5 novaboot - Boots a locally compiled operating system on a remote
12 B<novaboot> [option]... [--] script...
14 B<./script> [option]...
18 Novaboot makes booting of a locally compiled operating system (OS)
19 (e.g. NOVA or Linux) on remote targets as simple as running a program
20 locally. It automates things like copying OS images to a TFTP server,
21 generation of bootloader configuration files, resetting of target
22 hardware or redirection of target's serial line to stdin/out. Novaboot
23 is highly configurable and makes it easy to boot a single image on
24 different targets or different images on a single target.
26 Novaboot operation is controlled by configuration files, command line
27 options and by a so-called novaboot script, which can be thought as a
28 generalization of bootloader configuration files (see L</"NOVABOOT
29 SCRIPT SYNTAX">). The typical way of using novaboot is to make the
30 novaboot script executable and set its first line to I<#!/usr/bin/env
31 novaboot>. Then, booting a particular OS configuration becomes the
32 same as executing a local program – the novaboot script.
34 Novaboot uses configuration files to, among other things, define
35 command line options needed for different targets. Users typically use
36 only the B<-t>/B<--target> command line option to select the target.
37 Internally, this option expands to the pre-configured options.
38 Novaboot searches configuration files at multiple places, which allows
39 having per-system, per-user or per-project configurations.
40 Configuration file syntax is described in section L</"CONFIGURATION
43 Novaboot newcomers may be confused by a large number of configuration
44 options. Understanding all these options is not always needed,
45 depending on the used setup. The L<figure from the doc directory
46 |https://github.com/wentasah/novaboot/blob/master/doc/typical-setups.svg>
47 shows different setups that vary in how much effort is needed
48 configure novaboot for them. The setups are:
52 =item A: Laptop and target device only
54 This requires to configure everything on the laptop side, including a
55 serial line connection (L</--serial>, L</--remote-cmd>, ...), power
56 on/off/reset commands (L</--reset-cmd>, ...), TFTP server
57 (L</--server>, L</--prefix>...), device IP addresses, etc.
59 =item B: Laptop, target device and external TFTP server
61 Like the previous setup, but the TFTP (and maybe DHCP) configuration
62 is handled by a server. Novaboot users need to understand where to
63 copy their files to the TFTP server (L</--server>) and which IP
64 addresses their target will get, but do not need to configure the
67 =item C: Novaboot server running novaboot-shell
69 With this setup, the configuration is done on the server. Users only
70 need to know the SSH account (L</--ssh>) used to communicate between
71 novaboot and novaboot server. The server is implemented as a
72 restricted shell (L<novaboot-shell(1)>) on the server. No need to give
73 full shell access to novaboot users on the server.
77 =head2 Simple examples of using C<novaboot>:
79 To boot Linux (files F<bzImage> and F<rootfs.cpio> in current
80 directory), create F<mylinux> file with this content:
82 #!/usr/bin/env novaboot
83 load bzImage console=ttyS0,115200
90 Booting an OS in Qemu can be accomplished by giving the B<--qemu> option.
93 novaboot --qemu mylinux
95 (or C<./mylinux --qemu> as described above) will run Qemu and make it
96 boot the configuration specified in the F<mylinux> script. How is qemu
97 started can be configured in various ways (see below).
101 Create a bootloader configuration file (currently supported
102 bootloaders are GRUB, GRUB2, ISOLINUX, Pulsar, and U-Boot) and copy it
103 with all other files needed for booting to a remote TFTP server. Then
104 use a TCP/IP-controlled relay/serial-to-TCP converter to reset the
105 target and receive its serial output.
107 ./mylinux --grub2 --server=192.168.1.1:/tftp --iprelay=192.168.1.2
109 Alternatively, you can put these switches to the configuration file
112 ./mylinux --target mytarget
116 Specifying all the options needed by novaboot to successfully control
117 the target, either on command line or in configuration files, can be
118 difficult for users. Novaboot supports configuring the target
119 centrally via L<novaboot-shell(1)> on a server. With such a
120 configuration, users only need to use the B<--ssh> option to specify
121 where to boot their OS:
123 ./mylinux --ssh myboard@example.com
125 Typically, the server is the computer connected to and controlling the
126 target board and running the TFTP server.
130 Run DHCP and TFTP server on developer's machine to boot the target
133 ./mylinux --dhcp-tftp
135 This usage is useful when no network infrastructure is in place, and
136 the target is connected directly to developer's box.
