_SAVEDEFAULT' to
function correctly on Btrfs volumes.
'VasEBoot-mkconfig' uses this facility to implement 'VAS_EBOOT_SAVEDEFAULT'
(*note Simple configuration::).

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: Special environment block variables, Next: Passing environment variables through Xen, Prev: Environment block, Up: Environment
15.3 Special environment block variables
========================================
These special variables are usually written to the environment block
(*note Environment block::) to customize the behavior of 'VasEBoot.cfg'
generated by 'VasEBoot-mkconfig'.
* Menu:
* saved_entry::
* next_entry::
* env_block::

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: saved_entry, Next: next_entry, Up: Special environment block variables
15.3.1 saved_entry
------------------
The SAVED_ENTRY variable sets the default boot entry in 'VasEBoot.cfg'
created by 'VasEBoot-mkconfig'. It can be set with 'VasEBoot-set-default' to
choose a default entry, or at runtime with the 'savedefault' function in
VasEBoot.cfg to save the current entry as the new default. This may require
write access by VAS_EBOOT.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: next_entry, Next: env_block, Prev: saved_entry, Up: Special environment block variables
15.3.2 next_entry
-----------------
The NEXT_ENTRY variable sets the boot entry for the next boot only.
After it is used, VAS_EBOOT clears the value so it is not reused. This
requires write access to the environment block (*note Environment
block::) at runtime. The 'VasEBoot-reboot' command is usually used instead
of changing this variable directly.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: env_block, Prev: next_entry, Up: Special environment block variables
15.3.3 env_block
----------------
If the filesystem is Btrfs and the disk is not an abstracted device such
as LVM, RAID, or encryption, the reserved space in the Btrfs header can
be used as the environment block (*note Environment block::). This
provides a fixed raw block that VAS_EBOOT can reliably write to. The
ENV_BLOCK records this location in VAS_EBOOT blocklist syntax (*note Block
list syntax::) so that 'VasEBoot-editenv' and 'VasEBoot.cfg' know how to access
and use the external raw block.
This variable is initialized when 'VasEBootenv' is first created by
'VasEBoot-editenv' and is treated as read-only to avoid being overwritten
with an unpredictable value.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: Passing environment variables through Xen, Prev: Special environment block variables, Up: Environment
15.4 Passing environment variables through Xen
==============================================
If you are using a VAS_EBOOT image as the kernel for a PV or PVH Xen virtual
machine, you can pass environment variables from Xen's dom0 to the VM
through the Xen-provided kernel command line. When combined with a
properly configured guest, this can be used to customize the guest's
behavior on bootup via the VM's Xen configuration file.
VAS_EBOOT will parse the kernel command line passed to it by Xen during
bootup. The command line will be split into space-delimited words.
Single and double quotes may be used to quote words or portions of words
that contain spaces. Single quotes will be considered part of a word if
inside double quotes, and vice versa. Arbitrary characters may be
backslash-escaped to make them a literal component of a word rather than
being parsed as quotes or word separators. The command line must
consist entirely of printable 7-bit ASCII characters and spaces. If a
non-printing ASCII character is found anywhere in the command line, the
entire command line will be ignored by VAS_EBOOT. (This splitter algorithm is
meant to behave somewhat like Bash's word splitting.)
Each word should be a variable assignment in the format "variable" or
"variable=value". Variable names must contain only the characters A-Z,
a-z, and underscore ("_"). Variable names must begin with the string
"xen_VasEBoot_env_". Variable values can contain arbitrary printable 7-bit
ASCII characters and space. If any variable contains an illegal name,
that variable will be ignored.
If a variable name and value are both specified, the variable will be
set to the specified value. If only a variable name is specified, the
variable's value will be set to "1".
The following is a simple example of how to use this functionality to
append arbitrary variables to a guest's kernel command line:
# In the Xen configuration file for the guest
name = "linux_vm"
type = "pvh"
kernel = "/path/to/VasEBoot-i386-xen_pvh.bin"
extra = "xen_VasEBoot_env_linux_append='loglevel=3'"
memory = 1024
disk = [ "file:/srv/vms/linux_vm.img,sda,w" ]
# In the guest's VAS_EBOOT configuration file
menuentry "Linux VM with dom0-specified kernel parameters" {
search --set=root --label linux_vm --hint hd0,msdos1
linux /boot/vmlinuz root=LABEL=linux_vm ${xen_VasEBoot_env_linux_append}
initrd /boot/initrd.img
}

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: Modules, Next: Commands, Prev: Environment, Up: Top
16 Modules
**********
In this chapter, we list all modules that are available in VAS_EBOOT.
Modules can be loaded via the 'insmod' (*note insmod::) command.
* Menu:
* acpi_module::
* adler32_module::
* affs_module::
* afs_module::
* afsplitter_module::
* ahci_module::
* all_video_module::
* aout_module::
* appleldr_module::
* archelp_module::
* argon2_module::
* argon2_test_module::
* at_keyboard_module::
* ata_module::
* backtrace_module::
* bfs_module::
* biosdisk_module::
* bitmap_module::
* bitmap_scale_module::
* bli_module::
* blocklist_module::
* boot_module::
* boottime_module::
* bsd_module::
* bswap_test_module::
* btrfs_module::
* bufio_module::
* cacheinfo_module::
* cat_module::
* cbfs_module::
* cbls_module::
* cbmemc_module::
* cbtable_module::
* cbtime_module::
* chain_module::
* cmdline_cat_test_module::
* cmosdump_module::
* cmostest_module::
* cmp_module::
* cmp_test_module::
* configfile_module::
* cpio_module::
* cpio_be_module::
* cpuid_module::
* crc64_module::
* crypto_cipher_mode_test_module::
* crypto_module::
* cryptodisk_module::
* cs5536_module::
* ctz_test_module::
* date_module::
* datehook_module::
* datetime_module::
* disk_module::
* diskfilter_module::
* div_module::
* div_test_module::
* dm_nv_module::
* drivemap_module::
* dsa_sexp_test_module::
* echo_module::
* efi_gop_module::
* efi_uga_module::
* efiemu_module::
* efifwsetup_module::
* efinet_module::
* efitextmode_module::
* ehci_module::
* elf_module::
* emunet_module::
* emupci_module::
* erofs_module::
* escc_module::
* eval_module::
* exfat_module::
* exfctest_module::
* ext2_module::
* extcmd_module::
* f2fs_module::
* fat_module::
* fdt_module::
* file_module::
* fixvideo_module::
* font_module::
* freedos_module::
* fshelp_module::
* functional_test_module::
* gcry_arcfour_module::
* gcry_aria_module::
* gcry_blake2_module::
* gcry_blowfish_module::
* gcry_camellia_module::
* gcry_cast5_module::
* gcry_crc_module::
* gcry_des_module::
* gcry_dsa_module::
* gcry_gost28147_module::
* gcry_gostr3411_94_module::
* gcry_idea_module::
* gcry_keccak_module::
* gcry_md4_module::
* gcry_md5_module::
* gcry_rfc2268_module::
* gcry_rijndael_module::
* gcry_rmd160_module::
* gcry_rsa_module::
* gcry_salsa20_module::
* gcry_seed_module::
* gcry_serpent_module::
* gcry_sha1_module::
* gcry_sha256_module::
* gcry_sha512_module::
* gcry_sm3_module::
* gcry_sm4_module::
* gcry_stribog_module::
* gcry_tiger_module::
* gcry_twofish_module::
* gcry_whirlpool_module::
* gdb_module::
* geli_module::
* gettext_module::
* gfxmenu_module::
* gfxterm_module::
* gfxterm_background_module::
* gfxterm_menu_module::
* gptsync_module::
* gzio_module::
* halt_module::
* hashsum_module::
* hdparm_module::
* hello_module::
* help_module::
* hexdump_module::
* hfs_module::
* hfsplus_module::
* hfspluscomp_module::
* http_module::
* ieee1275_fb_module::
* iorw_module::
* iso9660_module::
* jfs_module::
* jpeg_module::
* json_module::
* keylayouts_module::
* keystatus_module::
* ldm_module::
* legacy_password_test_module::
* legacycfg_module::
* linux_module::
* linux16_module::
* loadbios_module::
* loadenv_module::
* loopback_module::
* ls_module::
* lsacpi_module::
* lsapm_module::
* lsdev_module::
* lsefi_module::
* lsefimmap_module::
* lsefisystab_module::
* lsmmap_module::
* lspci_module::
* lssal_module::
* lsspd_module::
* lsxen_module::
* luks_module::
* luks2_module::
* lvm_module::
* lzopio_module::
* macbless_module::
* macho_module::
* mda_text_module::
* mdraid09_module::
* mdraid09_be_module::
* mdraid1x_module::
* memdisk_module::
* memrw_module::
* memtools_module::
* minicmd_module::
* minix_module::
* minix2_module::
* minix2_be_module::
* minix3_module::
* minix3_be_module::
* minix_be_module::
* mmap_module::
* morse_module::
* mpi_module::
* msdospart_module::
* mul_test_module::
* multiboot_module::
* multiboot2_module::
* nand_module::
* nativedisk_module::
* net_module::
* newc_module::
* nilfs2_module::
* normal_module::
* ntfs_module::
* ntfscomp_module::
* ntldr_module::
* odc_module::
* offsetio_module::
* ofnet_module::
* ohci_module::
* part_acorn_module::
* part_amiga_module::
* part_apple_module::
* part_bsd_module::
* part_dfly_module::
* part_dvh_module::
* part_gpt_module::
* part_msdos_module::
* part_plan_module::
* part_sun_module::
* part_sunpc_module::
* parttool_module::
* password_module::
* password_pbkdf2_module::
* pata_module::
* pbkdf2_module::
* pbkdf2_test_module::
* pci_module::
* pcidump_module::
* pgp_module::
* plainmount_module::
* plan9_module::
* play_module::
* png_module::
* priority_queue_module::
* probe_module::
* procfs_module::
* progress_module::
* pubkey_module::
* pxe_module::
* pxechain_module::
* raid5rec_module::
* raid6rec_module::
* random_module::
* rdmsr_module::
* read_module::
* reboot_module::
* regexp_module::
* reiserfs_module::
* relocator_module::
* romfs_module::
* rsa_sexp_test_module::
* scsi_module::
* sdl_module::
* search_module::
* search_fs_file_module::
* search_fs_uuid_module::
* search_label_module::
* sendkey_module::
* serial_module::
* setjmp_module::
* setjmp_test_module::
* setpci_module::
* sfs_module::
* shift_test_module::
* signature_test_module::
* sleep_module::
* sleep_test_module::
* smbios_module::
* spkmodem_module::
* squash4_module::
* strtoull_test_module::
* suspend_module::
* syslinuxcfg_module::
* tar_module::
* terminal_module::
* terminfo_module::
* test_module::
* test_blockarg_module::
* testload_module::
* testspeed_module::
* tftp_module::
* tga_module::
* time_module::
* tpm_module::
* tr_module::
* trig_module::
* true_module::
* truecrypt_module::
* ubootnet_module::
* udf_module::
* ufs1_module::
* ufs1_be_module::
* ufs2_module::
* uhci_module::
* usb_module::
* usb_keyboard_module::
* usbms_module::
* usbserial_common_module::
* usbserial_ftdi_module::
* usbserial_pl2303_module::
* usbserial_usbdebug_module::
* usbtest_module::
* vbe_module::
* verifiers_module::
* vga_module::
* vga_text_module::
* video_module::
* video_bochs_module::
* video_cirrus_module::
* video_colors_module::
* video_fb_module::
* videoinfo_module::
* videotest_module::
* videotest_checksum_module::
* wrmsr_module::
* xen_boot_module::
* xfs_module::
* xnu_module::
* xnu_uuid_module::
* xnu_uuid_test_module::
* xzio_module::
* zfs_module::
* zfscrypt_module::
* zfsinfo_module::
* zstd_module::

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: acpi_module, Next: adler32_module, Up: Modules
16.1 acpi
=========
This module provides the command 'acpi' for loading / replacing Advanced
Configuration and Power Interface (ACPI) tables. Please *note acpi::
for more information.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: adler32_module, Next: affs_module, Prev: acpi_module, Up: Modules
16.2 adler32
============
This module provides the library implementation for the adler32
checksum. This is used as part of LZO decompression / compression.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: affs_module, Next: afs_module, Prev: adler32_module, Up: Modules
16.3 affs
=========
This module provides support for the Amiga Fast FileSystem (AFFS). Note:
This module is not allowed in lockdown mode, *note Lockdown:: for more
information.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: afs_module, Next: afsplitter_module, Prev: affs_module, Up: Modules
16.4 afs
========
This module provides support for the AtheOS File System (AFS). Note:
This module is not allowed in lockdown mode, *note Lockdown:: for more
information.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: afsplitter_module, Next: ahci_module, Prev: afs_module, Up: Modules
16.5 afsplitter
===============
This module provides library support for the Anti forensic information
splitter (AFS) operation 'AF_merge'. This is used by LUKS and LUKS2.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: ahci_module, Next: all_video_module, Prev: afsplitter_module, Up: Modules
16.6 ahci
=========
This module provides support for the Advanced Host Controller Interface
protocol to access disks supporting this standard. AHCI is often an
option for Serial ATA (SATA) controllers (meant to replace the older IDE
protocol).

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: all_video_module, Next: aout_module, Prev: ahci_module, Up: Modules
16.7 all_video
==============
This is a "dummy module" with no actual function except to load all
other video modules as dependencies (a convenient way to load all video
modules).

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: aout_module, Next: appleldr_module, Prev: all_video_module, Up: Modules
16.8 aout
=========
This module provides support for loading files packaged in the "a.out"
format. The "a.out" format is considered to be an older format than
some alternatives such as "ELF", for example support for the "a.out"
format was removed from the Linux kernel in 5.18.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: appleldr_module, Next: archelp_module, Prev: aout_module, Up: Modules
16.9 appleldr
=============
This module provides support for loading files on a BIOS / EFI based
Apple Mac computer (Intel based Macs).

