limine/README.md

# Limine

### What is Limine?

Limine (pronounced as shown [here](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/in%20limine))
is a modern, advanced, portable, multiprotocol bootloader, also used
as the reference implementation for the [Limine boot protocol](/PROTOCOL.md).

### Donate

If you want to support the work I (@mintsuki) do on Limine, feel free to donate to me on Liberapay:
<a href="https://liberapay.com/mintsuki/donate"><img alt="Donate using Liberapay" src="https://liberapay.com/assets/widgets/donate.svg"></a>

Donations welcome, but absolutely not mandatory!

### Limine's boot menu

![Reference screenshot](/screenshot.png?raw=true "Reference screenshot")

[Photo by Pixabay](https://www.pexels.com/photo/painting-of-black-cloud-during-sunset-164175/)

### Supported architectures
* IA-32 (32-bit x86)
* x86-64
* aarch64 (arm64)
* riscv64

### Supported boot protocols
* Linux
* [Limine](/PROTOCOL.md)
* Multiboot 1
* Multiboot 2
* Chainloading

### Supported partitioning schemes
* MBR
* GPT
* Unpartitioned media

### Supported filesystems
* FAT12/16/32
* ISO9660 (CDs/DVDs)

If your filesystem isn't listed here, please read [the philosophy](/PHILOSOPHY.md) first, especially before
opening issues or pull requests related to this.

### Minimum system requirements
For 32-bit x86 systems, support is only ensured starting with those with
Pentium Pro (i686) class CPUs.

All x86-64, aarch64, and riscv64 (UEFI) systems are supported.

## Packaging status

[![Packaging status](https://repology.org/badge/vertical-allrepos/limine.svg)](https://repology.org/project/limine/versions)

## 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 `v6.x` branch one can do
```bash
git clone https://github.com/limine-bootloader/limine.git --branch=v6.x-branch-binary --depth=1
```
or, to clone a specific binary point release (for example `v6.20231227.0`)
```bash
git clone https://github.com/limine-bootloader/limine.git --branch=v6.20231227.0-binary --depth=1
```

In order to rebuild host utilities like `limine`, simply run `make` in the binary
release directory.

Host utility 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-uefi-cd.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` 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!**

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 run 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*.EFI` files are valid 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 contain the `limine.cfg` files in
either the root, `limine`, `boot`, or `boot/limine` directory of one of the
partitions, formatted with a supported file system (the ESP partition is recommended).

### Secure Boot
Limine can be booted with secure boot if the executable is signed and the key used to
sign it is added to the firmware's keychain. This should be done in combination with enrolling
the BLAKE2B hash of the Limine config file into the Limine EFI executable image itself for
verification purposes.
For more information see the `limine enroll-config` program and [the philosophy](/PHILOSOPHY.md).

### BIOS/MBR
In order to install Limine on a MBR device (which can just be a raw image file),
run `limine bios-install` as such:

```bash
limine bios-install <path to device/image>
```

The boot device must contain the `limine-bios.sys` and `limine.cfg` files in
either the root, `limine`, `boot`, or `boot/limine` 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 bios-install` 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 bios-install` as a second argument; such as:

```bash
limine bios-install <path to device/image> <1-based stage 2 partition number>
```

In case one wants to let `limine bios-install` embed stage 2 within GPT's structures,
simply omit the partition number, and invoke `limine bios-install` the same as one
would do for an MBR partitioned device.

The boot device must contain the `limine-bios.sys` and `limine.cfg` files in
either the root, `limine`, `boot`, or `boot/limine` 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-uefi-cd.bin`, `limine-bios-cd.bin`, `limine-bios.sys`, and `limine.cfg` files
into a directory which will serve as the root of the created ISO.
(`limine-bios.sys` and `limine.cfg` must either be in the root, `limine`, `boot`, or
`boot/limine` directory; `limine-uefi-cd.bin` and `limine-bios-cd.bin` can reside
anywhere).

After that, create a `<ISO root directory>/EFI/BOOT` directory and copy the
relevant Limine EFI executables over (such as `BOOTX64.EFI`).

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-bios-cd.bin> \
        -no-emul-boot -boot-load-size 4 -boot-info-table \
        --efi-boot <relative path of limine-uefi-cd.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 bios-install` on the generated image:
```
limine bios-install image.iso
```

`<relative path of limine-bios-cd.bin>` is the relative path of
`limine-bios-cd.bin` inside the root directory.
For example, if it was copied in `<root directory>/boot/limine-bios-cd.bin`,
it would be `boot/limine-bios-cd.bin`.

`<relative path of limine-uefi-cd.bin>` is the relative path of
`limine-uefi-cd.bin` inside the root directory.
For example, if it was copied in
`<root directory>/boot/limine-uefi-cd.bin`, it would be
`boot/limine-uefi-cd.bin`.

### BIOS/PXE boot
The `limine-bios-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-bios.sys` are expected to be on the server used for boot.

### UEFI/PXE boot
The `BOOT*.EFI` files are compatible with UEFI PXE.
The steps needed to boot Limine are the same as with BIOS PXE,
except that the `limine-bios.sys` file is not needed on the server.

### 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) for early GZIP decompression.

Limine relies on [stb_image](https://github.com/nothings/stb/blob/dev/stb_image.h) for runtime GZIP decompression and image loading.

## 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.