140 Create bootable ISO image.
142 novaboot --iso -- script1 script2
144 The created ISO image will have ISOLINUX bootloader installed on it,
145 and the boot menu will allow selecting between I<script1> and
146 I<script2> configurations.
150 =head1 OPTIONS AND PHASES
152 Novaboot performs its work in several phases. Command line options
153 described bellow influence the execution of each phase or allow their
154 skipping. The list of phases (in the execution order) is as follows.
158 =item 1. L<Configuration reading|/Configuration reading phase>
160 =item 2. L<Command line processing|/Command line processing phase>
162 =item 3. L<Script preprocessing|/Script preprocessing phase>
164 =item 4. L<File generation|/File generation phase>
166 =item 5. L<Target connection|/Target connection check>
168 =item 6. L<File deployment|/File deployment phase>
170 =item 7. L<Target power-on and reset|/Target power-on and reset phase>
172 =item 8. L<Interaction with the bootloader|/Interaction with the bootloader on the target>
174 =item 9. L<Target interaction|/Target interaction phase>
178 Each phase is described in the following sections together with the
179 command line options that control it.
181 =head2 Configuration reading phase
183 After starting, novaboot reads zero or more configuration files. We
184 describe their content in section L</"CONFIGURATION FILES">. By default, the
185 configuration is read from multiple locations. First from the system
186 configuration directory (F</etc/novaboot.d/>), second from the user
187 configuration file (F<~/.config/novaboot>) and third from F<.novaboot>
188 files along the path to the current directory. Alternatively, a single
189 configuration file specified with the B<-c> switch or with the
190 C<NOVABOOT_CONFIG> environment variable is read. The latter read files
191 override settings from the former ones.
193 The system configuration directory is determined by the content of
194 NOVABOOT_CONFIG_DIR environment variable and defaults to
195 F</etc/novaboot.d>. Files in this directory with names consisting
196 solely of English letters, numbers, dashes '-' and underscores '_'
197 (note that dot '.' is not included) are read in alphabetical order.
199 Then, the user configuration file is read from
200 F<$XDG_CONFIG_HOME/novaboot>. If C<$XDG_CONFIG_HOME> environment
201 variable is not set F<~/.config/novaboot> is read instead.
203 Finally, novaboot searches for files named F<.novaboot> starting from the
204 directory of the novaboot script (or working directory, see bellow)
205 and continuing upwards up to the root directory. The found
206 configuration files are then read in the opposite order (i.e. from the
207 root directory downwards). This ordering allows having, for example, a project
208 specific configuration in F<~/project/.novaboot>.
210 Note the difference between F<~/.config/novaboot> and F<~/.novaboot>.
211 The former one is always read, whereas the latter only when novaboot
212 script or working directory is under the C<$HOME> directory.
214 In certain cases, the location of the novaboot script cannot be
215 determined in this early phase. This situation happens either when the script is
216 read from the standard input or when novaboot is invoked explicitly as
217 in the example L</"4."> above. In this case, the current working
218 directory is used as a starting point for configuration file search
219 instead of the novaboot script directory.
223 =item -c, --config=I<filename>
225 Use the specified configuration file instead of the default one(s).
229 =head2 Command line processing phase
235 Dump the current configuration to stdout end exit. Useful as an
236 initial template for a configuration file.
240 Print short (B<-h>) or long (B<--help>) help.
242 =item -t, --target=I<target>
244 This option serves as a user configurable shortcut for other novaboot
245 options. The effect of this option is the same as specifying the
246 options stored in the C<%targets> configuration variable under key
247 I<target>. See also L</"CONFIGURATION FILES">.
249 When this option is not given, novaboot tries to determine the target
250 to use from either B<NOVABOOT_TARGET> environment variable or
251 B<$default_target> configuration file variable.
253 =item --ssh=I<user@hostname>
255 Configures novaboot to control the target via C<novaboot-shell>
256 running remotely via SSH.
258 Using this option is the same as specifying B<--remote-cmd>,
259 B<--remote-expect>, B<--server> B<--rsync-flags>, B<--prefix> and
260 B<--reset-cmd> manually in a way compatible with C<novaboot-shell>.
261 The server can be configured to provide other, safe bootloader-related
262 options, to the client. When this happens, novaboot prints them to
265 Currently, this in an initial experimental implementation. We plan to
266 change/extend this feature soon!