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: archelp_module, Next: argon2_module, Prev: appleldr_module, Up: Modules
16.10 archelp
=============
This module provides Archive Helper functions for archive based file
systems such as TAR and CPIO archives.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: argon2_module, Next: argon2_test_module, Prev: archelp_module, Up: Modules
16.11 argon2
============
This module provides support for the Argon2 key derivation function.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: argon2_test_module, Next: at_keyboard_module, Prev: argon2_module, Up: Modules
16.12 argon2_test
=================
This module is intended for performing a functional test of the Argon2
operation in VAS_EBOOT.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: at_keyboard_module, Next: ata_module, Prev: argon2_test_module, Up: Modules
16.13 at_keyboard
=================
This module provides support for the AT keyboard input for the VAS_EBOOT
terminal.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: ata_module, Next: backtrace_module, Prev: at_keyboard_module, Up: Modules
16.14 ata
=========
This modules provides support for direct ATA and ATAPI access to
compatible disks.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: backtrace_module, Next: bfs_module, Prev: ata_module, Up: Modules
16.15 backtrace
===============
This module provides the command 'backtrace' for printing a backtrace to
the terminal for the current call stack.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: bfs_module, Next: biosdisk_module, Prev: backtrace_module, Up: Modules
16.16 bfs
=========
This module provides support for the BeOS "Be File System" (BFS). Note:
This module is not allowed in lockdown mode, *note Lockdown:: for more
information.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: biosdisk_module, Next: bitmap_module, Prev: bfs_module, Up: Modules
16.17 biosdisk
==============
This module provides support for booting from a bootable removable disk
such as a CD-ROM, BD-ROM, etc.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: bitmap_module, Next: bitmap_scale_module, Prev: biosdisk_module, Up: Modules
16.18 bitmap
============
This module provides support for reading and interacting with bitmap
image files.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: bitmap_scale_module, Next: bli_module, Prev: bitmap_module, Up: Modules
16.19 bitmap_scale
==================
This module provides support for scaling bitmap image files.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: bli_module, Next: blocklist_module, Prev: bitmap_scale_module, Up: Modules
16.20 bli
=========
This module provides basic support for the Boot Loader Interface. The
Boot Loader Interface specifies a set of EFI variables that are used to
communicate boot-time information between the bootloader and the
operating system.
The following variables are placed under the vendor UUID
'4a67b082-0a4c-41cf-b6c7-440b29bb8c4f' when the module is loaded:
The GPT partition UUID of the EFI System Partition used during boot
is published via the 'LoaderDevicePartUUID' variable. The Boot Loader
Interface specification requires GPT formatted drives. The bli module
ignores drives/partitions in any other format. If VAS_EBOOT is loaded from a
non-GPT partition, e.g. from an MSDOS formatted drive or network, this
variable will not be set.
A string identifying VAS_EBOOT as the active bootloader including the
version number is stored in 'LoaderInfo'.
This module is only available on UEFI platforms.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: blocklist_module, Next: boot_module, Prev: bli_module, Up: Modules
16.21 blocklist
===============
This module provides support for the command 'blocklist' to list blocks
for a given file. Please *note blocklist:: for more information.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: boot_module, Next: boottime_module, Prev: blocklist_module, Up: Modules
16.22 boot
==========
This module provides support for the command 'boot' to boot an operating
system. Please *note boot:: for more information.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: boottime_module, Next: bsd_module, Prev: boot_module, Up: Modules
16.23 boottime
==============
This module provides support for the command 'boottime' to display time
taken to perform various VAS_EBOOT operations. This module is only available
when VAS_EBOOT is built with the conditional compile option
'BOOT_TIME_STATS'.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: bsd_module, Next: bswap_test_module, Prev: boottime_module, Up: Modules
16.24 bsd
=========
This module provides support for loading BSD operating system images via
commands such as: 'kfreebsd_loadenv', 'kfreebsd_module_elf',
'kfreebsd_module', 'kfreebsd', 'knetbsd_module_elf', 'knetbsd_module',
'knetbsd', 'kopenbsd', and 'kopenbsd_ramdisk'. Please *note Loader
commands:: for more info.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: bswap_test_module, Next: btrfs_module, Prev: bsd_module, Up: Modules
16.25 bswap_test
================
This module is intended for performing a functional test of the byte
swapping functionality of VAS_EBOOT.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: btrfs_module, Next: bufio_module, Prev: bswap_test_module, Up: Modules
16.26 btrfs
===========
This module provides support for the B-Tree File System (BTRFS).

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: bufio_module, Next: cacheinfo_module, Prev: btrfs_module, Up: Modules
16.27 bufio
===========
This module is a library module for support buffered I/O of files to
support file reads performed in other modules.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: cacheinfo_module, Next: cat_module, Prev: bufio_module, Up: Modules
16.28 cacheinfo
===============
This module provides support for the command 'cacheinfo' which provides
statistics on disk cache accesses. This module is only built if
'DISK_CACHE_STATS' is enabled.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: cat_module, Next: cbfs_module, Prev: cacheinfo_module, Up: Modules
16.29 cat
=========
This module provides support for the command 'cat' which outputs the
content of a file to the terminal. Please *note cat:: for more info.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: cbfs_module, Next: cbls_module, Prev: cat_module, Up: Modules
16.30 cbfs
==========
This module provides support for the Coreboot File System (CBFS) which
is an archive based file system. Note: This module is not allowed in
lockdown mode, *note Lockdown:: for more information.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: cbls_module, Next: cbmemc_module, Prev: cbfs_module, Up: Modules
16.31 cbls
==========
This module provides support for the command 'lscoreboot' to list the
Coreboot tables.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: cbmemc_module, Next: cbtable_module, Prev: cbls_module, Up: Modules
16.32 cbmemc
============
This module provides support for the command 'cbmemc' to show the
content of the Coreboot Memory console.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: cbtable_module, Next: cbtime_module, Prev: cbmemc_module, Up: Modules
16.33 cbtable
=============
This module provides support for accessing the Coreboot tables.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: cbtime_module, Next: chain_module, Prev: cbtable_module, Up: Modules
16.34 cbtime
============
This module provides support for the command 'coreboot_boottime' to show
the Coreboot boot time statistics.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: chain_module, Next: cmdline_cat_test_module, Prev: cbtime_module, Up: Modules
16.35 chain
===========
This module provides support for the command 'chainloader' to boot
another bootloader. Please *note chainloader:: for more information.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: cmdline_cat_test_module, Next: cmosdump_module, Prev: chain_module, Up: Modules
16.36 cmdline_cat_test
======================
This module is intended for performing a functional test of the 'cat'
command of VAS_EBOOT.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: cmosdump_module, Next: cmostest_module, Prev: cmdline_cat_test_module, Up: Modules
16.37 cmosdump
==============
This module provides support for the command 'cmosdump' to show a raw
dump of the CMOS contents. Please *note cmosdump:: for more
information.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: cmostest_module, Next: cmp_module, Prev: cmosdump_module, Up: Modules
16.38 cmostest
==============
This module provides support for the commands 'cmostest', 'cmosclean',
and 'cmosset' to interact with a CMOS. *Note cmostest:: / *note
cmosclean:: for more information.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: cmp_module, Next: cmp_test_module, Prev: cmostest_module, Up: Modules
16.39 cmp
=========
This module provides support for the command 'cmp' to compare the
content of two files. *Note cmp:: for more information.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: cmp_test_module, Next: configfile_module, Prev: cmp_module, Up: Modules
16.40 cmp_test
==============
This module is intended for performing a functional test of relational
operations in VAS_EBOOT. Note that this module is *not* associated with the
'cmp' command and does not test the 'cmp' command.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: configfile_module, Next: cpio_module, Prev: cmp_test_module, Up: Modules
16.41 configfile
================
This module provides support for the commands: 'configfile', 'source',
'extract_entries_source', 'extract_entries_configfile', '.' (dot
command). *Note configfile:: / *note source::.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: cpio_module, Next: cpio_be_module, Prev: configfile_module, Up: Modules
16.42 cpio
==========
This module provides support for the CPIO archive file format. This
module is for the "bin" version of CPIO (default of GNU CPIO) supporting
around 2GB.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: cpio_be_module, Next: cpuid_module, Prev: cpio_module, Up: Modules
16.43 cpio_be
=============
This module provides support for the CPIO archive file format in
big-endian format. This module is for the "bin" version of CPIO
(default of GNU CPIO) supporting around 2GB.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: cpuid_module, Next: crc64_module, Prev: cpio_be_module, Up: Modules
16.44 cpuid
===========
This module provides support for the command 'cpuid' to test for various
CPU features. *Note cpuid:: for more information.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: crc64_module, Next: crypto_cipher_mode_test_module, Prev: cpuid_module, Up: Modules
16.45 crc64
===========
This module provides support for the CRC64 operation.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: crypto_cipher_mode_test_module, Next: crypto_module, Prev: crc64_module, Up: Modules
16.46 crypto_cipher_mode_test
=============================
This module performs various cipher mode encryption/decryption tests

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: crypto_module, Next: cryptodisk_module, Prev: crypto_cipher_mode_test_module, Up: Modules
16.47 crypto
============
This module provides library support for various base cryptography
operations in VAS_EBOOT.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: cryptodisk_module, Next: cs5536_module, Prev: crypto_module, Up: Modules
16.48 cryptodisk
================
This module provides support for the command 'cryptomount' to interact
with encrypted file systems. *Note cryptomount:: for more information.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: cs5536_module, Next: ctz_test_module, Prev: cryptodisk_module, Up: Modules
16.49 cs5536
============
This module provides support for the AMD Geode CS5536 companion device.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: ctz_test_module, Next: date_module, Prev: cs5536_module, Up: Modules
16.50 ctz_test
==============
This module is intended for performing a functional test of the ctz
functions in VAS_EBOOT used to Count Trailing Zeros.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: date_module, Next: datehook_module, Prev: ctz_test_module, Up: Modules
16.51 date
==========
This module provides support for the command 'date' to get the date/time
or set the date/time. *Note date:: for more information.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: datehook_module, Next: datetime_module, Prev: date_module, Up: Modules
16.52 datehook
==============
This module provides support for populating / providing the environment
variables 'YEAR', 'MONTH', 'DAY', 'HOUR', 'MINUTE', 'SECOND', 'WEEKDAY'.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: datetime_module, Next: disk_module, Prev: datehook_module, Up: Modules
16.53 datetime
==============
This module provides library support for getting and setting the date /
time from / to a hardware clock device.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: disk_module, Next: diskfilter_module, Prev: datetime_module, Up: Modules
16.54 disk
==========
This module provides library support for writing to a storage disk.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: diskfilter_module, Next: div_module, Prev: disk_module, Up: Modules
16.55 diskfilter
================
This module provides library support for reading a disk RAID array. It
also provides support for the command 'cryptocheck'. *Note
cryptocheck:: for more information.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: div_module, Next: div_test_module, Prev: diskfilter_module, Up: Modules
16.56 div
=========
This module provides library support for some operations such as divmod.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: div_test_module, Next: dm_nv_module, Prev: div_module, Up: Modules
16.57 div_test
==============
This module is intended for performing a functional test of the divmod
function in VAS_EBOOT.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: dm_nv_module, Next: drivemap_module, Prev: div_test_module, Up: Modules
16.58 dm_nv
===========
This module provides support for handling some Nvidia "fakeraid" disk
devices.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: drivemap_module, Next: dsa_sexp_test_module, Prev: dm_nv_module, Up: Modules
16.59 drivemap
==============
This module provides support for the 'drivemap' to manage BIOS drive
mappings. *Note drivemap:: for more information.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: dsa_sexp_test_module, Next: echo_module, Prev: drivemap_module, Up: Modules
16.60 dsa_sexp_test
===================
This module provides a test of the libgcrypt DSA functionality in VAS_EBOOT.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: echo_module, Next: efi_gop_module, Prev: dsa_sexp_test_module, Up: Modules
16.61 echo
==========
This module provides support for the 'echo' to display a line of text.
*Note echo:: for more information.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: efi_gop_module, Next: efi_uga_module, Prev: echo_module, Up: Modules
16.62 efi_gop
=============
This module provides support for the UEFI video output protocol
"Graphics Output Protocol" (GOP).

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: efi_uga_module, Next: efiemu_module, Prev: efi_gop_module, Up: Modules
16.63 efi_uga
=============
This module provides support for the EFI video protocol "Universal
Graphic Adapter" (UGA).

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: efiemu_module, Next: efifwsetup_module, Prev: efi_uga_module, Up: Modules
16.64 efiemu
============
This module provides support for the commands 'efiemu_loadcore',
'efiemu_prepare', and 'efiemu_unload'. This provides an EFI emulation.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: efifwsetup_module, Next: efinet_module, Prev: efiemu_module, Up: Modules
16.65 efifwsetup
================
This modules provides support for the command 'fwsetup' to reboot into
the firmware setup menu. *Note fwsetup:: for more information.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: efinet_module, Next: efitextmode_module, Prev: efifwsetup_module, Up: Modules
16.66 efinet
============
This module provides support for UEFI Network Booting for loading images
and data from the network.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: efitextmode_module, Next: ehci_module, Prev: efinet_module, Up: Modules
16.67 efitextmode
=================
This module provides support for command 'efitextmode' to get and set
output mode resolution. *Note efitextmode:: for more information.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: ehci_module, Next: elf_module, Prev: efitextmode_module, Up: Modules
16.68 ehci
==========
This module provides support for the USB Enhanced Host Controller
Interface (EHCI) specification (USB 2.0).

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: elf_module, Next: emunet_module, Prev: ehci_module, Up: Modules
16.69 elf
=========
This module provides support for loading Executable and Linkable Format
(ELF) files.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: emunet_module, Next: emupci_module, Prev: elf_module, Up: Modules
16.70 emunet
============
This module provides support for networking in VAS_EBOOT on the emu platform.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: emupci_module, Next: erofs_module, Prev: emunet_module, Up: Modules
16.71 emupci
============
This module provides support for accessing the PCI bus in VAS_EBOOT on the
emu platform.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: erofs_module, Next: escc_module, Prev: emupci_module, Up: Modules
16.72 erofs
===========
This module provides support for the Enhanced Read Only File System
(EROFS).

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: escc_module, Next: eval_module, Prev: erofs_module, Up: Modules
16.73 escc
==========
This module provides support for the "mac-io" terminal device on
PowerPC.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: eval_module, Next: exfat_module, Prev: escc_module, Up: Modules
16.74 eval
==========
This module provides support for command 'eval' to evaluate the provided
input as a sequence of VAS_EBOOT commands. *Note eval:: for more
information.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: exfat_module, Next: exfctest_module, Prev: eval_module, Up: Modules
16.75 exfat
===========
This module provides support for the Extensible File Allocation Table
(exFAT) file system in VAS_EBOOT.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: exfctest_module, Next: ext2_module, Prev: exfat_module, Up: Modules
16.76 exfctest
==============
This module is intended to provide an Example Functional Test of VAS_EBOOT
functions to use as a template for developing other VAS_EBOOT functional
tests.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: ext2_module, Next: extcmd_module, Prev: exfctest_module, Up: Modules
16.77 ext2
==========
This module provides support for the Extended File System versions 2, 3,
and 4 (ext2, ext3, and ext4) file systems in VAS_EBOOT.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: extcmd_module, Next: f2fs_module, Prev: ext2_module, Up: Modules
16.78 extcmd
============
This module is a support module to provide wrapper functions for
registering other module commands depending on the state of the lockdown
variable.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: f2fs_module, Next: fat_module, Prev: extcmd_module, Up: Modules
16.79 f2fs
==========
This module provides support for the Flash-Friendly File System (F2FS)
in VAS_EBOOT.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: fat_module, Next: fdt_module, Prev: f2fs_module, Up: Modules
16.80 fat
=========
This module provides support for the File Allocation Table 12-bit,
16-bit, and 32-bit (FAT12, FAT16, and FAT32) file systems in VAS_EBOOT.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: fdt_module, Next: file_module, Prev: fat_module, Up: Modules
16.81 fdt
=========
This module provides support for the commands 'fdtdump' and 'devicetree'
to dump the contents of a device tree blob (.dtb) to the console and to
load a device tree blob (.dtb) from a filesystem, for later use by a
Linux kernel, respectively. *Note devicetree:: and *note fdtdump:: for
more information.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: file_module, Next: fixvideo_module, Prev: fdt_module, Up: Modules
16.82 file
==========
This module provides support for the command 'file' to test if the
provided filename is of the specified type. *Note file:: for more
information.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: fixvideo_module, Next: font_module, Prev: file_module, Up: Modules
16.83 fixvideo
==============
This module provides support for the command 'fix_video' to fix video
problems in specific PCIe video devices by "patching" specific device
register settings. Currently supports Intel 945GM (PCI ID '0x27a28086')
and Intel 965GM (PCI ID '0x2a028086').

