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The example kernels,
as well as custom kernels you build using the OSKit,
can be booted from either the GRUB,
Linux, Mach, or BSD boot loaders,
from MS-DOS directly,
or from the NetBoot ``meta-kernel.''
(NetBoot is described in Section 41.)
GRUB and NetBoot can boot the kernels as-is,
since they directly support the MultiBoot standard,
whereas the other boot loaders need the kernel to be in a different format.
This conversion can be done
with the mkbsdimage, mklinuximage,
and mkdosimage ``boot adapter'' scripts,
which are automatically built and installed with the OSKit
when configured for the appropriate host. See comments in each
script for the argument syntax.
- The mklinuximage script is installed with the OSKit
when configured for a Linux or other ELF-based host;
given a MultiBoot boot image,
it creates a standard Linux boot image
that can be loaded from LILO or other Linux boot loaders.
- The mkbsdimage script is installed
when the OSKit is configured for a Mach or BSD host;
its script creates an NMAGIC a.out image from a MultiBoot image
that can be loaded from any of the BSD or Mach boot loaders.
Note that mkbsdimage requires GNU ld to work properly:
on BSD systems, which don't normally use GNU ld,
you will have to build and install GNU ld manually.
- The mkdosimage script is installed
when the OSKit is configured for DOS-based targets
such as i386-msdos and i386-moss.
Like the mkbsdimage script,
mkdosimage requires GNU ld;
you may have to build and install GNU ld first,
configured as a cross-inker for an MS-DOS target,
before mkdosimage will build properly.
- The mkmbimage is installed with all OSKit configurations
And, unlike the other scripts, doesn't do any conversion.
It simply allows for the combining of a kernel and additional
files into one MultiBoot image.
The resulting image can be used with MultiBoot boot loaders
such as GRUB and NetBoot. If you have perl installed
on your system, an alternate to this program is supplied,
mkmb2 which runs more quickly. Its semantics are
identical to mkmbimage.
For example, the following command
creates a bootable BSD-style image named `Image':
% mkbsdimage hello
the mktypeimage scripts
can also do more complex things, such as combining an arbitrary
number of additional files or ``boot modules'' into the image.
See 13.14 and the scripts for more info.
For details on the MultiBoot standard
see Section 13.14.12.
Next: 1.6.3 Command line arguments
Up: 1.6 Using the OSKit
Previous: 1.6.1 Example Kernels
Utah Flux Research Group