270 =head2 Script preprocessing phase
272 This phase allows modifying the parsed novaboot script before it is
273 used in the later phases.
277 =item -a, --append=I<parameters>
279 Append a string to the first C<load> line in the novaboot script. This option
280 can be used to append parameters to the kernel's or root task's
281 command line. This option can appear multiple times.
285 Use L<Bender|https://github.com/TUD-OS/morbo/blob/master/standalone/bender.c>
286 chainloader. Bender scans the PCI bus for PCI serial ports and stores
287 the information about them in the BIOS data area for use by the
290 =item --chainloader=I<chainloader>
292 Specifies a chainloader that is loaded before the kernel and other
293 files specified in the novaboot script. E.g. 'bin/boot/bender
298 Print the modules to boot and their parameters, after this phase
299 finishes. Then exit. This is useful for seeing the effect of other
300 options in this section.
302 =item -k, --kernel=F<file>
304 Replace the first word on the first C<load> line in the novaboot
307 =item --scriptmod=I<Perl expression>
309 When novaboot reads the script, I<Perl expression> is executed for every
310 line (in $_ variable). For example, C<novaboot
311 --scriptmod=s/sigma0/omega6/g> replaces every occurrence of I<sigma0>
312 in the script with I<omega6>.
314 When this option is present, it overrides I<$script_modifier> variable
315 from the configuration file, which has the same effect. If this option
316 is given multiple times all expressions are evaluated in the command
321 =head2 File generation phase
323 In this phase, files needed for booting are generated in a so-called
324 I<build directory> (see L</--build-dir>). In most cases configuration
325 for a bootloader is generated automatically by novaboot. It is also
326 possible to generate other files using I<heredoc> or I<"<"> syntax in
327 novaboot scripts. Finally, novaboot can generate binaries in this phases by
328 running C<scons> or C<make>.
332 =item --build-dir=I<directory>
334 Overrides the default build directory location.
336 The default build directory location is determined as follows: If the
337 configuration file defines the C<$builddir> variable, its value is
338 used. Otherwise, it is the directory that contains the first processed
341 See also L</BUILDDIR> variable.
343 =item -g, --grub[=I<filename>]
345 Generates grub bootloader menu file. If the I<filename> is not
346 specified, F<menu.lst> is used. The I<filename> is relative to the
347 build directory (see B<--build-dir>).
349 =item --grub-preamble=I<prefix>
351 Specifies the I<preamble> that is at the beginning of the generated
352 GRUB or GRUB2 config files. This is useful for specifying GRUB's
355 =item --prefix=I<prefix>
357 Specifies I<prefix> (e.g. F</srv/tftp>) that is put in front of every
358 filename in generated bootloader configuration files (or in U-Boot
361 If the I<prefix> contains string $NAME, it will be replaced with the
362 name of the novaboot script (see also B<--name>).
364 If the I<prefix> contains string $BUILDDIR, it will be replaced with
365 the build directory (see also B<--build-dir>).
369 Alias for B<--prefix>.
371 =item --grub2[=I<filename>]
373 Generate GRUB2 menu entry in I<filename>. If I<filename> is not
374 specified F<grub.cfg> is used. The content of the menu entry can be
375 customized with B<--grub-preamble>, B<--grub2-prolog> or
376 B<--grub_prefix> options.
378 To use the generated menu entry on your development
379 machine that uses GRUB2, append the following snippet to
380 F</etc/grub.d/40_custom> file and regenerate your grub configuration,
381 i.e. run update-grub on Debian/Ubuntu.
383 if [ -f /path/to/nul/build/grub.cfg ]; then
384 source /path/to/nul/build/grub.cfg
387 =item --grub2-prolog=I<prolog>
389 Specifies the text that novaboot puts at the beginning of the GRUB2 menu entry.
391 =item -m, --make[=make command]
393 Runs C<make> to build files that are not generated by novaboot itself.
395 =item --name=I<string>
397 Use the name I<string> instead of the name of the novaboot script.
398 This name is used for things like a title of grub menu or for the
399 server directory where the boot files are copied to.
403 Do not run external commands to generate files (i.e. "<" syntax and
404 C<run> keyword). This switch does not influence the generation of files
405 specified with "<<WORD" syntax.
