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Diffstat (limited to 'contrib/syslinux-4.02/doc/isolinux.txt')
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diff --git a/contrib/syslinux-4.02/doc/isolinux.txt b/contrib/syslinux-4.02/doc/isolinux.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..eca2a97 --- /dev/null +++ b/contrib/syslinux-4.02/doc/isolinux.txt @@ -0,0 +1,133 @@ + ISOLINUX + + A bootloader for Linux using ISO 9660/El Torito CD-ROMs + + Copyright 1994-2008 H. Peter Anvin - All Rights Reserved + +This program is provided under the terms of the GNU General Public +License, version 2 or, at your option, any later version. There is no +warranty, neither expressed nor implied, to the function of this +program. Please see the included file COPYING for details. + +---------------------------------------------------------------------- + +ISOLINUX is a boot loader for Linux/i386 that operates off ISO 9660/El +Torito CD-ROMs in "no emulation" mode. This avoids the need to create +an "emulation disk image" with limited space (for "floppy emulation") +or compatibility problems (for "hard disk emulation".) + +This documentation isn't here yet, but here is enough that you should +be able to test it out: + +Make sure you have a recent enough version of mkisofs. I recommend +mkisofs 1.13 (distributed with cdrecord 1.9), but 1.12 might work as +well (not tested.) + +To create an image, create a directory called "isolinux" (or, if you +prefer, "boot/isolinux") underneath the root directory of your ISO +image master file tree. Copy isolinux.bin, a config file called +"isolinux.cfg" (see syslinux.txt for details on the configuration +file), and all necessary files (kernels, initrd, display files, etc.) +into this directory, then use the following command to create your ISO +image (add additional options as appropriate, such as -J or -R): + + mkisofs -o <isoimage> \ + -b isolinux/isolinux.bin -c isolinux/boot.cat \ + -no-emul-boot -boot-load-size 4 -boot-info-table \ + <root-of-iso-tree> + +(If you named the directory boot/isolinux that should of course be +-b boot/isolinux/isolinux.bin -c boot/isolinux/boot.cat.) + +ISOLINUX resolves pathnames the following way: + +- A pathname consists of names separated by slashes, Unix-style. +- A leading / means it searches from the root directory; otherwise the + search is from the isolinux directory (think of this as the "current + directory".) +- . and .. in pathname searches are not supported. +- The maximum length of any pathname is 255 characters. + +Note that ISOLINUX only uses the "plain" ISO 9660 filenames, i.e. it +does not support Rock Ridge or Joliet filenames. It can still be used +on a disk which uses Rock Ridge and/or Joliet extensions, of course. +Under Linux, you can verify the plain filenames by mounting with the +"-o norock,nojoliet" option to the mount command. Note, however, that +ISOLINUX does support "long" (level 2) ISO 9660 plain filenames, so if +compatibility with short-names-only operating systems like MS-DOS is +not an issue, you can use the "-l" or "-iso-level 2" option to mkisofs +to generate long (up to 31 characters) plain filenames. + +ISOLINUX does not support discontiguous files, interleaved mode, or +logical block and sector sizes other than 2048. This should normally +not be a problem. + +ISOLINUX is by default built in two versions, one version with extra +debugging messages enabled. If you are having problems with ISOLINUX, +I would greatly appreciate if you could try out the debugging version +(isolinux-debug.bin) and let me know what it reports. The debugging +version does not include hybrid mode support (see below.) + + + ++++ NOTE ON THE CONFIG FILE DIRECTORY ++++ + +ISOLINUX will search for the config file directory in the order +/boot/isolinux, /isolinux, /. The first directory that exists is +used, even if it contains no files. Therefore, please make sure that +these directories don't exist if you don't want ISOLINUX to use them. + + + ++++ HYBRID CD-ROM/HARD DISK MODE ++++ + +Starting in version 3.72, ISOLINUX supports a "hybrid mode" which can +be booted from either CD-ROM or from a device which BIOS considers a +hard disk or ZIP disk, e.g. a USB key or similar. + +To enable this mode, the .iso image should be postprocessed with the +"isohybrid" script from the utils directory: + + isohybrid filename.iso + +This script creates the necessary additional information to be able to +boot in hybrid mode. It also pads out the image to an even multiple +of 1 MB. + +This image can then be copied using any raw disk writing tool (on Unix +systems, typically "dd" or "cat") to a USB disk, or written to a +CD-ROM using standard CD burning tools. + +The ISO 9660 filesystem is encapsulated in a partition (which starts +at offset zero, which may confuse some systems.) This makes it +possible for the operating system, once booted, to use the remainder +of the device for persistent storage by creating a second partition. + + + ++++ BOOTING DOS (OR OTHER SIMILAR OPERATING SYSTEMS) ++++ + +WARNING: This feature depends on BIOS functionality which is +apparently broken in a very large number of BIOSes. Therefore, this +may not work on any particular system. No workaround is possible; if +you find that it doesn't work please complain to your vendor and +indicate that "BIOS INT 13h AX=4C00h fails." + +To boot DOS, or other real-mode operating systems (protected-mode +operating systems may or may not work correctly), using ISOLINUX, you +need to prepare a disk image (usually a floppy image, but a hard disk +image can be used on *most* systems) with the relevant operating +system. This file should be included on the CD-ROM in the /isolinux +directory, and have a .img extension. The ".img" extension does not +have to be specified on the command line, but has to be explicitly +specified if used in a "kernel" statement in isolinux.cfg. + +For a floppy image, the size of the image should be exactly one of the +following: + + 1,228,800 bytes - For a 1200K floppy image + 1,474,560 bytes - For a 1440K floppy image + 2,949,120 bytes - For a 2880K floppy image + +Any other size is assumed to be a hard disk image. In order to work +on as many systems as possible, a hard disk image should have exactly +one partition, marked active, that covers the entire size of the disk +image file. Even so, hard disk images are not supported on all +BIOSes. |