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: font_module, Next: freedos_module, Prev: fixvideo_module, Up: Modules
16.84 font
==========
This module provides support for the commands 'loadfont' and 'lsfonts'
to load a given font or list the loaded fonts. *Note loadfont:: and
*note lsfonts:: for more information.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: freedos_module, Next: fshelp_module, Prev: font_module, Up: Modules
16.85 freedos
=============
This module provides support for command 'freedos' for loading a FreeDOS
kernel.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: fshelp_module, Next: functional_test_module, Prev: freedos_module, Up: Modules
16.86 fshelp
============
This module provides support functions (helper functions) for file
systems.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: functional_test_module, Next: gcry_arcfour_module, Prev: fshelp_module, Up: Modules
16.87 functional_test
=====================
This module provides support for running the VAS_EBOOT functional tests using
commands 'functional_test' and 'all_functional_test'.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: gcry_arcfour_module, Next: gcry_aria_module, Prev: functional_test_module, Up: Modules
16.88 gcry_arcfour
==================
This module provides support for the arcfour stream cipher also known as
RC4. If security is a concern, RC4 / arcfour cipher is consider broken
(multiple known vulnerabilities make this insecure). This VAS_EBOOT module
is based on libgcrypt.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: gcry_aria_module, Next: gcry_blake2_module, Prev: gcry_arcfour_module, Up: Modules
16.89 gcry_aria
===============
This module provides support for the ARIA cipher. This VAS_EBOOT module is
based on libgcrypt.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: gcry_blake2_module, Next: gcry_blowfish_module, Prev: gcry_aria_module, Up: Modules
16.90 gcry_blake2
=================
This module provides support for the BLAKE2b and BLAKE2s message
digests. This VAS_EBOOT module is based on libgcrypt.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: gcry_blowfish_module, Next: gcry_camellia_module, Prev: gcry_blake2_module, Up: Modules
16.91 gcry_blowfish
===================
This module provides support for the Blowfish cipher. This VAS_EBOOT module
is based on libgcrypt.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: gcry_camellia_module, Next: gcry_cast5_module, Prev: gcry_blowfish_module, Up: Modules
16.92 gcry_camellia
===================
This module provides support for the Camellia cipher. This VAS_EBOOT module
is based on libgcrypt.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: gcry_cast5_module, Next: gcry_crc_module, Prev: gcry_camellia_module, Up: Modules
16.93 gcry_cast5
================
This module provides support for the CAST5 (RFC2144, also known as
CAST-128) cipher. This VAS_EBOOT module is based on libgcrypt.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: gcry_crc_module, Next: gcry_des_module, Prev: gcry_cast5_module, Up: Modules
16.94 gcry_crc
==============
This module provides support for the CRC32, CRC32 RFC1510, and CRC24
RFC2440 cyclic redundancy checks. This VAS_EBOOT module is based on
libgcrypt.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: gcry_des_module, Next: gcry_dsa_module, Prev: gcry_crc_module, Up: Modules
16.95 gcry_des
==============
This module provides support for the Data Encryption Standard (DES) and
Triple-DES ciphers. If security is a concern, DES has known
vulnerabilities and is not recommended, and Triple-DES is no longer
recommended by NIST. This VAS_EBOOT module is based on libgcrypt.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: gcry_dsa_module, Next: gcry_gost28147_module, Prev: gcry_des_module, Up: Modules
16.96 gcry_dsa
==============
This module provides support for the Digital Signature Algorithm (DSA)
cipher. This VAS_EBOOT module is based on libgcrypt.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: gcry_gost28147_module, Next: gcry_gostr3411_94_module, Prev: gcry_dsa_module, Up: Modules
16.97 gcry_gost28147
====================
This module provides support for the GOST 28147-89 cipher. This VAS_EBOOT
module is based on libgcrypt.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: gcry_gostr3411_94_module, Next: gcry_idea_module, Prev: gcry_gost28147_module, Up: Modules
16.98 gcry_gostr3411_94
=======================
This module provides support for the GOST R 34.11-94 message digest.
This VAS_EBOOT module is based on libgcrypt.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: gcry_idea_module, Next: gcry_keccak_module, Prev: gcry_gostr3411_94_module, Up: Modules
16.99 gcry_idea
===============
This module provides support for the International Data Encryption
Algorithm (IDEA) cipher. This VAS_EBOOT module is based on libgcrypt.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: gcry_keccak_module, Next: gcry_md4_module, Prev: gcry_idea_module, Up: Modules
16.100 gcry_keccak
==================
This module provides support for the SHA3 hash message digests
(including SHAKE128 and SHAKE256). This VAS_EBOOT module is based on
libgcrypt.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: gcry_md4_module, Next: gcry_md5_module, Prev: gcry_keccak_module, Up: Modules
16.101 gcry_md4
===============
This module provides support for the Message Digest 4 (MD4) message
digest. If security is a concern, MD4 has known vulnerabilities and is
not recommended. This VAS_EBOOT module is based on libgcrypt.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: gcry_md5_module, Next: gcry_rfc2268_module, Prev: gcry_md4_module, Up: Modules
16.102 gcry_md5
===============
This module provides support for the Message Digest 5 (MD5) message
digest. If security is a concern, MD5 has known vulnerabilities and is
not recommended. This VAS_EBOOT module is based on libgcrypt.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: gcry_rfc2268_module, Next: gcry_rijndael_module, Prev: gcry_md5_module, Up: Modules
16.103 gcry_rfc2268
===================
This module provides support for the RFC2268 (RC2 / Ron's Cipher 2)
cipher. If security is a concern, RC2 has known vulnerabilities and is
not recommended. This VAS_EBOOT module is based on libgcrypt.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: gcry_rijndael_module, Next: gcry_rmd160_module, Prev: gcry_rfc2268_module, Up: Modules
16.104 gcry_rijndael
====================
This module provides support for the Advanced Encryption Standard
(AES-128, AES-192, and AES-256) ciphers. This VAS_EBOOT module is based on
libgcrypt.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: gcry_rmd160_module, Next: gcry_rsa_module, Prev: gcry_rijndael_module, Up: Modules
16.105 gcry_rmd160
==================
This module provides support for the RIPEMD-160 message digest. This
VAS_EBOOT module is based on libgcrypt.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: gcry_rsa_module, Next: gcry_salsa20_module, Prev: gcry_rmd160_module, Up: Modules
16.106 gcry_rsa
===============
This module provides support for the Rivest–Shamir–Adleman (RSA) cipher.
This VAS_EBOOT module is based on libgcrypt.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: gcry_salsa20_module, Next: gcry_seed_module, Prev: gcry_rsa_module, Up: Modules
16.107 gcry_salsa20
===================
This module provides support for the Salsa20 cipher. This VAS_EBOOT module
is based on libgcrypt.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: gcry_seed_module, Next: gcry_serpent_module, Prev: gcry_salsa20_module, Up: Modules
16.108 gcry_seed
================
This module provides support for the SEED cipher. This VAS_EBOOT module is
based on libgcrypt.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: gcry_serpent_module, Next: gcry_sha1_module, Prev: gcry_seed_module, Up: Modules
16.109 gcry_serpent
===================
This module provides support for the Serpent (128, 192, and 256)
ciphers. This VAS_EBOOT module is based on libgcrypt.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: gcry_sha1_module, Next: gcry_sha256_module, Prev: gcry_serpent_module, Up: Modules
16.110 gcry_sha1
================
This module provides support for the Secure Hash Algorithm 1 (SHA-1)
message digest. If security is a concern, SHA-1 has known
vulnerabilities and is not recommended. This VAS_EBOOT module is based on
libgcrypt.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: gcry_sha256_module, Next: gcry_sha512_module, Prev: gcry_sha1_module, Up: Modules
16.111 gcry_sha256
==================
This module provides support for the Secure Hash Algorithm 2 (224 and
256 bit) (SHA-224 / SHA-256) message digests. This VAS_EBOOT module is based
on libgcrypt.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: gcry_sha512_module, Next: gcry_sm3_module, Prev: gcry_sha256_module, Up: Modules
16.112 gcry_sha512
==================
This module provides support for the Secure Hash Algorithm 2 (384 and
512 bit) (SHA-384 / SHA-512) message digests. This VAS_EBOOT module is based
on libgcrypt.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: gcry_sm3_module, Next: gcry_sm4_module, Prev: gcry_sha512_module, Up: Modules
16.113 gcry_sm3
===============
This module provides support for the SM3 message digest. This VAS_EBOOT
module is based on libgcrypt.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: gcry_sm4_module, Next: gcry_stribog_module, Prev: gcry_sm3_module, Up: Modules
16.114 gcry_sm4
===============
This module provides support for the SM4 cipher. This VAS_EBOOT module is
based on libgcrypt.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: gcry_stribog_module, Next: gcry_tiger_module, Prev: gcry_sm4_module, Up: Modules
16.115 gcry_stribog
===================
This module provides support for the GOST R 34.11-2012 (Stribog) message
digest. This VAS_EBOOT module is based on libgcrypt.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: gcry_tiger_module, Next: gcry_twofish_module, Prev: gcry_stribog_module, Up: Modules
16.116 gcry_tiger
=================
This module provides support for the Tiger, Tiger 1, and Tiger 2 message
digests. This VAS_EBOOT module is based on libgcrypt.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: gcry_twofish_module, Next: gcry_whirlpool_module, Prev: gcry_tiger_module, Up: Modules
16.117 gcry_twofish
===================
This module provides support for the Twofish (128 and 256) ciphers.
This VAS_EBOOT module is based on libgcrypt.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: gcry_whirlpool_module, Next: gdb_module, Prev: gcry_twofish_module, Up: Modules
16.118 gcry_whirlpool
=====================
This module provides support for the Whirlpool message digest. This
VAS_EBOOT module is based on libgcrypt.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: gdb_module, Next: geli_module, Prev: gcry_whirlpool_module, Up: Modules
16.119 gdb
==========
This module provides support for remotely debugging VAS_EBOOT using the GNU
Debugger (GDB) over serial. This is typically done when troubleshooting
VAS_EBOOT during development and not required for normal VAS_EBOOT operation.
This module adds support for commands required by the GDB remote debug
function including 'gdbstub' to start GDB stub on given serial port,
'gdbstub_break' to break into GDB, 'gdbstub_stop' to stop the GDB stub.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: geli_module, Next: gettext_module, Prev: gdb_module, Up: Modules
16.120 geli
===========
This module provides support for the GEOM ELI (GELI) disk encryption /
decryption protocol used by FreeBSD. This module supports the following
ciphers using the associated "gcry" modules: DES, Triple-DES, Blowfish,
CAST5, AES, and Camellia 128.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: gettext_module, Next: gfxmenu_module, Prev: geli_module, Up: Modules
16.121 gettext
==============
This module provides support for the 'gettext' command to support
translating information displayed / output by VAS_EBOOT. *Note gettext:: for
more information.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: gfxmenu_module, Next: gfxterm_module, Prev: gettext_module, Up: Modules
16.122 gfxmenu
==============
This module provides support for displaying a graphical menu / user
interface from VAS_EBOOT. This includes features such as graphical font
support, theme support, image support, and icon support.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: gfxterm_module, Next: gfxterm_background_module, Prev: gfxmenu_module, Up: Modules
16.123 gfxterm
==============
This module provides support for displaying a terminal and menu
interface from VAS_EBOOT using graphics mode.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: gfxterm_background_module, Next: gfxterm_menu_module, Prev: gfxterm_module, Up: Modules
16.124 gfxterm_background
=========================
This module provides support for setting the gfxterm background color
and background image using commands 'background_color' and
'background_image'. *Note background_color:: and *note
background_image:: for more information.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: gfxterm_menu_module, Next: gptsync_module, Prev: gfxterm_background_module, Up: Modules
16.125 gfxterm_menu
===================
This module is intended for performing a functional test of the gfxmenu
function in VAS_EBOOT.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: gptsync_module, Next: gzio_module, Prev: gfxterm_menu_module, Up: Modules
16.126 gptsync
==============
This module provides support for the 'gptsync' command.. *Note
gptsync:: for more information.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: gzio_module, Next: halt_module, Prev: gptsync_module, Up: Modules
16.127 gzio
===========
This module provides support for decompression (inflate) of files
compressed with the GZ compression algorithm. This supports only the
"DEFLATE" method for GZIP. Unsupported flags (will result in failure to
inflate) include: 'VAS_EBOOT_GZ_CONTINUATION', 'VAS_EBOOT_GZ_ENCRYPTED',
'VAS_EBOOT_GZ_RESERVED', and 'VAS_EBOOT_GZ_EXTRA_FIELD'.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: halt_module, Next: hashsum_module, Prev: gzio_module, Up: Modules
16.128 halt
===========
This module provides support for the 'halt' command to shutdown / halt
the system. *Note halt:: for more information.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: hashsum_module, Next: hdparm_module, Prev: halt_module, Up: Modules
16.129 hashsum
==============
This module provide support for the commands 'hashsum', 'md5sum',
'sha1sum', 'sha256sum', 'sha512sum', and 'crc' to calculate or check
hashes of files using various methods. *Note hashsum::, *note md5sum::
*note sha1sum::, *note sha256sum::, *note sha512sum::, and *note crc::.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: hdparm_module, Next: hello_module, Prev: hashsum_module, Up: Modules
16.130 hdparm
=============
This module provides support for the 'hdparm' command to get or set
various ATA disk parameters. This includes controlling Advanced Power
Management (APM), displaying power mode, freezing ATA security settings
until reset, displaying SMART status, controlling automatic acoustic
management, setting standby timeout, setting the drive to standby mode,
setting the drive to sleep mode, displaying the drive identification and
settings, and enable/disable SMART.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: hello_module, Next: help_module, Prev: hdparm_module, Up: Modules
16.131 hello
============
This provides support for the 'hello' command to simply output "Hello
World". This is intended for testing VAS_EBOOT module loading /
functionality.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: help_module, Next: hexdump_module, Prev: hello_module, Up: Modules
16.132 help
===========
This module provides support for the 'help' command to output help text.
*Note help:: for more information.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: hexdump_module, Next: hfs_module, Prev: help_module, Up: Modules
16.133 hexdump
==============
This module provides support for the 'hexdump' command to dump the
contents of a file in hexadecimal. *Note hexdump:: for more
information.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: hfs_module, Next: hfsplus_module, Prev: hexdump_module, Up: Modules
16.134 hfs
==========
This module provides support for the Hierarchical File System (HFS) file
system in VAS_EBOOT. Note: This module is not allowed in lockdown mode, *note
Lockdown:: for more information.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: hfsplus_module, Next: hfspluscomp_module, Prev: hfs_module, Up: Modules
16.135 hfsplus
==============
This module provides support for the Hierarchical File System Plus
(HFS+) file system in VAS_EBOOT.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: hfspluscomp_module, Next: http_module, Prev: hfsplus_module, Up: Modules
16.136 hfspluscomp
==================
This module provides support for the Hierarchical File System Plus
Compressed (HFS+ Compressed) file system in VAS_EBOOT.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: http_module, Next: ieee1275_fb_module, Prev: hfspluscomp_module, Up: Modules
16.137 http
===========
This module provides support for getting data over the HTTP network
protocol in VAS_EBOOT (using the HTTP GET method). This may be used, for
example, to obtain an operating system over HTTP (network boot).