407 =item -p, --pulsar[=mac]
409 Generates pulsar bootloader configuration file named F<config-I<mac>>
410 The I<mac> string is typically a MAC address and defaults to
413 =item --scons[=scons command]
415 Runs C<scons> to build files that are not generated by novaboot
420 Strip I<rom://> prefix from command lines and generated config files.
421 The I<rom://> prefix is used by NUL. For NRE, it has to be stripped.
425 Exit novaboot after file generation phase.
429 =head2 Target connection check
431 In this phase novaboot connects to target's serial port (if it has
432 one). If another novaboot user/instance occupies the target, novaboot
433 exits here with an error message.
437 =item --amt=I<"[user[:password]@]host[:port]>
439 Use Intel AMT technology to control the target machine. WS management
440 is used to powercycle it and Serial-Over-Lan (SOL) for input/output.
441 The hostname or (IP address) is given by the I<host> parameter. If the
442 I<password> is not specified, environment variable AMT_PASSWORD is
443 used. The I<port> specifies a TCP port for SOL. If not specified, the
444 default is 16992. The default I<user> is admin.
446 =item --iprelay=I<addr[:port]>
448 Use TCP/IP relay and serial port to access the target's serial port
449 and powercycle it. The I<addr> parameter specifies the IP address of
450 the relay. If I<port> is not specified, it defaults to 23.
452 Note: This option is supposed to work with HWG-ER02a IP relays.
454 =item --iprelay-cmd=I<command>
456 Similar to B<--iprelay> but uses I<command> to talk to the iprelay
457 rather than direct network connection.
459 =item -s, --serial[=device]
461 Target's serial line is connected to host's serial line (device). The
462 default value for device is F</dev/ttyUSB0>.
464 The value of this option is exported in NB_NOVABOOT environment
465 variable to all subprocesses run by C<novaboot>.
467 =item --stty=I<settings>
469 Specifies settings passed to C<stty> invoked on the serial line
470 specified with B<--serial> option. If this option is not given,
471 C<stty> is called with C<raw -crtscts -onlcr 115200> settings.
473 =item --remote-cmd=I<cmd>
475 Command that mediates connection to the target's serial line. For
476 example C<ssh server 'cu -l /dev/ttyS0'>.
478 =item --remote-expect=I<string>
480 Wait for reception of I<string> after establishing the remote serial
481 line connection. Novaboot assumes that after establishing the serial
482 line connection, the user running novaboot has exclusive access to the
483 target. If establishing of the serial line connection happens
484 asynchronously (e.g. running a command remotely via SSH), we need this
485 option to wait until the exclusive access is confirmed by the remote
488 Depending on target configuration, this option can solve two practical
489 problems: 1) Overwriting of files deployed by another user currently
490 using the target. 2) Resetting the target board before serial line
491 connection is established and thus missing bootloader interaction.
493 Example of usage with the L<sterm
494 tool|https://rtime.felk.cvut.cz/gitweb/sojka/sterm.git>:
496 --remote-cmd='ssh -tt example.com sterm -v /dev/ttyUSB0' --remote-expect='sterm: Connected'
498 =item --remote-expect-silent=I<string>
500 The same as B<--remote-expect> except that the remote output is not
501 echoed to stdout while waiting for the I<string>. Everything after the
502 matched string is printed to stdout, so you may want to include line
503 end characters in the I<string> as well.
505 =item --remote-expect-timeout=I<seconds>
507 Timeout in seconds for B<--remote-expect> or
508 B<--remote-expect-seconds>. When negative, waits forever. The default
513 =head2 File deployment phase
515 In some setups, it is necessary to copy the files needed for booting
516 to a particular location, e.g. to a TFTP boot server or to the
521 =item -d, --dhcp-tftp
523 Turns your workstation into a DHCP and TFTP server so that the OS can
524 be booted via PXE BIOS (or similar mechanism) on the test machine
525 directly connected by a plain Ethernet cable to your workstation.
