1.. SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0+:
2
3bootmeth command
4================
5
6Synopis
7-------
8
9::
10
11    bootmeth list [-a]          - list selected bootmeths (-a for all)
12    bootmeth order "[<bm> ...]" - select the order of bootmeths\n"
13
14
15Description
16-----------
17
18The `bootmeth` command is used to manage bootmeths. It can list them and change
19the order in which they are used.
20
21See :doc:`../../develop/bootstd` for more information.
22
23
24.. _bootmeth_order:
25
26bootmeth order
27~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
28
29Selects which bootmeths to use and the order in which they are invoked. When
30scanning bootdevs, each bootmeth is tried in turn to see if it can find a valid
31bootflow. You can use this command to adjust the order or even to omit some
32boomeths.
33
34The argument is a quoted list of bootmeths to use, by name. If global bootmeths
35are included, they must be at the end, otherwise the scanning mechanism will not
36work correctly.
37
38
39bootmeth list
40~~~~~~~~~~~~~
41
42This lists the selected bootmeths, or all of them, if the `-a` flag is used.
43The format looks like this:
44
45=====  ===  ==================  =================================
46Order  Seq  Name                Description
47=====  ===  ==================  =================================
48    0    0  extlinunx           Extlinux boot from a block device
49    1    1  efi                 EFI boot from an .efi file
50    2    2  pxe                 PXE boot from a network device
51    3    3  sandbox             Sandbox boot for testing
52 glob    4  efi_mgr             EFI bootmgr flow
53=====  ===  ==================  =================================
54
55The fields are as follows:
56
57Order:
58    The order in which these bootmeths are invoked for each bootdev. If this
59    shows as a hyphen, then the bootmeth is not in the current ordering. If it
60    shows as 'glob', then this is a global bootmeth and should be at the end.
61
62Seq:
63    The sequence number of the bootmeth, i.e. the normal ordering if none is set
64
65Name:
66    Name of the bootmeth
67
68Description:
69    A friendly description for the bootmeth
70
71
72Example
73-------
74
75This shows listing bootmeths. All are present and in the normal order::
76
77    => bootmeth list
78    Order  Seq  Name                Description
79    -----  ---  ------------------  ------------------
80        0    0  distro              Extlinux boot from a block device
81        1    1  efi                 EFI boot from an .efi file
82        2    2  pxe                 PXE boot from a network device
83        3    3  sandbox             Sandbox boot for testing
84        4    4  efi_mgr             EFI bootmgr flow
85    -----  ---  ------------------  ------------------
86    (5 bootmeths)
87
88Now the order is changed, to include only two of them::
89
90    => bootmeth order "sandbox distro"
91    => bootmeth list
92    Order  Seq  Name                Description
93    -----  ---  ------------------  ------------------
94        0    3  sandbox             Sandbox boot for testing
95        1    0  distro              Extlinux boot from a block device
96    -----  ---  ------------------  ------------------
97    (2 bootmeths)
98
99The -a flag shows all bootmeths so you can clearly see which ones are used and
100which are not::
101
102    => bootmeth list -a
103    Order  Seq  Name                Description
104    -----  ---  ------------------  ------------------
105        1    0  distro              Extlinux boot from a block device
106        -    1  efi                 EFI boot from an .efi file
107        -    2  pxe                 PXE boot from a network device
108        0    3  sandbox             Sandbox boot for testing
109        -    4  efi_mgr             EFI bootmgr flow
110    -----  ---  ------------------  ------------------
111    (5 bootmeths)
112