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: ieee1275_fb_module, Next: iorw_module, Prev: http_module, Up: Modules
16.138 ieee1275_fb
==================
This module provides support for the IEEE1275 video driver output for
PowerPC with a IEEE-1275 platform.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: iorw_module, Next: iso9660_module, Prev: ieee1275_fb_module, Up: Modules
16.139 iorw
===========
This module provides support for commands 'inb', 'inw', 'inl', 'outb',
'outw', and 'outl' to read / write data to physical I/O ports. The "in"
commands accept one parameter to specify the source port. The "out"
commands require either two or three parameters, with the order: port,
value, <optional mask>.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: iso9660_module, Next: jfs_module, Prev: iorw_module, Up: Modules
16.140 iso9660
==============
This module provides support for the ISO9660 file system (often
associated with optical disks such as CD-ROMs and DVD-ROMs, with
extensions: System Use Sharing Protocol (SUSP), Rock Ridge (UNIX style
permissions and longer names)

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: jfs_module, Next: jpeg_module, Prev: iso9660_module, Up: Modules
16.141 jfs
==========
This module provides support for the Journaled File System (JFS) file
system. Note: This module is not allowed in lockdown mode, *note
Lockdown:: for more information.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: jpeg_module, Next: json_module, Prev: jfs_module, Up: Modules
16.142 jpeg
===========
This module provides support for reading JPEG image files in VAS_EBOOT, such
as to support displaying a JPEG image as a background image of the
gfxmenu.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: json_module, Next: keylayouts_module, Prev: jpeg_module, Up: Modules
16.143 json
===========
This module provides library support for parsing / processing JavaScript
Object Notation (JSON) formatted data. This is used, for example, to
support LUKS2 disk encryption / decryption as metadata is encoded in
JSON.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: keylayouts_module, Next: keystatus_module, Prev: json_module, Up: Modules
16.144 keylayouts
=================
This module provides support for the 'keymap' command. This command
accepts one parameter to specify either the LAYOUT_NAME or the FILENAME.
When specifying the LAYOUT_NAME, this command will attempt to open the
VAS_EBOOT keymap file based on the following logic:
Get the "prefix" from environment variable PREFIX
Open keymap file PREFIX/layouts/LAYOUT_NAME.gkb
When specifying the FILENAME, the full path to the ".gkb" file should
be provided. The ".gkb" file can be generated by VasEBoot-kbdcomp.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: keystatus_module, Next: ldm_module, Prev: keylayouts_module, Up: Modules
16.145 keystatus
================
This module provides support for the 'keystatus' command to check key
modifier status. *Note keystatus:: for more information.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: ldm_module, Next: legacy_password_test_module, Prev: keystatus_module, Up: Modules
16.146 ldm
==========
This module provides support for the Logical Disk Manager (LDM) disk
format. LDM is used to add support for logical volumes most often with
Microsoft Windows systems. A logical volume can be defined to span more
than one physical disk.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: legacy_password_test_module, Next: legacycfg_module, Prev: ldm_module, Up: Modules
16.147 legacy_password_test
===========================
This module is intended for performing a functional test of the legacy
password function in VAS_EBOOT.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: legacycfg_module, Next: linux_module, Prev: legacy_password_test_module, Up: Modules
16.148 legacycfg
================
This module provides support for commands 'legacy_source',
'legacy_configfile', 'extract_legacy_entries_source',
'extract_legacy_entries_configfile', 'legacy_kernel', 'legacy_initrd',
'legacy_initrd_nounzip', 'legacy_password', and 'legacy_check_password'.
For new uses / configurations of VAS_EBOOT other commands / modules offer the
modern equivalents.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: linux_module, Next: linux16_module, Prev: legacycfg_module, Up: Modules
16.149 linux
============
This module provides support for the commands 'linux' and 'initrd' to
load Linux and an Initial RAM Disk respectively. *Note linux:: and
*note initrd:: for more information.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: linux16_module, Next: loadbios_module, Prev: linux_module, Up: Modules
16.150 linux16
==============
This module provides support for the commands 'linux16' and 'initrd16'
to load Linux in 16-bit mode and an Initial RAM Disk in 16-bit mode
respectively. *Note linux16:: and *note initrd16:: for more
information.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: loadbios_module, Next: loadenv_module, Prev: linux16_module, Up: Modules
16.151 loadbios
===============
This module provides support for the commands 'fakebios' and 'loadbios'.
These commands may only be useful on platforms with issues requiring
work-arounds. Command 'fakebios' is used to create BIOS-like structures
for backward compatibility with existing OS. Command 'loadbios' is used
to load a BIOS dump.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: loadenv_module, Next: loopback_module, Prev: loadbios_module, Up: Modules
16.152 loadenv
==============
This module provides support for commands 'load_env', 'list_env', and
'save_env'. These commands can be used to load environment variables
from a file, list environment variables in a file, and save environment
variables to a file. *Note load_env::, *note list_env::, and *note
save_env::.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: loopback_module, Next: ls_module, Prev: loadenv_module, Up: Modules
16.153 loopback
===============
This module provides support for the 'loopback' command. *Note
loopback:: for more information.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: ls_module, Next: lsacpi_module, Prev: loopback_module, Up: Modules
16.154 ls
=========
This module provides support for the 'ls' command. *Note ls:: for more
information.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: lsacpi_module, Next: lsapm_module, Prev: ls_module, Up: Modules
16.155 lsacpi
=============
This module provides support for the 'lsacpi' command. This command can
be used to display Advanced Configuration and Power Interface (ACPI)
tables.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: lsapm_module, Next: lsdev_module, Prev: lsacpi_module, Up: Modules
16.156 lsapm
============
This module provides support for the 'lsapm' command. This command can
be used to display Advanced power management (APM) information.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: lsdev_module, Next: lsefi_module, Prev: lsapm_module, Up: Modules
16.157 lsdev
============
This module provides support for the 'lsdev' command. This command can
be used on MIPS Advanced RISC Computing (ARC) platforms to display
devices.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: lsefi_module, Next: lsefimmap_module, Prev: lsdev_module, Up: Modules
16.158 lsefi
============
This module provides support for the 'lsefi' command. This command can
be used on EFI platforms to display EFI handles.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: lsefimmap_module, Next: lsefisystab_module, Prev: lsefi_module, Up: Modules
16.159 lsefimmap
================
This module provides support for the 'lsefimmap' command. This command
can be used on EFI platforms to display the EFI memory map.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: lsefisystab_module, Next: lsmmap_module, Prev: lsefimmap_module, Up: Modules
16.160 lsefisystab
==================
This module provides support for the 'lsefisystab' command. This
command can be used on EFI platforms to display the EFI system tables.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: lsmmap_module, Next: lspci_module, Prev: lsefisystab_module, Up: Modules
16.161 lsmmap
=============
This module provides support for the 'lsmmap' command. This command can
be used to display the memory map provided by firmware.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: lspci_module, Next: lssal_module, Prev: lsmmap_module, Up: Modules
16.162 lspci
============
This module provides support for the 'lspci' command. This command can
be used to display the PCI / PCIe devices.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: lssal_module, Next: lsspd_module, Prev: lspci_module, Up: Modules
16.163 lssal
============
This module provides support for the 'lsefisystab' command. This
command can be used on Itanium (IA-64) EFI platforms to display the EFI
System Abstraction Layer system table.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: lsspd_module, Next: lsxen_module, Prev: lssal_module, Up: Modules
16.164 lsspd
============
This module provides support for the 'lsspd' command. This command can
be used on MIPS Loongson platforms to display the DDR RAM Serial
Presence Detect (SPD) EEPROM data.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: lsxen_module, Next: luks_module, Prev: lsspd_module, Up: Modules
16.165 lsxen
============
This module provides support for the commands 'xen_ls' and 'xen_cat' on
Xen platforms to list Xen storage.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: luks_module, Next: luks2_module, Prev: lsxen_module, Up: Modules
16.166 luks
===========
This module provides support for the Linux Unified Key Setup (LUKS)
(version 1) disk encryption / decryption protocol.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: luks2_module, Next: lvm_module, Prev: luks_module, Up: Modules
16.167 luks2
============
This module provides support for the Linux Unified Key Setup 2 (LUKS2)
disk encryption / decryption protocol.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: lvm_module, Next: lzopio_module, Prev: luks2_module, Up: Modules
16.168 lvm
==========
This module provides support for reading Logical Volume Management
"logical" disks. For example, a single "logical" disk may be mapped to
span more than one physical disk. This would be used when booting from
a LVM formatted disk as may be setup in Linux.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: lzopio_module, Next: macbless_module, Prev: lvm_module, Up: Modules
16.169 lzopio
=============
This module provides support for decompressing LZO / LZOP compressed
files / archives.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: macbless_module, Next: macho_module, Prev: lzopio_module, Up: Modules
16.170 macbless
===============
This module provides support for commands 'mactelbless' and
'macppcbless' for "blessing" a bootloader on Intel / PPC based MACs
using the HFS or HFS+ file system. On HFS / HFS+ - "blessing" makes a
file run as the bootloader.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: macho_module, Next: mda_text_module, Prev: macbless_module, Up: Modules
16.171 macho
============
This module provides support for Mach Object (Mach-O) object /
executable files in VAS_EBOOT often used in MacOS.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: mda_text_module, Next: mdraid09_module, Prev: macho_module, Up: Modules
16.172 mda_text
===============
This module provides support for the Monochrome Display Adapter (MDA)
terminal output device. MDA is a predecessor to VGA.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: mdraid09_module, Next: mdraid09_be_module, Prev: mda_text_module, Up: Modules
16.173 mdraid09
===============
This module provides support for handling Linux compatible "version 0.9"
software-based RAID disks in little-endian format. The "version 0.9"
format was largely replaced around the year 2009 with the "version 1.x"
format (*note mdraid1x_module:: for more information).

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: mdraid09_be_module, Next: mdraid1x_module, Prev: mdraid09_module, Up: Modules
16.174 mdraid09_be
==================
This module provides support for handling Linux compatible "version 0.9"
software-based RAID disks in bid-endian format. The "version 0.9"
format was largely replaced around the year 2009 with the "version 1.x"
format (*note mdraid1x_module:: for more information).

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: mdraid1x_module, Next: memdisk_module, Prev: mdraid09_be_module, Up: Modules
16.175 mdraid1x
===============
This module provides support for handling Linux compatible "version 1.x"
software-based RAID disks. This includes the current version used by
Linux at the time of writing.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: memdisk_module, Next: memrw_module, Prev: mdraid1x_module, Up: Modules
16.176 memdisk
==============
This module provides support for a memdisk device. A memdisk is a
memory mapped emulated disk.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: memrw_module, Next: memtools_module, Prev: memdisk_module, Up: Modules
16.177 memrw
============
This module provides support for commands 'read_byte', 'read_word',
'read_dword', 'write_byte', 'write_word', and 'write_dword' to read /
write data to physical memory (addresses). The "read" commands accept
one parameter to specify the source address. The "write" commands
require either two or three parameters, with the order: address, value,
<optional mask>. Note: The commands provided by this module are not
allowed when lockdown is enforced (*note Lockdown::).

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: memtools_module, Next: minicmd_module, Prev: memrw_module, Up: Modules
16.178 memtools
===============
This module provides support for VAS_EBOOT development / debugging commands
'lsmem', 'lsfreemem', 'lsmemregions', and 'stress_big_allocs'.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: minicmd_module, Next: minix_module, Prev: memtools_module, Up: Modules
16.179 minicmd
==============
This module provides support for a subset of commands for VAS_EBOOT rescue
mode including: 'cat', 'help', 'dump', 'rmmod', 'lsmod', and 'exit'.
The version of the commands in this module are similar to their
full-fledged counterparts implemented in other VAS_EBOOT modules. Note: The
'dump' command is not allowed when lockdown is enforced (*note
Lockdown::).

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: minix_module, Next: minix2_module, Prev: minicmd_module, Up: Modules
16.180 minix
============
This module provides support for the Minix filesystem, version 1. Note:
This module is not allowed in lockdown mode, *note Lockdown:: for more
information.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: minix2_module, Next: minix2_be_module, Prev: minix_module, Up: Modules
16.181 minix2
=============
This module provides support for the Minix filesystem, version 2. Note:
This module is not allowed in lockdown mode, *note Lockdown:: for more
information.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: minix2_be_module, Next: minix3_module, Prev: minix2_module, Up: Modules
16.182 minix2_be
================
This module provides support for the Minix filesystem, version 2
big-endian. Note: This module is not allowed in lockdown mode, *note
Lockdown:: for more information.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: minix3_module, Next: minix3_be_module, Prev: minix2_be_module, Up: Modules
16.183 minix3
=============
This module provides support for the Minix filesystem, version 3. Note:
This module is not allowed in lockdown mode, *note Lockdown:: for more
information.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: minix3_be_module, Next: minix_be_module, Prev: minix3_module, Up: Modules
16.184 minix3_be
================
This module provides support for the Minix filesystem, version 3
big-endian. Note: This module is not allowed in lockdown mode, *note
Lockdown:: for more information.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: minix_be_module, Next: mmap_module, Prev: minix3_be_module, Up: Modules
16.185 minix_be
===============
This module provides support for the Minix filesystem, version 1
big-endian. Note: This module is not allowed in lockdown mode, *note
Lockdown:: for more information.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: mmap_module, Next: morse_module, Prev: minix_be_module, Up: Modules
16.186 mmap
===========
This module provides support for mapping or unmapping devices or files
into memory as well as commands 'badram' and 'cutmem'. *Note badram::
and *note cutmem::.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: morse_module, Next: mpi_module, Prev: mmap_module, Up: Modules
16.187 morse
============
This module provides support for outputting terminal output via Morse
code to an audio speaker output.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: mpi_module, Next: msdospart_module, Prev: morse_module, Up: Modules
16.188 mpi
==========
This module provides support for multi-precision-integers (MPIs) in
VAS_EBOOT. MPIs are used by the crypto functions as many depend on
mathematics of large numbers. This VAS_EBOOT module is based on libgcrypt.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: msdospart_module, Next: mul_test_module, Prev: mpi_module, Up: Modules
16.189 msdospart
================
This module provides support for modifying MSDOS formatted disk
partitions through the separate 'parttool' command.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: mul_test_module, Next: multiboot_module, Prev: msdospart_module, Up: Modules
16.190 mul_test
===============
This module is intended for performing a functional test of the
multiplication operations in VAS_EBOOT.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: multiboot_module, Next: multiboot2_module, Prev: mul_test_module, Up: Modules
16.191 multiboot
================
This module provides support for commands 'multiboot' and 'module' to
load a multiboot kernel and load a multiboot module, respectively.
*Note multiboot:: and *note module:: for more information. This is for
loading data formatted per the GNU Multiboot specification.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: multiboot2_module, Next: nand_module, Prev: multiboot_module, Up: Modules
16.192 multiboot2
=================
This module provides support for commands 'multiboot2' and 'module2' to
load a multiboot kernel and load a multiboot module, respectively. This
is for loading data formatted per the GNU Multiboot specification.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: nand_module, Next: nativedisk_module, Prev: multiboot2_module, Up: Modules
16.193 nand
===========
This module provides support for accessing an IEEE-1275 compliant NAND
disk from VAS_EBOOT.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: nativedisk_module, Next: net_module, Prev: nand_module, Up: Modules
16.194 nativedisk
=================
This module provides support for the 'nativedisk' command. *Note
nativedisk:: for more information.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: net_module, Next: newc_module, Prev: nativedisk_module, Up: Modules
16.195 net
==========
This module provides support for networking protocols including ARP,
BOOTP, DNS, Ethernet, ICMPv6, ICMP, IP, TCP, and UDP. Support is
included for both IPv4 and IPv6. This includes the following commands:
* 'net_bootp' - *note net_bootp::
* 'net_dhcp' - *note net_dhcp::
* 'net_get_dhcp_option' - *note net_get_dhcp_option::
* 'net_nslookup' - *note net_nslookup::
* 'net_add_dns' - *note net_add_dns::
* 'net_del_dns' - *note net_del_dns::
* 'net_ls_dns' - *note net_ls_dns::
* 'net_add_addr' - *note net_add_addr::
* 'net_ipv6_autoconf' - *note net_ipv6_autoconf::
* 'net_del_addr' - *note net_del_addr::
* 'net_add_route' - *note net_add_route::
* 'net_del_route' - *note net_del_route::
* 'net_set_vlan' - *note net_set_vlan::
* 'net_ls_routes' - *note net_ls_routes::
* 'net_ls_cards' - *note net_ls_cards::
* 'net_ls_addr' - *note net_ls_addr::

