src | ||
test | ||
toolchain | ||
.gitignore | ||
bochsrc | ||
CONFIG.md | ||
LICENSE.md | ||
limine-install.c | ||
Makefile | ||
README.md | ||
screenshot.png | ||
STIVALE2.md | ||
STIVALE.md |
Limine
x86/x86_64 BIOS Bootloader
Supported boot protocols
- Linux
- stivale and stivale2 (Limine's native boot protocols, see STIVALE{,2}.md for details)
Supported filesystems
- ext2
- echfs
- FAT32
Supported partitioning schemes
- MBR
- GPT
Building
Dependencies
To build Limine, it is necessary to have an LLVM/Clang toolchain installed.
More specifically, the following programs need to be present: clang
, llvm-objcopy
,
llvm-link
, opt
, ld.lld
.
Furthermore, nasm
also needs to be installed.
curl
, tar
, and zstd
need to be installed for retrieving libgcc.a
during build.
Compiling
A simple make
and make install
will suffice. Use the PREFIX variable with
make install
to specify where to install limine-install
. It defaults to
/usr/local
.
How to use
In order to install Limine on a MBR device (which can just be a raw image file),
run the limine-install
as such:
limine-install <path to device/image>
If using a GPT formatted device, it will be necessary to create an extra partition
(of at least 32K in size) to store stage 2 code. Then it will be necessary to tell
limine-install
where this partition is located by specifying the start sector.
fdisk <device> # Create bootloader partition using your favourite method
limine-install <path to device/image> <start sector of boot partition>
Then make sure the device/image contains at least 1 partition formatted in
a supported filesystem containing a /limine.cfg
or /boot/limine.cfg
file
and the kernel/modules one wants to load.
An example limine.cfg
file can be found in test/limine.cfg
.
More info on the format of limine.cfg
can be found in CONFIG.md
.
For example, to create an empty image file of 64MiB in size, 1 echfs partition on the image spanning the whole device, format it, copy the relevant files over, and install Limine, one can do:
dd if=/dev/zero bs=1M count=0 seek=64 of=test.img
parted -s test.img mklabel msdos
parted -s test.img mkpart primary 1 100%
parted -s test.img set 1 boot on # Workaround for buggy BIOSes
echfs-utils -m -p0 test.img quick-format 32768
echfs-utils -m -p0 test.img import path/to/limine.cfg limine.cfg
echfs-utils -m -p0 test.img import path/to/kernel.elf kernel.elf
echfs-utils -m -p0 test.img import <path to file> <path in image>
...
limine-install test.img
One can get echfs-utils
by installing https://github.com/qword-os/echfs.
Limine uses a stripped-down version of https://github.com/jibsen/tinf
Discord server
We have a Discord server if you need support, info, or you just want to hang out: https://discord.gg/QEeZMz4