155 lines
5.2 KiB
Markdown
155 lines
5.2 KiB
Markdown
# Limine
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### What is Limine?
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Limine is an advanced x86/x86_64 BIOS Bootloader which supports *modern* PC features
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such as Long Mode, 5-level paging, and SMP (multicore), to name a few.
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### Limine's boot menu
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[Photo by Nishant Aneja from Pexels](https://www.pexels.com/photo/close-up-photo-of-waterdrops-on-glass-2527248/)
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### Supported boot protocols
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* Linux
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* stivale and stivale2 (Limine's native boot protocols, see STIVALE{,2}.md for details)
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* Chainloading
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### Supported filesystems
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* ext2/3/4
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* echfs
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* FAT32
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### Supported partitioning schemes
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* MBR
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* GPT
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## Warning about using `unstable`
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Please refrain from using the `unstable` branch of this repository directly, unless
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you have a *very* good reason to.
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The `unstable` branch is unstable, and non-backwards compatible changes are made to it
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routinely.
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Use instead a [release](https://github.com/limine-bootloader/limine/releases), or a [release branch](https://github.com/limine-bootloader/limine/branches) (like v1.0-branch).
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Following a release offers a fixed point, immutable snapshot of Limine, while following a release branch tracks the latest changes made to that major release's branch which do not break compatibility (but could break in other, non-obvious ways).
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One can clone a release directly using
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```bash
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git clone https://github.com/limine-bootloader/limine.git --branch=v1.0
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```
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(replace `v1.0` with the chosen release)
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or a release branch with
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```bash
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git clone https://github.com/limine-bootloader/limine.git --branch=v1.0-branch
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```
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(replace `v1.0-branch` with the chosen release branch)
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Also note that the documentation contained in `unstable` does not reflect the
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documentation for the specific releases, and one should refer to the releases'
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documentation instead, contained in their files.
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## Building
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### Building the bootloader
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Building the bootloader is not necessary as a prebuilt copy is shipped in this
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repository (`limine.bin`).
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Should one want to build the bootloader to make sure the shipped copy is authentic,
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to develop, to debug, or any other reason, it is necessary to first build the
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set of tools that the bootloader needs in order to be built.
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This can be accomplished by running:
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```bash
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make toolchain
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```
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*The above step may take a while*
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After that is done, the bootloader itself can be built with:
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```bash
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make bootloader
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```
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A newly generated `limine.bin` image should now be present in the root of the repo.
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This newly built image should match 1:1 (aka, same checksum) with the one shipped
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with the respective commit.
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### Compiling `limine-install`
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To build the `limine-install` program, simply run `make` in the root of the repo.
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This will embed the `limine.bin` bootloader image from the repository's root into
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`limine-install`, ready to be deployed to a device.
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Then use `make install` to install it, optionally specifying a prefix with a
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`PREFIX=...` option.
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Installing `limine-install` is optional as it can also be used from the root of the
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repository just fine.
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## How to use
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### MBR
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In order to install Limine on a MBR device (which can just be a raw image file),
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run the `limine-install` as such:
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```bash
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limine-install <path to device/image>
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```
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### GPT
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If using a GPT formatted device, there are 2 options one can follow for installation:
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* Specifying a dedicated stage 2 partition.
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* Letting `limine-install` attempt to embed stage 2 within GPT structures.
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In case one wants to specify a stage 2 partition, create a partition on the GPT
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device of at least 32KiB in size, and pass the 1-based number of the partition
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to `limine-install` as a second argument; such as:
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```bash
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limine-install <path to device/image> <1-based stage 2 partition number>
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```
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In case one wants to let `limine-install` embed stage 2 within GPT's structures,
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simply omit the partition number, and invoke `limine-install` the same as one would
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do for an MBR partitioned device.
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### Configuration
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Then make sure the device/image contains at least 1 partition formatted in
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a supported filesystem containing a `/limine.cfg` or `/boot/limine.cfg` file
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and the kernel/modules one wants to load.
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An example `limine.cfg` file can be found in `test/limine.cfg`.
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More info on the format of `limine.cfg` can be found in `CONFIG.md`.
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### Example
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For example, to create an empty image file of 64MiB in size, 1 echfs partition
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on the image spanning the whole device, format it, copy the relevant files over,
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and install Limine, one can do:
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```bash
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dd if=/dev/zero bs=1M count=0 seek=64 of=test.img
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parted -s test.img mklabel msdos
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parted -s test.img mkpart primary 1 100%
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parted -s test.img set 1 boot on # Workaround for buggy BIOSes
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echfs-utils -m -p0 test.img quick-format 32768
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echfs-utils -m -p0 test.img import path/to/limine.cfg limine.cfg
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echfs-utils -m -p0 test.img import path/to/kernel.elf kernel.elf
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echfs-utils -m -p0 test.img import <path to file> <path in image>
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...
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limine-install test.img
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```
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One can get `echfs-utils` by installing https://github.com/echfs/echfs.
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## Acknowledgments
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Limine uses a stripped-down version of [tinf](https://github.com/jibsen/tinf).
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## Discord server
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We have a [Discord server](https://discord.gg/QEeZMz4) if you need support, info, or
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you just want to hang out with us.
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