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: newc_module, Next: nilfs2_module, Prev: net_module, Up: Modules
16.196 newc
===========
This module provides support for accessing a CPIO archive as a file
system from VAS_EBOOT. This module is for the following newer variants of the
CPIO archive supported by GNU CPIO (but GNU CPIO defaults to the "bin"
format which is handled by the module *note cpio_module::).
These are the variants supported by this module:
* "newc" - SVR4 portable format without CRC. GNU file utility will
identify these as something like "ASCII cpio archive (SVR4 with no
CRC)"
* ‘crc’ - SVR4 portable format with CRC. GNU file utility will
identify these as something like "ASCII cpio archive (SVR4 with
CRC)"

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: nilfs2_module, Next: normal_module, Prev: newc_module, Up: Modules
16.197 nilfs2
=============
This module provides support for the New Implementation of Log
filesystem (nilfs2). Note: This module is not allowed in lockdown mode,
*note Lockdown:: for more information.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: normal_module, Next: ntfs_module, Prev: nilfs2_module, Up: Modules
16.198 normal
=============
This module provides support for the normal mode in VAS_EBOOT. *Note normal::
for more information.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: ntfs_module, Next: ntfscomp_module, Prev: normal_module, Up: Modules
16.199 ntfs
===========
This module provides support for the New Technology File System (NTFS)
in VAS_EBOOT. Note: This module is not allowed in lockdown mode, *note
Lockdown:: for more information.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: ntfscomp_module, Next: ntldr_module, Prev: ntfs_module, Up: Modules
16.200 ntfscomp
===============
This module provides support for compression with the New Technology
File System (NTFS) in VAS_EBOOT. Note: This module is not allowed in lockdown
mode, *note Lockdown:: for more information.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: ntldr_module, Next: odc_module, Prev: ntfscomp_module, Up: Modules
16.201 ntldr
============
This module provides support for the 'ntldr' command. This is may be
used to boot a Windows boot loader such as NTLDR or BootMGR.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: odc_module, Next: offsetio_module, Prev: ntldr_module, Up: Modules
16.202 odc
==========
This module provides support for accessing a CPIO archive as a file
system from VAS_EBOOT. This module is for "odc" variant of the CPIO archive
supported by GNU CPIO (but GNU CPIO defaults to the "bin" format which
is handled by the module *note cpio_module::).
GNU file utility will identify these as something like "ASCII cpio
archive (pre-SVR4 or odc)"

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: offsetio_module, Next: ofnet_module, Prev: odc_module, Up: Modules
16.203 offsetio
===============
This module provides support for reading from a file / archive at
specified offsets in VAS_EBOOT.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: ofnet_module, Next: ohci_module, Prev: offsetio_module, Up: Modules
16.204 ofnet
============
This module provides support for the Open Firmware (IEEE-1275) network
device support in VAS_EBOOT.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: ohci_module, Next: part_acorn_module, Prev: ofnet_module, Up: Modules
16.205 ohci
===========
This module provides support for the Open Host Controller Interface
(OHCI) for USB 1 / USB 1.1 support in VAS_EBOOT.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: part_acorn_module, Next: part_amiga_module, Prev: ohci_module, Up: Modules
16.206 part_acorn
=================
This module provides support for reading from disks partitioned with the
Acorn Disc Filing System (ADFS) used on RiscOS.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: part_amiga_module, Next: part_apple_module, Prev: part_acorn_module, Up: Modules
16.207 part_amiga
=================
This module provides support for reading from disks partitioned with the
Amiga partition table.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: part_apple_module, Next: part_bsd_module, Prev: part_amiga_module, Up: Modules
16.208 part_apple
=================
This module provides support for reading from disks partitioned with the
Macintosh partition table.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: part_bsd_module, Next: part_dfly_module, Prev: part_apple_module, Up: Modules
16.209 part_bsd
===============
This module provides support for reading from disks partitioned with BSD
style partition tables.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: part_dfly_module, Next: part_dvh_module, Prev: part_bsd_module, Up: Modules
16.210 part_dfly
================
This module provides support for reading from disks partitioned with the
DragonFly BSD partition table.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: part_dvh_module, Next: part_gpt_module, Prev: part_dfly_module, Up: Modules
16.211 part_dvh
===============
This module provides support for reading from disks partitioned with the
SGI Disk Volume Header partition table.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: part_gpt_module, Next: part_msdos_module, Prev: part_dvh_module, Up: Modules
16.212 part_gpt
===============
This module provides support for reading from disks partitioned with the
GUID Partition Tables (GPT) partition table.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: part_msdos_module, Next: part_plan_module, Prev: part_gpt_module, Up: Modules
16.213 part_msdos
=================
This module provides support for reading from disks partitioned with the
MSDOS (Master Boot Record / MBR) style partition tables.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: part_plan_module, Next: part_sun_module, Prev: part_msdos_module, Up: Modules
16.214 part_plan
================
This module provides support for reading from disk partitioned with the
Plan9 style partition table.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: part_sun_module, Next: part_sunpc_module, Prev: part_plan_module, Up: Modules
16.215 part_sun
===============
This module provides support for reading from disk partitioned with the
Sun style partition table.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: part_sunpc_module, Next: parttool_module, Prev: part_sun_module, Up: Modules
16.216 part_sunpc
=================
This module provides support for reading from disk partitioned with the
Sun PC style partition table.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: parttool_module, Next: password_module, Prev: part_sunpc_module, Up: Modules
16.217 parttool
===============
This module provides support for the 'parttool' command. *Note
parttool:: for more information.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: password_module, Next: password_pbkdf2_module, Prev: parttool_module, Up: Modules
16.218 password
===============
This module provides support for the 'password' command. Please note
that this uses the password in plain text, if security is a concern
consider using *note password_pbkdf2_module:: instead. *Note password::
for more information.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: password_pbkdf2_module, Next: pata_module, Prev: password_module, Up: Modules
16.219 password_pbkdf2
======================
This module provides support for the 'password_pbkdf2' command. *Note
password_pbkdf2:: for more information.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: pata_module, Next: pbkdf2_module, Prev: password_pbkdf2_module, Up: Modules
16.220 pata
===========
This module provides support for Parallel ATA (PATA) disk device
interfaces.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: pbkdf2_module, Next: pbkdf2_test_module, Prev: pata_module, Up: Modules
16.221 pbkdf2
=============
This module provides support for the Password-Based Key Derivation
Function 2 (PBKDF2) / PKCS#5 PBKDF2 as per RFC 2898.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: pbkdf2_test_module, Next: pci_module, Prev: pbkdf2_module, Up: Modules
16.222 pbkdf2_test
==================
This module is intended for performing a functional test of the PBKDF2
operation in VAS_EBOOT.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: pci_module, Next: pcidump_module, Prev: pbkdf2_test_module, Up: Modules
16.223 pci
==========
This module provides support for generic Peripheral Component
Interconnect (PCI) bus in VAS_EBOOT.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: pcidump_module, Next: pgp_module, Prev: pci_module, Up: Modules
16.224 pcidump
==============
This module provides support for the 'pcidump' command in VAS_EBOOT to dump
the PCI configuration registers in hexadecimal of a specified PCI device
(vendor / device ID) or by position on the bus.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: pgp_module, Next: plainmount_module, Prev: pcidump_module, Up: Modules
16.225 pgp
==========
This module provides support for the commands: 'verify_detached',
'trust', 'list_trusted', 'distrust' associated with digital signature
checking via the "Open Pretty Good Privacy" (PGP) protocol / RFC 4880
using a provided public key. This module also uses / sets environment
variable 'check_signatures'. *Note verify_detached::, *note trust::,
*note list_trusted::, *note distrust::, and *note check_signatures::.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: plainmount_module, Next: plan9_module, Prev: pgp_module, Up: Modules
16.226 plainmount
=================
This module provides support for accessing / mounting partitions
encrypted by "cryptsetup" operating in "plain mode". *Note plainmount::
for more information.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: plan9_module, Next: play_module, Prev: plainmount_module, Up: Modules
16.227 plan9
============
This module provides support for the 'plan9' command to load a Plan9
kernel.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: play_module, Next: png_module, Prev: plan9_module, Up: Modules
16.228 play
===========
This module provides support for the 'play' command to play a tune
through the PC speaker. *Note play:: for more information.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: png_module, Next: priority_queue_module, Prev: play_module, Up: Modules
16.229 png
==========
This module provides support for reading Portable Network Graphics (PNG)
image files in VAS_EBOOT.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: priority_queue_module, Next: probe_module, Prev: png_module, Up: Modules
16.230 priority_queue
=====================
This module provides support for a priority queue function within VAS_EBOOT
such as to support networking functions.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: probe_module, Next: procfs_module, Prev: priority_queue_module, Up: Modules
16.231 probe
============
This module provides support for the 'probe' command to retrieve device
information. *Note probe:: for more information.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: procfs_module, Next: progress_module, Prev: probe_module, Up: Modules
16.232 procfs
=============
This module provides support for a Proc File System to provide a file
system like interface to some VAS_EBOOT internal data.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: progress_module, Next: pubkey_module, Prev: procfs_module, Up: Modules
16.233 progress
===============
This module provides support for showing file loading progress to the
terminal.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: pubkey_module, Next: pxe_module, Prev: progress_module, Up: Modules
16.234 pubkey
=============
This module provides supporting functions for using RSA and DSA public
keys. This VAS_EBOOT module is based on libgcrypt.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: pxe_module, Next: pxechain_module, Prev: pubkey_module, Up: Modules
16.235 pxe
==========
This module provides support for Preboot Execution Environment (PXE)
network boot services as a file system driver for other VAS_EBOOT modules.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: pxechain_module, Next: raid5rec_module, Prev: pxe_module, Up: Modules
16.236 pxechain
===============
This module provides support for the 'pxechainloader' command to load
another bootloader by PXE.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: raid5rec_module, Next: raid6rec_module, Prev: pxechain_module, Up: Modules
16.237 raid5rec
===============
This module provides support for recovering from faulty RAID4/5 disk
arrays

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: raid6rec_module, Next: random_module, Prev: raid5rec_module, Up: Modules
16.238 raid6rec
===============
This module provides support for recovering from faulty RAID6 disk
arrays.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: random_module, Next: rdmsr_module, Prev: raid6rec_module, Up: Modules
16.239 random
=============
This module provides support for library functions to get random data
via the hardware ACPI Power Management Timer and the TSC time source
(Timestamp Counter).

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: rdmsr_module, Next: read_module, Prev: random_module, Up: Modules
16.240 rdmsr
============
This module provides support for the 'rdmsr' command to read CPU Model
Specific Registers. *Note rdmsr:: for more information.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: read_module, Next: reboot_module, Prev: rdmsr_module, Up: Modules
16.241 read
===========
This module provides support for the 'read' command for getting user
input. *Note read:: for more information.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: reboot_module, Next: regexp_module, Prev: read_module, Up: Modules
16.242 reboot
=============
This module provides support for the 'reboot' command to reboot the
computer. *Note reboot:: for more information.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: regexp_module, Next: reiserfs_module, Prev: reboot_module, Up: Modules
16.243 regexp
=============
This module provides support for the 'regexp' command to check if a
regular expression matches a string. This module also provides support
for the VAS_EBOOT script wildcard translator. *Note regexp:: for more
information.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: reiserfs_module, Next: relocator_module, Prev: regexp_module, Up: Modules
16.244 reiserfs
===============
This module provides support for the ReiserFS File System in VAS_EBOOT. Note:
This module is not allowed in lockdown mode, *note Lockdown:: for more
information.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: relocator_module, Next: romfs_module, Prev: reiserfs_module, Up: Modules
16.245 relocator
================
This module provides support for relocating the image / executable being
loaded to the expected memory location(s) and jumping to (invoking) the
executable.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: romfs_module, Next: rsa_sexp_test_module, Prev: relocator_module, Up: Modules
16.246 romfs
============
This module provides support for the Read-Only Memory File System
(ROMFS). Note: This module is not allowed in lockdown mode, *note
Lockdown:: for more information.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: rsa_sexp_test_module, Next: scsi_module, Prev: romfs_module, Up: Modules
16.247 rsa_sexp_test
====================
This module provides a test of the libgcrypt RSA functionality in VAS_EBOOT.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: scsi_module, Next: sdl_module, Prev: rsa_sexp_test_module, Up: Modules
16.248 scsi
===========
This module provides support for the Small Computer System Interface
(SCSI) protocol used for some types of disk communication include some
modern ones such as USB Mass Storage Devices supporting "USB Attached
SCSI" (UAS).

