225 lines
7.8 KiB
Markdown
225 lines
7.8 KiB
Markdown
# Limine
|
|
|
|
### What is Limine?
|
|
|
|
Limine is a modern, advanced, portable, multiprotocol bootloader, also used
|
|
as the reference implementation for the [Limine boot protocol](/PROTOCOL.md).
|
|
|
|
### Limine's boot menu
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
[Photo by Martin Damboldt from Pexels](https://www.pexels.com/photo/gray-bridge-and-trees-814499/)
|
|
|
|
### Supported architectures
|
|
* IA-32 (32-bit x86)
|
|
* x86_64
|
|
* aarch64 (arm64)
|
|
|
|
### Supported boot protocols
|
|
* Linux
|
|
* [Limine](/PROTOCOL.md)
|
|
* Multiboot 1
|
|
* Multiboot 2
|
|
* Chainloading
|
|
|
|
### Supported filesystems
|
|
* ext2/3/4
|
|
* FAT12/16/32
|
|
* ISO9660 (CDs/DVDs)
|
|
|
|
Even though these are the filesystems Limine supports directly, *any*
|
|
filesystem can be utilised by the kernel provided that the kernel (and any
|
|
needed modules) are on a directly supported filesystem.
|
|
|
|
### Supported partitioning schemes
|
|
* MBR
|
|
* GPT
|
|
* Unpartitioned media
|
|
|
|
### Minimum system requirements
|
|
For 32-bit x86 systems, support is only ensured starting with those with
|
|
Pentium Pro (i686) class CPUs.
|
|
|
|
All x86_64 and aarch64 (UEFI) systems are supported.
|
|
|
|
## Binary releases
|
|
|
|
For convenience, for point releases, binaries are distributed. These binaries
|
|
are shipped in the `-binary` branches and tags of this repository
|
|
(see [branches](https://github.com/limine-bootloader/limine/branches/all) and
|
|
[tags](https://github.com/limine-bootloader/limine/tags)).
|
|
|
|
For example, to clone the latest binary release of the `v4.x` branch one can do
|
|
```bash
|
|
git clone https://github.com/limine-bootloader/limine.git --branch=v4.x-branch-binary --depth=1
|
|
```
|
|
or, to clone a specific binary point release (for example `v4.0`)
|
|
```bash
|
|
git clone https://github.com/limine-bootloader/limine.git --branch=v4.0-binary --depth=1
|
|
```
|
|
|
|
In order to rebuild `limine-deploy`, simply run `make` in the binary
|
|
release directory.
|
|
|
|
`limine-deploy.exe` binaries are provided for Windows.
|
|
|
|
## Building the bootloader
|
|
|
|
*The following steps are not necessary if cloning a binary release. If so, skip to*
|
|
*"Installing Limine binaries".*
|
|
|
|
### Prerequisites
|
|
|
|
In order to build Limine, the following programs have to be installed:
|
|
common UNIX tools (also known as `coreutils`),
|
|
`GNU make`, `grep`, `sed`, `find`, `awk`, `gzip`, `nasm`, `mtools`
|
|
(optional, necessary to build `limine-cd-efi.bin`).
|
|
Furthermore, `gcc` or `llvm/clang` must also be installed, alongside
|
|
the respective binutils.
|
|
|
|
### Configure
|
|
|
|
If using a release tarball (recommended, see https://github.com/limine-bootloader/limine/releases),
|
|
run `./configure` directly.
|
|
|
|
If checking out from the repository, run `./bootstrap` first in order to download the
|
|
necessary dependencies and generate the configure script (`GNU autoconf` and `GNU automake` required).
|
|
|
|
`./configure` takes arguments and environment variables; for more information on
|
|
these, run `./configure --help`.
|
|
|
|
**`./configure` by default does not build any Limine port. Make sure to read the**
|
|
**output of `./configure --help` and enable any or all ports!**
|
|
|
|
To build using the LLVM toolchain, pass `CROSS_TOOLCHAIN=llvm` to `./configure`.
|
|
|
|
Limine supports both in-tree and out-of-tree builds. Simply run the `configure`
|
|
script from the directory you wish to execute the build in. The following `make`
|
|
commands are supposed to be ran inside the build directory.
|
|
|
|
### Building Limine
|
|
|
|
To build Limine, run:
|
|
```bash
|
|
make # (or gmake where applicable)
|
|
```
|
|
|
|
The generated bootloader files are going to be in `./bin`.
|
|
|
|
## Installing Limine binaries
|
|
|
|
This step is optional as the bootloader binaries can be used from the `./bin` or
|
|
release directory just fine. This step will only install them to `share`, `include`, and
|
|
`bin` directories in the specified prefix (default is `/usr/local`, see
|
|
`./configure --help`, or the `PREFIX` variable if installing from a binary release).
