Copyright (c) 2004 Valeriy E. Ushakov
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.Dd April 3, 2004 .Dt KLOADER 4 .Os .Sh NAME .Nm kloader .Nd in-kernel bootloader .Sh SYNOPSIS .Cd options KLOADER .Cd options KLOADER_KERNEL_PATH="\e"/netbsd\e"" .Sh DESCRIPTION The .Nm is the in-kernel bootloader for platforms that do not have a proper firmware.
p Some platforms supported by .Nx do not have a firmware that can boot the .Nx kernel. Examples are game consoles (dreamcast and playstation2 ports), and handhelds (hpcarm, hpcmips, and hpcsh ports). On such platforms the bootloader is usually a host program that runs under the native OS. This means that rebooting .Nx is a lengthy process of booting into the native OS first, launching the bootloader program, and finally booting .Nx again. This problem is addressed by .Nm , which allows the currently running kernel to serve as a bootloader for the kernel being booted, thus avoiding the burden of booting into the native OS first.
p When .Nm is configured into the kernel, a call to .Xr reboot 2 causes the .Nm to load the new kernel into memory, and arrange for control to be passed to the new kernel \(em just like a standalone bootloader does. The new kernel then boots in the ordinary manner. .Sh SEE ALSO .Xr reboot 2 , .Xr boot 8 , .Xr reboot 8 .Sh HISTORY .Nm first appeared in .Nx 1.6 . .Sh BUGS .Nm ignores .Fa howto and .Fa bootstr arguments passed to the .Xr reboot 2 system call, and reboots the system with the previous boot settings.
p .Nm doesn't support booting compressed kernels.
p The hpcarm port doesn't support .Nm yet.
Indexes created Tue Sep 23 02:09:52 GMT 2025