527 The DHCP and TFTP servers require root privileges and C<novaboot>
528 uses C<sudo> command to obtain those. You can put the following to
529 I</etc/sudoers> to allow running the necessary commands without asking
532 Cmnd_Alias NOVABOOT = /bin/ip a add 10.23.23.1/24 dev eth0, /bin/ip l set dev eth0 up, /usr/sbin/dhcpd -d -cf dhcpd.conf -lf dhcpd.leases -pf dhcpd.pid, /usr/sbin/in.tftpd --listen --secure -v -v -v --pidfile tftpd.pid *, /usr/bin/touch dhcpd.leases, /usr/bin/pkill --pidfile=dhcpd.pid, /usr/bin/pkill --pidfile=tftpd.pid
533 your_login ALL=NOPASSWD: NOVABOOT
537 Starts a TFTP server on your workstation. This is similar to
538 B<--dhcp-tftp> except that DHCP server is not started.
540 The TFTP server requires root privileges and C<novaboot> uses C<sudo>
541 command to obtain those. You can put the following to I</etc/sudoers>
542 to allow running the necessary commands without asking for a password.
544 Cmnd_Alias NOVABOOT = /usr/sbin/in.tftpd --listen --secure -v -v -v --pidfile tftpd.pid *, /usr/bin/pkill --pidfile=tftpd.pid
545 your_login ALL=NOPASSWD: NOVABOOT
547 =item --tftp-port=I<port>
549 Port to run the TFTP server on. Implies B<--tftp>.
551 =item --netif=I<network interface>
553 Network interface used to deploy files to the target. This option
554 influences the configuration of the DHCP server started by
555 B<--dhcp-tftp> and the value that B<$NB_MYIP> get replaced with during
556 U-Boot conversation. The default value is C<$netif> variable from
557 configuration files, which defaults to I<eth0>.
559 =item --iso[=filename]
561 Generates the ISO image that boots NOVA system via GRUB. If no filename
562 is given, the image is stored under I<NAME>.iso, where I<NAME> is the name
563 of the novaboot script (see also B<--name>).
565 =item --server[=[[user@]server:]path]
567 Copy all files needed for booting to another location. The files will
568 be copied (by B<rsync> tool) to the directory I<path>. If the I<path>
569 contains string $NAME, it will be replaced with the name of the
570 novaboot script (see also B<--name>).
572 =item --rsync-flags=I<flags>
574 Specifies I<flags> to append to F<rsync> command line when
575 copying files as a result of I<--server> option.
579 If B<--server> is used and its value ends with $NAME, then after
580 copying the files, a new bootloader configuration file (e.g. menu.lst)
581 is created at I<path-wo-name>, i.e. the path specified by B<--server>
582 with $NAME part removed. The content of the file is created by
583 concatenating all files of the same name from all subdirectories of
584 I<path-wo-name> found on the "server".
588 Use Intel AMT technology for IDE redirection. This allows the target
589 machine to boot from novaboot created ISO image. Implies B<--iso>.
591 The experimental C<amtider> utility needed by this option can be
592 obtained from https://github.com/wentasah/amtterm.
596 =head2 Target power-on and reset phase
598 At this point, the target is reset (or switched on/off). There are
599 several ways how this can be accomplished. Resetting a physical target
600 can currently be accomplished by the following options: B<--amt>,
601 B<--iprelay>, B<--reset-cmd> and B<--reset-send>.
607 Switch on/off the target machine and exit. The script (if any) is
608 completely ignored. Currently, it works only with the following
609 options: B<--iprelay>, B<--amt>, B<--ssh>.
611 =item -Q, --qemu[=I<qemu-binary>]
613 Boot the configuration in qemu. Optionally, the name of qemu binary
614 can be specified as a parameter.
616 =item --qemu-append=I<flags>
618 Append I<flags> to the default qemu flags (QEMU_FLAGS variable or
619 C<-cpu coreduo -smp 2>).
621 =item -q, --qemu-flags=I<flags>
623 Replace the default qemu flags (QEMU_FLAGS variable or C<-cpu coreduo
624 -smp 2>) with I<flags> specified here.
626 =item --reset-cmd=I<cmd>
628 Runs command I<cmd> to reset the target.
630 =item --reset-send=I<string>
632 Reset the target by sending the given I<string> to the remote serial
633 line. "\n" sequences are replaced with the newline character.
635 =item --no-reset, --reset
637 Disable/enable resetting of the target.
641 =head2 Interaction with the bootloader on the target
645 =item --uboot[=I<prompt>]
647 Interact with U-Boot bootloader to boot the thing described in the
648 novaboot script. I<prompt> specifies the U-Boot's prompt (default is
649 "=> ", other common prompts are "U-Boot> " or "U-Boot# ").
653 Disable U-Boot interaction previously enabled with B<--uboot>.
655 =item --uboot-stop-key=I<key>
657 Character, which is sent as a response to U-Boot's "Hit any key to
658 stop autoboot" message. The default value is newline, but some devices
659 (e.g. TP-Link TD-W8970) require a specific key to be pressed.
