Manual Pages for UNIX Darwin command on man bless

BLESS(8) BSD System Manager's Manual BLESS(8)

NAME

bblleessss - set volume bootability and startup disk options

SYNOPSIS

bblleessss --hheellpp

bblleessss --ffoollddeerr directory [--ffoollddeerr99 directory] [--ffiillee file]

[--bboooottiinnffoo [file]] [--bbooootteeffii [file]] [--bboooottBBlloocckkFFiillee file]

[--ssaavvee99] [--ssaavveeXX] [--uussee99] [--llaabbeell name | --llaabbeellffiillee file]

[--sseettBBoooott] [--ooppeennffoollddeerr directory] [--nneexxttoonnllyy] [--sshhoorrttffoorrmm]

[--lleeggaaccyy] [--lleeggaaccyyddrriivveehhiinntt device] [--ooppttiioonnss string]

[--qquuiieett | --vveerrbboossee]

bblleessss --mmoouunntt directory [--ffiillee file] [--sseettBBoooott] [--nneexxttoonnllyy]

[--sshhoorrttffoorrmm] [--lleeggaaccyy] [--lleeggaaccyyddrriivveehhiinntt device]

[--ooppttiioonnss string] [--qquuiieett | --vveerrbboossee]

bblleessss --ddeevviiccee device [--llaabbeell name | --llaabbeellffiillee file]

[--ssttaarrttuuppffiillee file] [--sseettBBoooott] [--nneexxttoonnllyy] [--sshhoorrttffoorrmm]

[--lleeggaaccyy] [--lleeggaaccyyddrriivveehhiinntt device] [--ooppttiioonnss string]

[--qquuiieett | --vveerrbboossee]

bblleessss --nneettbboooott --sseerrvveerr url [--nneexxttoonnllyy] [--ooppttiioonnss string]

[--qquuiieett | --vveerrbboossee]

bblleessss --iinnffoo [directory] [--ggeettBBoooott] [--pplliisstt] [--qquuiieett | --vveerrbboossee]

[--vveerrssiioonn]

DESCRIPTION

bblleessss is used to modify the volume bootability characteristics of filesystems, as well as select the active boot volume. bblleessss has 5 modes of execution: Folder Mode, Mount Mode, Device Mode, NetBoot Mode, and Info Mode. Folder Mode allows you to select a directory on a mounted volume to act

as the ``blessed'' directory, which causes the system firmware to look in

that directory for boot code. EFI-based systems also support a

``blessed'' system file, which is the primary mechanism of specifying the

booter for a volume for those systems. In Folder Mode, if you are operat-

ing on an HFS+ volume, the HFS+ Volume Header is updated to reflect these files/directories given. Mount Mode does not make permament modifications to the filesystem, but

rather set the system firmware to boot from the specified volume, assum-

ing it has been properly blessed. This is a subset of the functionality

of Folder Mode with the --sseettBBoooott option, but is convenient when you

don't want to change or interrogate the filesystem for its blessed sta-

tus. Device Mode is similar to Mount Mode, but allows selection of unmounted filesystems, for instance while in single user mode. It can also perform certain offline modifications to the filesystem, but is not generally recommended. NetBoot Mode sets the system firmware to boot from the network, using a URL syntax to specify the protocol and server. bblleessss only sets the local system to go into NetBoot mode, and does not communicate to the server

what image should be used, if there are multiple images. Some other mech-

anism, such as using Startup Disk, should be used to select that.

Info Mode will print out the currently-blessed directory of a volume, or

if no mountpoint is specified, the active boot volume that the firmware is set to boot from.

Additionally, --hheellpp can be used to display the command-line usage sum-

mary. FFIILLEE//FFOOLLDDEERR MMOODDEE Folder Mode has the following options:

--ffoollddeerr directory Set this directory to be the Mac OS X/Darwin

blessed directory, containing a BootX secondary

loader for New World machines.

--ffoollddeerr99 directory Set this directory to be the Mac OS 9/Classic

system folder. If both --ffoollddeerr and --ffoollddeerr99

are given, preference can be given to boot into

Mac OS 9 by also using the --uussee99 flag. By

default, Mac OS X will be the default OS if both

--ffoollddeerr and --ffoollddeerr99 are provided.