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: sdl_module, Next: search_module, Prev: scsi_module, Up: Modules
16.249 sdl
==========
This module provides support for Simple DirectMedia Layer (SDL) video /
image output from the VasEBoot-emu tool used to preview the VAS_EBOOT menu from a
running Operating System such as Linux (useful to test VAS_EBOOT menu
configuration changes without rebooting). When available in the
compilation target environment, SDL2 will be used instead of SDL1.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: search_module, Next: search_fs_file_module, Prev: sdl_module, Up: Modules
16.250 search
=============
This module provides support for the 'search' command to search devices
by file, filesystem label, or filesystem UUID. *Note search:: for more
information.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: search_fs_file_module, Next: search_fs_uuid_module, Prev: search_module, Up: Modules
16.251 search_fs_file
=====================
This module provides support for the 'search.file' command which is an
alias for the corresponding 'search' command. *Note search:: for more
information.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: search_fs_uuid_module, Next: search_label_module, Prev: search_fs_file_module, Up: Modules
16.252 search_fs_uuid
=====================
This module provides support for the 'search.fs_uuid' command which is
an alias for the corresponding 'search' command. *Note search:: for
more information.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: search_label_module, Next: sendkey_module, Prev: search_fs_uuid_module, Up: Modules
16.253 search_label
===================
This module provides support for the 'search.fs_label' command which is
an alias for the corresponding 'search' command. *Note search:: for
more information.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: sendkey_module, Next: serial_module, Prev: search_label_module, Up: Modules
16.254 sendkey
==============
This module provides support for the 'sendkey' command to send emulated
keystrokes. *Note sendkey:: for more information.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: serial_module, Next: setjmp_module, Prev: sendkey_module, Up: Modules
16.255 serial
=============
This module provides support for the 'serial' command and associated
driver support for communication over a serial interface from VAS_EBOOT.
*Note serial:: for more information.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: setjmp_module, Next: setjmp_test_module, Prev: serial_module, Up: Modules
16.256 setjmp
=============
This module provides support for the 'setjmp' and 'longjmp' functions
used within VAS_EBOOT.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: setjmp_test_module, Next: setpci_module, Prev: setjmp_module, Up: Modules
16.257 setjmp_test
==================
This module is intended for performing a functional test of the 'setjmp'
and 'longjmp' functions in VAS_EBOOT.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: setpci_module, Next: sfs_module, Prev: setjmp_test_module, Up: Modules
16.258 setpci
=============
This module provides support for the 'setpci' command to get / set
values from / to specified PCI / PCIe devices.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: sfs_module, Next: shift_test_module, Prev: setpci_module, Up: Modules
16.259 sfs
==========
This module provides support for the Amiga Smart File System (SFS) in
VAS_EBOOT. Note: This module is not allowed in lockdown mode, *note
Lockdown:: for more information.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: shift_test_module, Next: signature_test_module, Prev: sfs_module, Up: Modules
16.260 shift_test
=================
This module is intended for performing a functional test of the bit-wise
shift operations in VAS_EBOOT.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: signature_test_module, Next: sleep_module, Prev: shift_test_module, Up: Modules
16.261 signature_test
=====================
This module is intended for performing a functional test of the digital
signature verification functions in VAS_EBOOT.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: sleep_module, Next: sleep_test_module, Prev: signature_test_module, Up: Modules
16.262 sleep
============
This module provides support for the 'sleep' command to wait a specified
number of seconds in VAS_EBOOT. *Note sleep:: for more information.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: sleep_test_module, Next: smbios_module, Prev: sleep_module, Up: Modules
16.263 sleep_test
=================
This module is intended for performing a functional test of the sleep
function in VAS_EBOOT.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: smbios_module, Next: spkmodem_module, Prev: sleep_test_module, Up: Modules
16.264 smbios
=============
This module provides support for the 'smbios' command to retrieve SMBIOS
information in VAS_EBOOT. *Note smbios:: for more information.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: spkmodem_module, Next: squash4_module, Prev: smbios_module, Up: Modules
16.265 spkmodem
===============
This module provides support for outputting VAS_EBOOT console information
over an audio output. This output can be fed into another computer's
sound input and decoded using the 'spkmodem_recv' utility. Note that
this will slow down VAS_EBOOT's performance.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: squash4_module, Next: strtoull_test_module, Prev: spkmodem_module, Up: Modules
16.266 squash4
==============
This module provides support for the SquashFS compressed read-only file
system in VAS_EBOOT.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: strtoull_test_module, Next: suspend_module, Prev: squash4_module, Up: Modules
16.267 strtoull_test
====================
This module is intended for performing a functional test of the strtoull
function in VAS_EBOOT.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: suspend_module, Next: syslinuxcfg_module, Prev: strtoull_test_module, Up: Modules
16.268 suspend
==============
This module provides support for the 'suspend' command in VAS_EBOOT to return
to IEEE1275 prompt on "Open Firmware" systems.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: syslinuxcfg_module, Next: tar_module, Prev: suspend_module, Up: Modules
16.269 syslinuxcfg
==================
This module provides support for commands 'syslinux_source',
'syslinux_configfile', 'extract_syslinux_entries_source', and
'extract_syslinux_entries_configfile' in VAS_EBOOT. These commands can be
used to parse and display VAS_EBOOT menu entries based on a Syslinux based
configuration (used for SYSLINUX, ISOLINUX, and PXELINUX). It can also
be used to execute the Syslinux loader from VAS_EBOOT.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: tar_module, Next: terminal_module, Prev: syslinuxcfg_module, Up: Modules
16.270 tar
==========
This module provides support for the GNU Tar and POSIX Tar file archives
as a file system in VAS_EBOOT.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: terminal_module, Next: terminfo_module, Prev: tar_module, Up: Modules
16.271 terminal
===============
This module provides support for the commands 'terminal_input' and
'terminal_output' in VAS_EBOOT. *Note terminal_input:: and *note
terminal_output:: for more information.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: terminfo_module, Next: test_module, Prev: terminal_module, Up: Modules
16.272 terminfo
===============
This module provides support for the 'terminfo' command in VAS_EBOOT to set
various terminal modes / options. *Note terminfo:: for more
information.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: test_module, Next: test_blockarg_module, Prev: terminfo_module, Up: Modules
16.273 test
===========
This module provides support for the commands 'test' and '['. These
commands can be used to evaluate (test) an expression. *Note test:: for
more information.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: test_blockarg_module, Next: testload_module, Prev: test_module, Up: Modules
16.274 test_blockarg
====================
This module is intended for performing a functional test of the "block"
command argument function in VAS_EBOOT internal functions via a test command
'test_blockarg'.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: testload_module, Next: testspeed_module, Prev: test_blockarg_module, Up: Modules
16.275 testload
===============
This module is intended for performing a functional test of some file
reading / seeking functions in VAS_EBOOT internals via a test command
'testload'.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: testspeed_module, Next: tftp_module, Prev: testload_module, Up: Modules
16.276 testspeed
================
This module provides support for the 'testspeed' command to test and
print file read speed of a specified file.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: tftp_module, Next: tga_module, Prev: testspeed_module, Up: Modules
16.277 tftp
===========
This module provides support for the Trivial File Transfer Protocol
(TFTP) for receiving files via the network to VAS_EBOOT. TFTP may be used
along with PXE for network booting for example.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: tga_module, Next: time_module, Prev: tftp_module, Up: Modules
16.278 tga
==========
This module provides support for reading Truevision Graphics Adapter
(TGA) image files in VAS_EBOOT.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: time_module, Next: tpm_module, Prev: tga_module, Up: Modules
16.279 time
===========
This module provides support for the 'time' command to measure the time
taken by a given command and output it to the terminal.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: tpm_module, Next: tr_module, Prev: time_module, Up: Modules
16.280 tpm
==========
This module provides support for interacting with a Trusted Platform
Module (TPM) with VAS_EBOOT to perform Measured Boot. *Note Measured Boot::
for more information.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: tr_module, Next: trig_module, Prev: tpm_module, Up: Modules
16.281 tr
=========
This module provides support for the 'tr' command in VAS_EBOOT. This can be
used to translate characters in a string according to the provided
arguments. For example this can be used to convert upper-case to
lower-case and visa-versa.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: trig_module, Next: true_module, Prev: tr_module, Up: Modules
16.282 trig
===========
This module provides support for internal trig functions 'VasEBoot_cos' and
'VasEBoot_sin' using lookup based computation. Currently these trig
functions are used by the gfxmenu circular progress bar.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: true_module, Next: truecrypt_module, Prev: trig_module, Up: Modules
16.283 true
===========
This module provides support for the commands 'true' and 'false'. *Note
true:: and *note false:: for more information.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: truecrypt_module, Next: ubootnet_module, Prev: true_module, Up: Modules
16.284 truecrypt
================
This module provides support for the 'truecrypt' command. This can be
used to load a Truecrypt ISO image.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: ubootnet_module, Next: udf_module, Prev: truecrypt_module, Up: Modules
16.285 ubootnet
===============
This module provides support for configuring network interfaces in VAS_EBOOT
using information provided by a U-Boot bootloader.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: udf_module, Next: ufs1_module, Prev: ubootnet_module, Up: Modules
16.286 udf
==========
This module provides support for the Universal Disk Format (UDF) used on
some newer optical disks. Note: This module is not allowed in lockdown
mode, *note Lockdown:: for more information.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: ufs1_module, Next: ufs1_be_module, Prev: udf_module, Up: Modules
16.287 ufs1
===========
This module provides support for the Unix File System version 1 in VAS_EBOOT.
Note: This module is not allowed in lockdown mode, *note Lockdown:: for
more information.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: ufs1_be_module, Next: ufs2_module, Prev: ufs1_module, Up: Modules
16.288 ufs1_be
==============
This module provides support for the Unix File System version 1
(big-endian) in VAS_EBOOT. Note: This module is not allowed in lockdown mode,
*note Lockdown:: for more information.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: ufs2_module, Next: uhci_module, Prev: ufs1_be_module, Up: Modules
16.289 ufs2
===========
This module provides support for the Unix File System version 2 in VAS_EBOOT.
Note: This module is not allowed in lockdown mode, *note Lockdown:: for
more information.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: uhci_module, Next: usb_module, Prev: ufs2_module, Up: Modules
16.290 uhci
===========
This module provides support for the Universal Host Controller Interface
(UHCI) for USB 1.x.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: usb_module, Next: usb_keyboard_module, Prev: uhci_module, Up: Modules
16.291 usb
==========
This module provides support for USB interfaces, USB hubs, and USB
transfers in VAS_EBOOT.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: usb_keyboard_module, Next: usbms_module, Prev: usb_module, Up: Modules
16.292 usb_keyboard
===================
This module provides support for a USB keyboard in VAS_EBOOT.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: usbms_module, Next: usbserial_common_module, Prev: usb_keyboard_module, Up: Modules
16.293 usbms
============
This module provides support for USB Mass Storage devices in VAS_EBOOT.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: usbserial_common_module, Next: usbserial_ftdi_module, Prev: usbms_module, Up: Modules
16.294 usbserial_common
=======================
This module provides support for common operations needed to support USB
Serial port adapters in VAS_EBOOT (to support a model / type specific USB to
serial adapter defined in another module).

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: usbserial_ftdi_module, Next: usbserial_pl2303_module, Prev: usbserial_common_module, Up: Modules
16.295 usbserial_ftdi
=====================
This module provides support for USB to serial adapters with vendor ID
0x0403 and product ID 0x6001 (often associated with FTDI devices).

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: usbserial_pl2303_module, Next: usbserial_usbdebug_module, Prev: usbserial_ftdi_module, Up: Modules
16.296 usbserial_pl2303
=======================
This module provides support for USB to serial adapters with vendor ID
0x067b and product ID 0x2303 (PL2303 USB to Serial adapter).

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: usbserial_usbdebug_module, Next: usbtest_module, Prev: usbserial_pl2303_module, Up: Modules
16.297 usbserial_usbdebug
=========================
This module provides support for debugging VAS_EBOOT via a "USB 2.0 Debug
Cable". The USB 2.0 specification includes a "USB2 Debug Device
Functional Specification" that this driver is intended to support for
VAS_EBOOT. This may integrate with GDB server function in VAS_EBOOT (*note
gdb_module::).

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: usbtest_module, Next: vbe_module, Prev: usbserial_usbdebug_module, Up: Modules
16.298 usbtest
==============
This module provides support for the 'usb' command in VAS_EBOOT to test USB
functionality by iterating through all connected USB devices and
printing information for each to the terminal.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: vbe_module, Next: verifiers_module, Prev: usbtest_module, Up: Modules
16.299 vbe
==========
This module provides support for the VESA BIOS Extension (VBE) Video
Driver in VAS_EBOOT.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: verifiers_module, Next: vga_module, Prev: vbe_module, Up: Modules
16.300 verifiers
================
This module is a built-in kernel module to provide a framework for VAS_EBOOT
file verifiers and string verifiers.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: vga_module, Next: vga_text_module, Prev: verifiers_module, Up: Modules
16.301 vga
==========
This module provides support for the Video Graphics Array (VGA) Video
Driver in VAS_EBOOT.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: vga_text_module, Next: video_module, Prev: vga_module, Up: Modules
16.302 vga_text
===============
This module provides support for the Video Graphics Array (VGA) terminal
output device.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: video_module, Next: video_bochs_module, Prev: vga_text_module, Up: Modules
16.303 video
============
This module provides support for video output support functions within
VAS_EBOOT.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: video_bochs_module, Next: video_cirrus_module, Prev: video_module, Up: Modules
16.304 video_bochs
==================
This module provides support for the Bochs PCI Video Driver (also known
as Bochs Graphics Adapter / BGA) in VAS_EBOOT.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: video_cirrus_module, Next: video_colors_module, Prev: video_bochs_module, Up: Modules
16.305 video_cirrus
===================
This module provides support for the Cirrus CLGD 5446 PCI Video Driver
(Cirrus Video) in VAS_EBOOT.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: video_colors_module, Next: video_fb_module, Prev: video_cirrus_module, Up: Modules
16.306 video_colors
===================
This module provides support for interpreting named colors and parsing
RBG hexadecimal values.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: video_fb_module, Next: videoinfo_module, Prev: video_colors_module, Up: Modules
16.307 video_fb
===============
This module provides support for video frame buffer (FB) support in
VAS_EBOOT.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: videoinfo_module, Next: videotest_module, Prev: video_fb_module, Up: Modules
16.308 videoinfo
================
This module provides support for the 'videoinfo' command and (depending
on architecture) the 'vbeinfo' command. *Note videoinfo:: for more
information.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: videotest_module, Next: videotest_checksum_module, Prev: videoinfo_module, Up: Modules
16.309 videotest
================
This module provides support for the 'videotest' command and (depending
on architecture) the 'vbetest' to test the video subsystem in the
specified width and height.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: videotest_checksum_module, Next: wrmsr_module, Prev: videotest_module, Up: Modules
16.310 videotest_checksum
=========================
This module is intended for performing a functional test of the video
functions in VAS_EBOOT by displaying a test image and capturing a checksum.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: wrmsr_module, Next: xen_boot_module, Prev: videotest_checksum_module, Up: Modules
16.311 wrmsr
============
This module provides support for the 'wrmsr' command to write to CPU
model-specific registers. *Note wrmsr:: for more information.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: xen_boot_module, Next: xfs_module, Prev: wrmsr_module, Up: Modules
16.312 xen_boot
===============
This module provides support for the commands 'xen_hypervisor' and
'xen_module' to load a XEN hypervisor and module respectively.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: xfs_module, Next: xnu_module, Prev: xen_boot_module, Up: Modules
16.313 xfs
==========
This module provides support for the XFS file system in VAS_EBOOT.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: xnu_module, Next: xnu_uuid_module, Prev: xfs_module, Up: Modules
16.314 xnu
==========
This module provides support for the commands: 'xnu_devprop_load',
'xnu_kernel', 'xnu_kernel64', 'xnu_mkext', 'xnu_kext', 'xnu_kextdir',
'xnu_ramdisk', 'xnu_splash', and 'xnu_resume' (only for emulated
machine). These commands support loading and interacting with a XNU
(MacOS / Apple) based system / kernel.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: xnu_uuid_module, Next: xnu_uuid_test_module, Prev: xnu_module, Up: Modules
16.315 xnu_uuid
===============
This module provides support for the 'xnu_uuid' command to transform a
64-bit UUID to a format suitable for XNU.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: xnu_uuid_test_module, Next: xzio_module, Prev: xnu_uuid_module, Up: Modules
16.316 xnu_uuid_test
====================
This module is intended for performing a functional test of the XNU UUID
conversion function.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: xzio_module, Next: zfs_module, Prev: xnu_uuid_test_module, Up: Modules
16.317 xzio
===========
This module provides support for decompression of XZ compressed data.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: zfs_module, Next: zfscrypt_module, Prev: xzio_module, Up: Modules
16.318 zfs
==========
This module provides support for the ZFS file system in VAS_EBOOT.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: zfscrypt_module, Next: zfsinfo_module, Prev: zfs_module, Up: Modules
16.319 zfscrypt
===============
This module provides support for the 'zfskey' to import a decryption key
as well as decryption support for encrypted ZFS file systems.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: zfsinfo_module, Next: zstd_module, Prev: zfscrypt_module, Up: Modules
16.320 zfsinfo
==============
This module provides support for the commands 'zfsinfo' to output ZFS
info about a device and 'zfs-bootfs' to output ZFS-BOOTFSOBJ or store it
into a variable.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: zstd_module, Prev: zfsinfo_module, Up: Modules
16.321 zstd
===========
This module provides support for the Zstandard (zstd) decompression
algorithm in VAS_EBOOT.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: Commands, Next: Internationalisation, Prev: Modules, Up: Top
17 Available commands
*********************
In this chapter, we list all commands that are available in VAS_EBOOT.
Commands belong to different groups. A few can only be used in the
global section of the configuration file (or "menu"); most of them can
be entered on the command-line and can be used either anywhere in the
menu or specifically in the menu entries.
In rescue mode, only the 'insmod' (*note insmod::), 'ls' (*note
ls::), 'set' (*note set::), and 'unset' (*note unset::) commands are
normally available. If you end up in rescue mode and do not know what
to do, then *note VAS_EBOOT only offers a rescue shell::.
* Menu:
* Menu-specific commands::
* Loader commands::
* General commands::
* Command-line commands::
* Networking commands::
* Undocumented commands::