663 Command(s) to send the U-Boot bootloader before loading the images and
664 booting them. This option can be given multiple times. After sending
665 commands from each option novaboot waits for U-Boot I<prompt>.
667 If the command contains string I<$NB_MYIP> then this string is
668 replaced by IPv4 address of eth0 interface (see also B<--netif>).
669 Similarly, I<$NB_PREFIX> is replaced with prefix given by B<--prefix>.
671 See also C<uboot> keyword in L</"NOVABOOT SCRIPT SYNTAX">).
673 =item --uboot-addr I<name>=I<address>
675 Load address of U-Boot's C<tftpboot> command for loading I<name>,
676 where name is one of I<kernel>, I<ramdisk> or I<fdt> (flattened device
679 The default addresses are ${I<name>_addr_r}, i.e. U-Boot environment
680 variables used by convention for this purpose.
682 =item --uboot-cmd=I<command>
684 Specifies U-Boot command used to execute the OS. If the command
685 contains strings C<$kernel_addr>, C<$ramdisk_addr>, C<$fdt_addr>,
686 these are replaced with the addresses configured with B<--uboot-addr>.
690 bootm $kernel_addr $ramdisk_addr $fdt_addr
692 or the C<UBOOT_CMD> variable if defined in the novaboot script.
696 =head2 Target interaction phase
698 In this phase, target's serial output is redirected to stdout and if
699 stdin is a TTY, it is redirected to the target's serial input allowing
700 interactive work with the target.
704 =item --exiton=I<string>
706 When the I<string> is sent by the target, novaboot exits. This option can
707 be specified multiple times, in which case novaboot exits whenever
708 either of the specified strings is sent.
710 If the I<string> is C<-re>, then the next B<--exiton>'s I<string> is
711 treated as a regular expression. For example:
713 --exiton -re --exiton 'error:.*failed'
715 =item --exiton-re=I<regex>
717 The same as --exiton -re --exiton I<regex>.
719 =item --exiton-timeout=I<seconds>
721 By default B<--exiton> waits for the string match forever. When this
722 option is specified, "exiton" timeouts after the specified number of
723 seconds and novaboot returns non-zero exit code.
725 =item -i, --interactive
727 Setup things for the interactive use of the target. Your terminal will
728 be switched to raw mode. In raw mode, your local terminal does not
729 process input in any way (no echoing of entered characters, no
730 interpretation of special characters). This, among others, means that
731 Ctrl-C is passed to the target and does not interrupt novaboot. To
732 exit from novaboot interactive mode type "~~.".
734 =item --no-interaction, --interaction
736 Skip resp. force target interaction phase. When skipped, novaboot exits
737 immediately after the boot is initiated.
739 =item --expect=I<string>
741 When the I<string> is received from the target, send the string specified
742 with the subsequent B<--send*> option to the target.
744 =item --expect-re=I<regex>
746 When target's output matches regular expression I<regex>, send the
747 string specified with the subsequent B<--send*> option to the target.
749 =item --expect-raw=I<perl-code>
751 Provides direct control over Perl's Expect module.
753 =item --send=I<string>
755 Send I<string> to the target after the previously specified
756 B<--expect*> was matched in the target's output. The I<string> may
757 contain escape sequences such as "\n".
759 Note that I<string> is actually interpreted by Perl, so it can contain
760 much more that escape sequences. This behavior may change in the
763 Example: C<--expect='login: ' --send='root\n'>
765 =item --sendcont=I<string>
767 Similar to B<--send> but continue expecting more input.
769 Example: C<--expect='Continue?' --sendcont='yes\n'>
771 =item --final-eol, --no-final-eol
773 By default, B<novaboot> always prints an end-of-line character at the
774 end of its execution in order to ensure that the output of programs
775 started after novaboot appears at the beginning of the line. When this
776 is not desired B<--no-final-eol> option can be used to override this
781 =head1 NOVABOOT SCRIPT SYNTAX
783 The syntax tries to mimic POSIX shell syntax. The syntax is defined
784 by the following rules.
786 Lines starting with "#" and empty lines are ignored.
788 Lines that end with "\" are concatenated with the following line after
789 removal of the final "\" and leading whitespace of the following line.