|
|
|
|
To install Limine, run:
|
|
```bash
|
|
make install # (or gmake where applicable)
|
|
```
|
|
|
|
## How to use
|
|
|
|
### UEFI
|
|
The `BOOT{IA32,X64,AA64}.EFI` files are vaild EFI applications that can be simply copied to
|
|
the `/EFI/BOOT` directory of a FAT formatted EFI system partition. These files can
|
|
be installed there and coexist with a BIOS installation of Limine (see below) so
|
|
that the disk will be bootable on both BIOS and UEFI systems.
|
|
|
|
The boot device must to contain the `limine.cfg` file in
|
|
either the root or the `boot` directory of one of the partitions, formatted
|
|
with a supported file system (the ESP partition is recommended).
|
|
|
|
### BIOS/MBR
|
|
In order to install Limine on a MBR device (which can just be a raw image file),
|
|
run `limine-deploy` as such:
|
|
|
|
```bash
|
|
limine-deploy <path to device/image>
|
|
```
|
|
|
|
The boot device must to contain the `limine.sys` and `limine.cfg` files in
|
|
either the root or the `boot` directory of one of the partitions, formatted
|
|
with a supported file system.
|
|
|
|
### BIOS/GPT
|
|
If using a GPT formatted device, there are 2 options one can follow for
|
|
installation:
|
|
* Specifying a dedicated stage 2 partition.
|
|
* Letting `limine-deploy` attempt to embed stage 2 within GPT structures.
|
|
|
|
In case one wants to specify a stage 2 partition, create a partition on the GPT
|
|
device of at least 32KiB in size, and pass the 1-based number of the partition
|
|
to `limine-deploy` as a second argument; such as:
|
|
|
|
```bash
|
|
limine-deploy <path to device/image> <1-based stage 2 partition number>
|
|
```
|
|
|
|
In case one wants to let `limine-deploy` embed stage 2 within GPT's structures,
|
|
simply omit the partition number, and invoke `limine-deploy` the same as one
|
|
would do for an MBR partitioned device.
|
|
|
|
The boot device must to contain the `limine.sys` and `limine.cfg` files in
|
|
either the root or the `boot` directory of one of the partitions, formatted
|
|
with a supported file system.
|
|
|
|
### BIOS/UEFI hybrid ISO creation
|
|
In order to create a hybrid ISO with Limine, place the
|
|
`limine-cd-efi.bin`, `limine-cd.bin`, `limine.sys`, and `limine.cfg` files
|
|
into a directory which will serve as the root of the created ISO.
|
|
(`limine.sys` and `limine.cfg` must either be in the root or inside a `boot`
|
|
subdirectory; `limine-cd-efi.bin` and `limine-cd.bin` can reside
|
|
anywhere).
|
|
|
|
Place any other file you want to be on the final ISO in said directory, then
|
|
run:
|
|
```
|
|
xorriso -as mkisofs -b <relative path of limine-cd.bin> \
|
|
-no-emul-boot -boot-load-size 4 -boot-info-table \
|
|
--efi-boot <relative path of limine-cd-efi.bin> \
|
|
-efi-boot-part --efi-boot-image --protective-msdos-label \
|
|
<root directory> -o image.iso
|
|
```
|
|
|
|
*Note: `xorriso` is required.*
|
|
|
|
And do not forget to also run `limine-deploy` on the generated image:
|
|
```
|
|
limine-deploy image.iso
|
|
```
|
|
|
|
`<relative path of limine-cd.bin>` is the relative path of
|
|
`limine-cd.bin` inside the root directory.
|
|
For example, if it was copied in `<root directory>/boot/limine-cd.bin`,
|
|
it would be `boot/limine-cd.bin`.
|
|
|
|
`<relative path of limine-cd-efi.bin>` is the relative path of
|
|
`limine-cd-efi.bin` inside the root directory.
|
|
For example, if it was copied in
|
|
`<root directory>/boot/limine-cd-efi.bin`, it would be
|
|
`boot/limine-cd-efi.bin`.
|
|
|
|
### BIOS/PXE boot
|
|
The `limine-pxe.bin` binary is a valid PXE boot image.
|
|
In order to boot Limine from PXE it is necessary to setup a DHCP server with
|
|
support for PXE booting. This can either be accomplished using a single DHCP
|
|
server or your existing DHCP server and a proxy DHCP server such as dnsmasq.
|
|
|
|
`limine.cfg` and `limine.sys` are expected to be on the server used for boot.
|
|
|
|
### Configuration
|
|
The `limine.cfg` file contains Limine's configuration.
|
|
|
|
An example `limine.cfg` file can be found in [`test/limine.cfg`](https://github.com/limine-bootloader/limine/blob/trunk/test/limine.cfg).
|
|
|
|
More info on the format of `limine.cfg` can be found in [`CONFIG.md`](https://github.com/limine-bootloader/limine/blob/trunk/CONFIG.md).
|
|
|
|
## Acknowledgments
|
|
Limine uses a stripped-down version of [tinf](https://github.com/jibsen/tinf).
|
|
|
|
## Discord server
|
|
We have a [Discord server](https://discord.gg/QEeZMz4) if you need support,
|
|
info, or you just want to hang out with us.
|