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: Menu-specific commands, Next: Loader commands, Up: Commands
17.1 Commands for the menu only
===============================
The semantics used in parsing the configuration file are the following:
* The files _must_ be in plain-text format.
* '#' at the beginning of a line in a configuration file means it is
only a comment.
* Options are separated by spaces.
* All numbers can be either decimal or hexadecimal. A hexadecimal
number must be preceded by '0x', and is case-insensitive.
These commands can only be used in the menu:
* Menu:
* menuentry:: Start a menu entry
* submenu:: Group menu entries

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: menuentry, Next: submenu, Up: Menu-specific commands
17.1.1 menuentry
----------------
-- Command: menuentry TITLE [--class=class ...] [--users=users]
[--unrestricted] [--hotkey=key] [--id=id] [ARG ...] { COMMAND;
... }
This defines a VAS_EBOOT menu entry named TITLE. When this entry is
selected from the menu, VAS_EBOOT will set the CHOSEN environment
variable to value of '--id' if '--id' is given, execute the list of
commands given within braces, and if the last command in the list
returned successfully and a kernel was loaded it will execute the
'boot' command.
The '--class' option may be used any number of times to group menu
entries into classes. Menu themes may display different classes
using different styles.
The '--users' option grants specific users access to specific menu
entries. *Note Security::.
The '--unrestricted' option grants all users access to specific
menu entries. *Note Security::.
The '--hotkey' option associates a hotkey with a menu entry. KEY
may be a single letter, or one of the aliases 'backspace', 'tab',
or 'delete'.
The '--id' may be used to associate unique identifier with a menu
entry. ID is string of ASCII aphanumeric characters, underscore
and hyphen and should not start with a digit.
All other arguments including TITLE are passed as positional
parameters when list of commands is executed with TITLE always
assigned to '$1'.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: submenu, Prev: menuentry, Up: Menu-specific commands
17.1.2 submenu
--------------
-- Command: submenu TITLE [--class=class ...] [--users=users]
[--unrestricted] [--hotkey=key] [--id=id] { MENU ENTRIES ... }
This defines a submenu. An entry called TITLE will be added to the
menu; when that entry is selected, a new menu will be displayed
showing all the entries within this submenu.
All options are the same as in the 'menuentry' command (*note
menuentry::).

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: Loader commands, Next: General commands, Prev: Menu-specific commands, Up: Commands
17.2 Various loader commands
============================
These commands are used to load necessary components to boot desired OS.
Many of the loader commands are not sufficiently documented. The
following is a list of commands that could use more documentation:
* 'appleloader' - Boot BIOS-based system.
* 'freedos' - Load FreeDOS kernel.sys.
* 'kfreebsd_loadenv' - Load FreeBSD env.
* 'kfreebsd_module_elf' - Load FreeBSD kernel module (ELF).
* 'kfreebsd_module' - Load FreeBSD kernel module.
* 'kfreebsd' - Load kernel of FreeBSD.
* 'knetbsd_module_elf' - Load NetBSD kernel module (ELF).
* 'knetbsd_module' - Load NetBSD kernel module.
* 'knetbsd' - Load kernel of NetBSD.
* 'kopenbsd' - Load kernel of OpenBSD.
* 'kopenbsd_ramdisk' - Load kOpenBSD ramdisk.
* 'legacy_initrd_nounzip' - Simulate VasEBoot-legacy 'modulenounzip'
command
* 'legacy_initrd' - Simulate VasEBoot-legacy 'initrd' command
* 'legacy_kernel' - Simulate VasEBoot-legacy 'kernel' command
* 'module2' - Load a multiboot 2 module.
* 'module' - Load a multiboot module.
* 'multiboot2' - Load a multiboot 2 kernel.
* 'multiboot' - Load a multiboot kernel.
* 'ntldr' - Load NTLDR or BootMGR.
* 'plan9' - Load Plan9 kernel.
* 'pxechainloader' - Load a PXE image.
* 'truecrypt' - Load Truecrypt ISO.
* 'xnu_kernel64' - Load 64-bit XNU image.
* 'xnu_kernel' - Load XNU image.
* 'xnu_kextdir' - Load XNU extension directory.
* 'xnu_kext' - Load XNU extension.
* 'xnu_mkext' - Load XNU extension package.
* 'xnu_ramdisk' - Load XNU ramdisk. It will be available in OS as
md0.
* 'xnu_resume' - Load an image of hibernated XNU.
* 'xnu_splash' - Load a splash image for XNU.
* Menu:
* chainloader:: Chain-load another boot loader
* initrd:: Load a Linux initrd
* initrd16:: Load a Linux initrd (16-bit mode)
* linux:: Load a Linux kernel
* linux16:: Load a Linux kernel (16-bit mode)
* xen_hypervisor:: Load xen hypervisor binary (only on AArch64)
* xen_module:: Load xen modules for xen hypervisor (only on AArch64)

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: chainloader, Next: initrd, Up: Loader commands
17.2.1 chainloader
------------------
-- Command: chainloader [--force] file [args...]
Load FILE as a chain-loader. Like any other file loaded by the
filesystem code, it can use the blocklist notation (*note Block
list syntax::) to grab the first sector of the current partition
with '+1'. On EFI platforms, any arguments after FILE will be sent
to the loaded image.
If you specify the option '--force', then load FILE forcibly,
whether it has a correct signature or not. This is required when
you want to load a defective boot loader, such as SCO UnixWare 7.1.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: initrd, Next: initrd16, Prev: chainloader, Up: Loader commands
17.2.2 initrd
-------------
-- Command: initrd file [file ...]
Load, in order, all initrds for a Linux kernel image, and set the
appropriate parameters in the Linux setup area in memory. This may
only be used after the 'linux' command (*note linux::) has been
run. See *note GNU/Linux:: for more info on booting GNU/Linux.
For more information on initrds see the GNU/Linux kernel
documentation
(https://docs.kernel.org/filesystems/ramfs-rootfs-initramfs.html).
A new-style initrd (for kernels newer than 2.6) containing one file
with leading path components can also be generated at run time.
This can be done by prefixing an argument with 'newc:' followed by
the path of the file in the new initrd, a ':', and then the VAS_EBOOT
file path to the file data to be be included.
For example:
initrd newc:/etc/ssh/config:(hd0,2)/home/user/.ssh/config \
newc:/etc/ssh/ssh_host_rsa_key:/etc/ssh/ssh_host_rsa_key \
/boot/initrd.gz \
newc:/init:/home/user/init.fixed
This command will generate two new-style initrds on the fly. The
first contains the path '/etc/ssh/config' with the contents of
'(hd0,2)/home/user/.ssh/config' and the path
'/etc/ssh/ssh_host_rsa_key' with the contents of
'/etc/ssh/ssh_host_rsa_key' on the ROOT device. Parent directory
paths will automatically be generated as needed. This first
generated initrd will then have '/boot/initrd.gz' concatenated
after it. Next, another new-style archive will be generated with
the contents of '/home/user/init.fixed' in the path '/init' and
appended to the previous concatenation. Finally, the result will
be sent to the kernel when booted.
Keep in mind that paths that come later will take precedence. So
in the example above, the generated path '/init' will overwrite any
'/init' in '/boot/initrd.gz'. This can be useful when changing the
main initrd is undesirable or difficult.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: initrd16, Next: linux, Prev: initrd, Up: Loader commands
17.2.3 initrd16
---------------
-- Command: initrd16 file [file ...]
Load, in order, all initrds for a Linux kernel image to be booted
in 16-bit mode, and set the appropriate parameters in the Linux
setup area in memory. This may only be used after the 'linux16'
command (*note linux16::) has been run. See also *note GNU/Linux::
and the 'initrd' command (*note initrd::) for more details on
arguments.
This command is only available on the pc platform for x86 systems.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: linux, Next: linux16, Prev: initrd16, Up: Loader commands
17.2.4 linux
------------
-- Command: linux file ...
Load a Linux kernel image from FILE. The rest of the line is
passed verbatim as the "kernel command-line". Any initrd must be
reloaded after using this command (*note initrd::).
On x86 systems, the kernel will be booted using the 32-bit boot
protocol. Note that this means that the 'vga=' boot option will
not work; if you want to set a special video mode, you will need to
use VAS_EBOOT commands such as 'set gfxpayload=1024x768' or 'set
gfxpayload=keep' (to keep the same mode as used in VAS_EBOOT) instead.
VAS_EBOOT can automatically detect some uses of 'vga=' and translate
them to appropriate settings of 'gfxpayload'. The 'linux16'
command (*note linux16::) avoids this restriction.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: linux16, Next: xen_hypervisor, Prev: linux, Up: Loader commands
17.2.5 linux16
--------------
-- Command: linux16 file ...
Load a Linux kernel image from FILE in 16-bit mode. The rest of
the line is passed verbatim as the "kernel command-line". Any
initrd must be reloaded after using this command (*note
initrd16::).
The kernel will be booted using the traditional 16-bit boot
protocol. As well as bypassing problems with 'vga=' described in
*note linux::, this permits booting some other programs that
implement the Linux boot protocol for the sake of convenience.
This command is only available on x86 systems.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: xen_hypervisor, Next: xen_module, Prev: linux16, Up: Loader commands
17.2.6 xen_hypervisor
---------------------
-- Command: xen_hypervisor file [arguments] ...
Load a Xen hypervisor binary from FILE. The rest of the line is
passed verbatim as the "kernel command-line". Any other binaries
must be reloaded after using this command. This command is only
available on AArch64 systems.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: xen_module, Prev: xen_hypervisor, Up: Loader commands
17.2.7 xen_module
-----------------
-- Command: xen_module [--nounzip] file [arguments]
Load a module for xen hypervisor at the booting process of xen.
The rest of the line is passed verbatim as the module command line.
Modules should be loaded in the following order: - dom0 kernel
image - dom0 ramdisk if present - XSM policy if present This
command is only available on AArch64 systems.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: General commands, Next: Command-line commands, Prev: Loader commands, Up: Commands
17.3 General commands
=====================
Commands usable anywhere in the menu and in the command-line.
* Menu:
* serial:: Set up a serial device
* terminal_input:: Manage input terminals
* terminal_output:: Manage output terminals
* terminfo:: Define terminal type