791 Lines of the form I<VARIABLE=...> (i.e. matching '^[A-Z_]+=' regular
792 expression) assign values to internal variables. See L</VARIABLES>
795 Otherwise, the first word on the line defines the meaning of the line.
796 The following keywords are supported:
802 These lines represent modules to boot. The
803 word after C<load> is a file name (relative to the build directory
804 (see B<--build-dir>) of the module to load and the remaining words are
805 passed to it as the command line parameters.
807 When booting Linux, the first C<load> line usually refers to the
808 kernel image and its command line parameters (unless you use some
809 special pre-loader). Other C<load> lines may refer to an initramfs
810 image and/or a device tree blob. Their order is not important, as the
811 device tree is recognized as the file name ending with C<.dtb>.
813 When the C<load> line ends with "<<WORD" then the subsequent lines
814 until the line containing solely WORD are copied literally to the file
815 named on that line. This is similar to the heredoc feature of UNIX
818 When the C<load> line ends with "< CMD" then command CMD is executed
819 with F</bin/sh> and its standard output is stored in the file named on
820 that line. The SRCDIR variable in CMD's environment is set to the
821 absolute path of the directory containing the interpreted novaboot
826 These lines are similar to C<load> lines. The
827 file mentioned there is copied to the same place as in the case of C<load>
828 (e.g. tftp server), but the file is not used in the bootloader
829 configuration. Such a file can be used by the target for other
830 purposes than booting, e.g. at OS runtime or for firmware update.
834 Chainload another bootloader. Instead of loading multiboot modules
835 identified with C<load> keyword, run another bootloader. This is
836 currently supported only by pulsar and can be used to load e.g. Grub
837 as in the example below:
839 chld boot/grub/i386-pc/core.0
844 Lines starting with C<run> keyword contain shell commands that are run
845 during file generation phase. This is the same as the "< CMD" syntax
846 for C<load> keyboard except that the command's output is not
847 redirected to a file. The ordering of commands is the same as they
848 appear in the novaboot script.
852 These lines represent U-Boot commands that are sent to the target if
853 B<--uboot> option is given. Having a U-Boot line in the novaboot
854 script is the same as giving B<--uboot-init> option to novaboot. The
855 following syntax variants are supported:
858 uboot[:<timeout>] <string> [> <file>]
859 uboot[:<timeout>] < <shell> [> <file>]
861 C<string> is the literal U-Boot command.
863 The C<uboot> keyword can be suffixed with timeout specification. The
864 syntax is C<uboot:Ns>, where C<N> is the whole number of seconds. If
865 the U-Boot command prompt does not appear before the timeout, novaboot
866 fails. The default timeout is 10 seconds.
868 In the second variant with the C<<> character the shell code is
869 executed and its standard output is sent to U-Boot. Example:
871 uboot < printf "mmc write \$loadaddr 1 %x" $(($(/usr/bin/stat -c%s rootfs.ext4) / 512))
873 When C<E<gt> file> part is present, the output of the U-Boot command
874 is written into the given file.
880 #!/usr/bin/env novaboot
881 load bzImage console=ttyS0,115200
882 run make -C buildroot
883 load rootfs.cpio < gen_cpio buildroot/images/rootfs.cpio "myapp->/etc/init.d/S99myapp"
885 Example (NOVA User Land - NUL):
887 #!/usr/bin/env novaboot
888 WVDESC=Example program
889 load bin/apps/sigma0.nul S0_DEFAULT script_start:1,1 \
890 verbose hostkeyb:0,0x60,1,12,2
891 load bin/apps/hello.nul
892 load hello.nulconfig <<EOF
893 sigma0::mem:16 name::/s0/log name::/s0/timer name::/s0/fs/rom ||
894 rom://bin/apps/hello.nul
897 This example will load three modules: F<sigma0.nul>, F<hello.nul> and
898 F<hello.nulconfig>. sigma0 receives some command line parameters and
899 F<hello.nulconfig> file is generated on the fly from the lines between
902 Example (Zynq system update via U-Boot):
904 #!/usr/bin/env novaboot
908 # Write kernel to FAT filesystem on the 1st SD card partition
909 run mkimage -f uboot-image.its image.ub
911 uboot:60s tftpboot ${loadaddr} $NB_PREFIX/image.ub
912 uboot fatwrite mmc 0:1 ${loadaddr} image.ub $filesize
913 uboot set bootargs console=ttyPS0,115200 root=/dev/mmcblk0p2
915 # Write root FS image to the 2nd SD card partition
916 copy rootfs/images/rootfs.ext4
917 uboot:60s tftpboot ${loadaddr} $NB_PREFIX/rootfs/images/rootfs.ext4
918 uboot mmc part > mmc-part.txt
919 uboot < printf "mmc write \$loadaddr %x %x" $(awk '{ if ($1 == "2") { print $2 }}' mmc-part.txt) $(($(/usr/bin/stat -L --printf=%s rootfs/images/rootfs.ext4) / 512))
926 The following variables are interpreted in the novaboot script:
932 Novaboot chdir()s to this directory before file generation phase. The
933 directory name specified here is relative to the build directory
934 specified by other means (see L</--build-dir>).