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: serial, Next: terminal_input, Up: General commands
17.3.1 serial
-------------
-- Command: serial [--unit=unit] [--port=port] [--speed=speed]
[--word=word] [--parity=parity] [--stop=stop]
Initialize a serial device. UNIT is a number in the range 0-3
specifying which serial port to use; default is 0, which
corresponds to the port often called COM1.
PORT is the I/O port where the UART is to be found or, if prefixed
with 'mmio,', the MMIO address of the UART. If specified it takes
precedence over UNIT.
Additionally, an MMIO address can be suffixed with:
* '.b' for bytes access (default)
* '.w' for 16-bit word access
* '.l' for 32-bit long word access or
* '.q' for 64-bit long long word access
Also, PORT can be of the form 'pci,XX:XX.X' to indicate a serial
device exposed on the PCI bus.
SPEED is the transmission speed; default is 9600. WORD and STOP
are the number of data bits and stop bits. Data bits must be in
the range 5-8 and stop bits must be 1 or 2. Default is 8 data bits
and one stop bit. PARITY is one of 'no', 'odd', 'even' and
defaults to 'no'.
If passed no UNIT nor PORT, or if PORT is set to 'auto' then VAS_EBOOT
will attempt to use ACPI to automatically detect the system default
serial port and its configuration. If this information is not
available, it will default to UNIT 0.
The serial port is not used as a communication channel unless the
'terminal_input' or 'terminal_output' command is used (*note
terminal_input::, *note terminal_output::).
Note, valid PORT values, excluding IO port addresses, can be found
by listing terminals with 'terminal_output', selecting all names
prefixed by 'serial_' and removing that prefix.
Examples:
serial --port=0x3f8 --speed=9600
serial --port=mmio,fefb0000.l --speed=115200
serial --port=pci,00:16.3 --speed=115200
See also *note Serial terminal::.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: terminal_input, Next: terminal_output, Prev: serial, Up: General commands
17.3.2 terminal_input
---------------------
-- Command: terminal_input [--append|--remove] [terminal1] [terminal2]
...
List or select an input terminal.
With no arguments, list the active and available input terminals.
With '--append', add the named terminals to the list of active
input terminals; any of these may be used to provide input to VAS_EBOOT.
With '--remove', remove the named terminals from the active list.
With no options but a list of terminal names, make only the listed
terminal names active.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: terminal_output, Next: terminfo, Prev: terminal_input, Up: General commands
17.3.3 terminal_output
----------------------
-- Command: terminal_output [--append|--remove] [terminal1] [terminal2]
...
List or select an output terminal.
With no arguments, list the active and available output terminals.
With '--append', add the named terminals to the list of active
output terminals; all of these will receive output from VAS_EBOOT.
With '--remove', remove the named terminals from the active list.
With no options but a list of terminal names, make only the listed
terminal names active.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: terminfo, Prev: terminal_output, Up: General commands
17.3.4 terminfo
---------------
-- Command: terminfo [-a|-u|-v] [-g WxH] [term] [type]
Define the capabilities of your terminal by giving the name of an
entry in the terminfo database, which should correspond roughly to
a 'TERM' environment variable in Unix.
The currently available terminal types are 'vt100', 'vt100-color',
'ieee1275', and 'dumb'. If you need other terminal types, please
contact us to discuss the best way to include support for these in
VAS_EBOOT.
The '-a' ('--ascii'), '-u' ('--utf8'), and '-v' ('--visual-utf8')
options control how non-ASCII text is displayed. '-a' specifies an
ASCII-only terminal; '-u' specifies logically-ordered UTF-8; and
'-v' specifies "visually-ordered UTF-8" (in other words, arranged
such that a terminal emulator without bidirectional text support
will display right-to-left text in the proper order; this is not
really proper UTF-8, but a workaround).
The '-g' ('--geometry') can be used to specify terminal geometry.
If no option or terminal type is specified, the current terminal
type is printed.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: Command-line commands, Next: Networking commands, Prev: General commands, Up: Commands
17.4 Command-line commands
==========================
These commands are usable in the command-line and in menu entries. If
you forget a command, you can run the command 'help' (*note help::).
* Menu:
* [:: Check file types and compare values
* acpi:: Load ACPI tables
* append_add_db_cert:: Add trusted certificate to the db list
* append_add_db_hash:: Add trusted certificate/binary hash to the db list
* append_add_dbx_cert:: Add distrusted certificate to the dbx list
* append_add_dbx_hash:: Add distrusted certificate/binary hash to the dbx list
* append_list_db:: List all trusted certificates from the db list
* append_list_dbx:: List all distrusted certificates and binary/certificate hashes from the dbx list
* append_verify:: Verify appended digital signature using db and dbx lists
* authenticate:: Check whether user is in user list
* background_color:: Set background color for active terminal
* background_image:: Load background image for active terminal
* badram:: Filter out bad regions of RAM
* blocklist:: Print a block list
* blscfg:: Load Boot Loader Specification menu entries
* boot:: Start up your operating system
* cat:: Show the contents of a file
* clear:: Clear the screen
* cmosclean:: Clear bit in CMOS
* cmosdump:: Dump CMOS contents
* cmostest:: Test bit in CMOS
* cmp:: Compare two files
* configfile:: Load a configuration file
* cpuid:: Check for CPU features
* crc:: Compute or check CRC32 checksums
* cryptocheck:: Check if a device is encrypted
* cryptomount:: Mount a crypto device
* cutmem:: Remove memory regions
* date:: Display or set current date and time
* devicetree:: Load a device tree blob
* distrust:: Remove a pubkey from trusted keys
* drivemap:: Map a drive to another
* echo:: Display a line of text
* efitextmode:: Set/Get text output mode resolution
* eval:: Evaluate agruments as VAS_EBOOT commands
* export:: Export an environment variable
* false:: Do nothing, unsuccessfully
* fdtdump:: Retrieve device tree information
* file:: Test the provided file against a type
* fwsetup:: Reboot into the firmware setup menu
* gdbinfo:: Provide info for debugging with GDB
* gettext:: Translate a string
* gptsync:: Fill an MBR based on GPT entries
* halt:: Shut down your computer
* hashsum:: Compute or check hash checksum
* help:: Show help messages
* hexdump:: Show raw contents of a file or memory
* insmod:: Insert a module
* keystatus:: Check key modifier status
* list_env:: List variables in environment block
* list_trusted:: List trusted public keys
* load_env:: Load variables from environment block
* loadfont:: Load font files
* loopback:: Make a device from a filesystem image
* ls:: List devices or files
* lsfonts:: List loaded fonts
* lsfreemem:: List free memory blocks
* lsmod:: Show loaded modules
* lsmem:: List free and allocated memory blocks
* lsmemregions:: List memory regions
* md5sum:: Compute or check MD5 hash
* module:: Load module for multiboot kernel
* multiboot:: Load multiboot compliant kernel
* nativedisk:: Switch to native disk drivers
* normal:: Enter normal mode
* normal_exit:: Exit from normal mode
* parttool:: Modify partition table entries
* password:: Set a clear-text password
* password_pbkdf2:: Set a hashed password
* plainmount:: Open device encrypted in plain mode
* play:: Play a tune
* probe:: Retrieve device info
* rdmsr:: Read values from model-specific registers
* read:: Read user input
* reboot:: Reboot your computer
* regexp:: Test if regular expression matches string
* rmmod:: Remove a module
* save_env:: Save variables to environment block
* search:: Search devices by file, label, or UUID
* sendkey:: Emulate keystrokes
* set:: Set an environment variable
* sha1sum:: Compute or check SHA1 hash
* sha256sum:: Compute or check SHA256 hash
* sha512sum:: Compute or check SHA512 hash
* sleep:: Wait for a specified number of seconds
* smbios:: Retrieve SMBIOS information
* source:: Read a configuration file in same context
* stress_big_allocs:: Stress test large memory allocations
* test:: Check file types and compare values
* tpm2_key_protector_init:: Initialize the TPM2 key protector
* tpm2_key_protector_clear:: Clear the TPM2 key protector
* tpm2_dump_pcr:: Dump TPM2 PCRs
* true:: Do nothing, successfully
* trust:: Add public key to list of trusted keys
* uki:: Load Unified Kernel Image menu entries
* unset:: Unset an environment variable
* verify_detached:: Verify detached digital signature
* videoinfo:: List available video modes
* wrmsr:: Write values to model-specific registers

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: [, Next: acpi, Up: Command-line commands
17.4.1 [
--------
-- Command: [ expression ]
Alias for 'test EXPRESSION' (*note test::).

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: acpi, Next: append_add_db_cert, Prev: [, Up: Command-line commands
17.4.2 acpi
-----------
-- Command: acpi [-1|-2] [--exclude=table1,...|--load-only=table1,...]
[--oemid=id] [--oemtable=table] [--oemtablerev=rev]
[--oemtablecreator=creator] [--oemtablecreatorrev=rev]
[--no-ebda] filename ...
Modern BIOS systems normally implement the Advanced Configuration
and Power Interface (ACPI), and define various tables that describe
the interface between an ACPI-compliant operating system and the
firmware. In some cases, the tables provided by default only work
well with certain operating systems, and it may be necessary to
replace some of them.
Normally, this command will replace the Root System Description
Pointer (RSDP) in the Extended BIOS Data Area to point to the new
tables. If the '--no-ebda' option is used, the new tables will be
known only to VAS_EBOOT, but may be used by VAS_EBOOT's EFI emulation.
Note: The command is not allowed when lockdown is enforced (*note
Lockdown::). Otherwise an attacker can instruct the VAS_EBOOT to load
an SSDT table to overwrite the kernel lockdown configuration and
later load and execute unsigned code.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: append_add_db_cert, Next: append_add_db_hash, Prev: acpi, Up: Command-line commands
17.4.3 append_add_db_cert
-------------------------
-- Command: append_add_db_cert <X509_certificate>
Read an X.509 certificate from the file X509_CERTIFICATE and add it
to VAS_EBOOT's internal db list of trusted certificates. These
certificates are used to validate appended signatures when the
environment variable 'check_appended_signatures' (*note
check_appended_signatures::) is set to 'yes' or the 'append_verify'
(*note append_verify::) command is executed from the VAS_EBOOT console.
*Note Using appended signatures:: for more information.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: append_add_db_hash, Next: append_add_dbx_cert, Prev: append_add_db_cert, Up: Command-line commands
17.4.4 append_add_db_hash
-------------------------
-- Command: append_add_db_hash <hash_file>
Read a binary hash from the file HASH_FILE and add it to VAS_EBOOT's
internal db list of trusted binary hashes. These hashes are used
to validate the Linux kernel/VAS_EBOOT module binary hashes when the
environment variable 'check_appended_signatures' (*note
check_appended_signatures::) is set to 'yes' or the 'append_verify'
(*note append_verify::) command is executed from the VAS_EBOOT console.
Here is an example for how to generate a SHA-256 hash for a file.
The hash will be in binary format:
# The vmlinux (kernel image) file is your binary file, and
# it should be unsigned.
#
# Generate the binary_hash.bin file from the vmlinux file
# using OpenSSL command
openssl dgst -binary -sha256 -out binary_hash.bin vmlinux
*Note Using appended signatures:: for more information.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: append_add_dbx_cert, Next: append_add_dbx_hash, Prev: append_add_db_hash, Up: Command-line commands
17.4.5 append_add_dbx_cert
--------------------------
-- Command: append_add_dbx_cert <X509_certificate>
Read an X.509 certificate from the file X509_CERTIFICATE and add it
to VAS_EBOOT's internal dbx list of distrusted certificates. These
certificates are used to ensure that the distrusted certificates
are rejected during appended signatures validation when the
environment variable 'check_appended_signatures' is set to 'yes'
(*note check_appended_signatures::) or the 'append_verify' (*note
append_verify::) command is executed from the VAS_EBOOT console. Also,
these certificates are used to prevent distrusted certificates from
being added to the db list later on.
*Note Using appended signatures:: for more information.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: append_add_dbx_hash, Next: append_list_db, Prev: append_add_dbx_cert, Up: Command-line commands
17.4.6 append_add_dbx_hash
--------------------------
-- Command: append_add_dbx_hash [-b|-c] <hash_file>
Read a binary/certificate hash from the file HASH_FILE and add it
to VAS_EBOOT's internal dbx list of distrusted binary/certificate
hashes. When the environment variable 'check_appended_signatures'
(*note check_appended_signatures::) is set to 'yes' or the
'append_verify' (*note append_verify::) command is executed from
the VAS_EBOOT console, then matching distrusted binary hashes or the
signature validation with distrusted certificates may lead to the
rejection of the Linux kernel or VAS_EBOOT modules. Also, these hashes
are used to prevent distrusted certificates and binary hashes from
being added to the db list later on.
The '-b' ('--binary-hash') can be used to specify a binary hash
file and '-c' ('--cert-hash') can be used to specify a certificate
hash file.
Here is an example for how to generate a SHA-256 hash for a binary
and a certificate file. The hash will be in binary format:
# The vmlinux (kernel image) file is your binary file, and
# it should be unsigned. The kernel.der is your certificate file.
#
# Generate the cert_hash.bin file from the kernel.der file
openssl dgst -binary -sha256 -out cert_hash.bin kernel.der
# Generate the binary_hash.bin file from the vmlinux file
openssl dgst -binary -sha256 -out binary_hash.bin vmlinux
*Note Using appended signatures:: for more information.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: append_list_db, Next: append_list_dbx, Prev: append_add_dbx_hash, Up: Command-line commands
17.4.7 append_list_db
---------------------
-- Command: append_list_db
List all X.509 certificates and binary hashes trusted by VAS_EBOOT for
validating appended signatures. The output is a numbered list of
certificates and binary hashes, showing the certificate's version,
serial number, issuer, subject, public key algorithm, RSA public
key size, and certificate fingerprint.
*Note Using appended signatures:: for more information.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: append_list_dbx, Next: append_verify, Prev: append_list_db, Up: Command-line commands
17.4.8 append_list_dbx
----------------------
-- Command: append_list_dbx
List all the distrusted X.509 certificates and binary/certificate
hashes. The output is a numbered list of certificates and
binary/certificate hashes, showing the certificate's version,
serial number, issuer, subject, public key algorithm, RSA public
key size, and certificate fingerprint.
*Note Using appended signatures:: for more information.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: append_verify, Next: authenticate, Prev: append_list_dbx, Up: Command-line commands
17.4.9 append_verify
--------------------
-- Command: append_verify <signed_file>
Verifies an appended signature on SIGNED_FILE against the trusted
X.509 certificates and hashes known to VAS_EBOOT (*note
append_list_db::,*note append_list_dbx::, *note
append_add_db_cert::, *note append_add_db_hash::, *note
append_add_dbx_hash:: and *note append_add_dbx_cert::). Exit code
'$?' is set to 0 if the signature validates successfully. If
validation fails, it is set to a non-zero value.
*Note Using appended signatures:: for more information.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: authenticate, Next: background_color, Prev: append_verify, Up: Command-line commands
17.4.10 authenticate
--------------------
-- Command: authenticate [userlist]
Check whether user is in USERLIST or listed in the value of
variable 'superusers'. See *note superusers:: for valid user list
format. If 'superusers' is empty, this command returns true.
*Note Security::.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: background_color, Next: background_image, Prev: authenticate, Up: Command-line commands
17.4.11 background_color
------------------------
-- Command: background_color color
Set background color for active terminal. For valid color
specifications see *note Colors: Theme file format. Background
color can be changed only when using 'gfxterm' for terminal output.
This command sets color of empty areas without text. Text
background color is controlled by environment variables
COLOR_NORMAL, COLOR_HIGHLIGHT, MENU_COLOR_NORMAL,
MENU_COLOR_HIGHLIGHT. *Note Special environment variables::.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: background_image, Next: badram, Prev: background_color, Up: Command-line commands
17.4.12 background_image
------------------------
-- Command: background_image [[--mode stretch|normal] file]
Load background image for active terminal from FILE. Image is
stretched to fill up entire screen unless option '--mode' 'normal'
is given. Without arguments remove currently loaded background
image. Background image can be changed only when using 'gfxterm'
for terminal output.

File: VasEBoot.info, Node: badram, Next: blocklist, Prev: background_image, Up: Command-line commands
17.4.13 badram
--------------
-- Command: badram addr,mask[,addr,mask...]
Filter out bad RAM.
This command notifies the memory manager that specified regions of
RAM ought to be filtered out (usually, because they're damaged).
This remains in effect after a payload kernel has been loaded by
VAS_EBOOT, as long as the loaded kernel obtains its memory map from
VAS_EBOOT. Kernels that support this include Linux, GNU Mach, the kernel
of FreeBSD and Multiboot kernels in general.
Syntax is the same as provided by the Memtest86+ utility
(http://www.memtest.org/): a list of address/mask pairs. Given a
page-aligned address and a base address / mask pair, if all the
bits of the page-aligned address that are enabled by the mask match
with the base address, it means this page is to be filtered. This
syntax makes it easy to represent patterns that are often result of
memory damage, due to physical distribution of memory cells.
The command is similar to 'cutmem' command.
Note: The command is not allowed when lockdown is enforced (*note
Lockdown::). This prevents removing EFI memory regions to
potentially subvert the security mechanisms provided by the UEFI
secure boot.
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