938 Assigning this variable has the same effect as specifying L</--exiton>
943 Setting this variable to zero is the same as giving
944 L</--no-interaction>, specifying to one corresponds to
947 =item HYPERVISOR_PARAMS
949 Parameters passed to the hypervisor. The default value is "serial", unless
950 overridden in the configuration file.
954 The kernel to use instead of the hypervisor specified in the
955 configuration file with the C<$hypervisor> variable. The value should
956 contain the name of the kernel image as well as its command line
957 parameters. If this variable is defined and non-empty, the variable
958 HYPERVISOR_PARAMS is not used.
962 If this variable is 1, the system is not booted. This is currently
963 only implemented for U-Boot bootloader where it is useful for
964 interacting with the bootloader without booting the system - e.g. for
969 Use a specific qemu binary (can be overridden with B<-Q>) and flags
970 when booting this script under qemu. If QEMU_FLAGS variable is also
971 specified flags specified in QEMU variable are replaced by those in
976 Use specific qemu flags (can be overridden with B<-q>).
984 Description of the WvTest-compliant program.
988 The timeout in seconds for WvTest harness. If no complete line appears
989 in the test output within the time specified here, the test fails. It
990 is necessary to specify this for long running tests that produce no
995 =head1 CONFIGURATION FILES
997 Novaboot can read its configuration from one or more files. By
998 default, novaboot looks for files in F</etc/novaboot.d>, file
999 F<~/.config/novaboot> and files named F<.novaboot> as described in
1000 L</Configuration reading phase>. Alternatively, configuration file
1001 location can be specified with the B<-c> switch or with the
1002 NOVABOOT_CONFIG environment variable. The configuration file has Perl
1003 syntax (i.e. it is better to put C<1;> as the last line) and should set
1004 values of certain Perl variables. The current configuration can be
1005 dumped with the B<--dump-config> switch. Some configuration variables
1006 can be overridden by environment variables (see below) or by command
1009 Supported configuration variables include:
1015 Build directory location relative to the location of the configuration
1018 =item $default_target
1020 Default target (see below) to use when no target is explicitly
1021 specified with the B<--target> command line option or
1022 B<NOVABOOT_TARGET> environment variable.
1026 Default value for the B<--netif> option. If not specified, it defaults
1031 Hash of target definitions to be used with the B<--target> option. The
1032 key is the identifier of the target, the value is the string with
1033 command line options. For instance, if the configuration file contains:
1035 $targets{'mybox'} = '--server=boot:/tftproot --serial=/dev/ttyUSB0 --grub',
1037 then the following two commands are equivalent:
1039 ./myos --server=boot:/tftproot --serial=/dev/ttyUSB0 --grub
1044 =head1 ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES
1046 Some options can be specified not only via config file or command line
1047 but also through environment variables. Environment variables override
1048 the values from the configuration file and command line parameters
1049 override the environment variables.
1053 =item NOVABOOT_CONFIG
1055 Name of the novaboot configuration file to use instead of the default
1058 =item NOVABOOT_CONFIG_DIR
1060 Name of the novaboot configuration directory. When not specified
1061 F</etc/novaboot.d> is used.
1063 =item NOVABOOT_TARGET
1065 Name of the novaboot target to use. This overrides the value of
1066 B<$default_target> from the configuration file and can be overridden
1067 with the B<--target> command line option.
1069 =item NOVABOOT_BENDER
1071 Defining this variable has the same effect as using B<--bender>
1078 Michal Sojka <sojka@os.inf.tu-dresden.de>
1080 Latest novaboot version can be found at
1081 L<https://github.com/wentasah/novaboot>.