--ffiillee file Set this file to be the Mac OS X/Darwin blessed

boot file, containing a booter for EFI-based

systems. If this option is not provided, a

default boot file is used based on the blessed

directory.

--bboooottiinnffoo [file] Create a BootX file in the Mac OS X/Darwin sys-

tem folder using file as a source. If file is not provided, a default is used (see FILES), using a path relative to the mountpoint you are

blessing. This attempts to ensure that a BootX

is used that is compatible with the OS on the target volume.

--bbooootteeffii [file] Create a boot.efi file in the Mac OS X/Darwin

system folder using file as a source. If file is not provided, a default is used (see FILES), using a path relative to the mountpoint you are

blessing. This attempts to ensure that a

boot.efi is used that is compatible with the OS

on the target volume. If --ffiillee is also pro-

vided, the new file will be created at that path instead.

--bboooottBBlloocckkFFiillee file Set the boot blocks on the volume using the con-

tents of file . This is required for volumes that will boot Mac OS 9.

--ssaavvee99 Used if no --ffoollddeerr99 flag was given, but if the

pre-existing Mac OS 9 blessed system folder

should be preserved.

--ssaavveeXX Used if no --ffoollddeerr flag was given, but if the

pre-existing Mac OS X/Darwin blessed directory

should be preserved.

--uussee99 Used if both --ffoollddeerr and --ffoollddeerr99 were given,

but Mac OS 9 should be the default for the vol-

ume.

--llaabbeell name Render a text label used in the firmware-based

OS picker

--llaabbeellffiillee file Use a pre-rendered label used for the firmware-

based OS picker

--ooppeennffoollddeerr directory Specify a folder to be opened in the Finder when

the volume is mounted by the system.

--sseettBBoooott Set the system to boot off the specified parti-

tion. This is implemented in a platform-specific

manner. On Open Firmware-based systems, the

boot-device variable is modified. On EFI-based

systems, the efi-boot-device variable is

changed.

--nneexxttoonnllyy Only change the boot device selection for the

next boot. This is only supported on EFI-based

systems.

--sshhoorrttffoorrmm Use an abbreviated device path form. This option

can allow for booting from new devices, at the expense of boot time performance. This is only

supported on EFI-based systems.

--lleeggaaccyy If --sseettBBoooott is given, set the firmware to boot

a legacy BIOS-based operating system from the

specified disk. The active flag of an MBR-parti-

tioned disk is not modified, which can be done

with fdisk(8) . This is only supported on EFI-

based systems.

-lleeggaaccyyddrriivveehhiinntt device Instruct the firmware to treat the specified

whole disk as the primary, master IDE drive.

This is only supported on EFI-based systems.

--ooppttiioonnss Set load options associated with the new boot

option. This is only supported on EFI-based sys-

tems, and in general should be avoided. Instead,

use nvram(8) to set "boot-args" , which will

work with both Open Firmware- and EFI-based sys-

tems.

--qquuiieett Do not print any output

--vveerrbboossee Print verbose output

MMOOUUNNTT MMOODDEE Mount Mode has the following options:

--mmoouunntt directory Use the volume mounted at directory to change

the active boot volume, in conjunction with

--sseettBBoooott . The volume must already be properly

blessed.

--ffiillee file Instead of allowing the firmware to discover the

booter based on the blessed directory or file,

pass an explicit path to the firmware to boot from. This can be used to run EFI applications or EFI booters for alternate OSes, but should not be normally used. This is only supported on

EFI-based systems.

--sseettBBoooott Same as for Folder Mode.

--nneexxttoonnllyy Same as for Folder Mode.

--sshhoorrttffoorrmm Same as for Folder Mode.

--ooppttiioonnss Same as for Folder Mode.

--lleeggaaccyy Same as for Folder Mode.

--lleeggaaccyyddrriivveehhiinntt device

Same as for Folder Mode.

--qquuiieett Do not print any output

--vveerrbboossee Print verbose output

DDEEVVIICCEE MMOODDEE Device Mode has the following options:

--ddeevviiccee device Use the block device device to change the active

boot volume. No volumes should be mounted from device , and the filesystem should already be

properly blessed.

--llaabbeell name Set the firmware-based OS picker label for the

unmounted filesystem, using name , which should

be in UTF-8 encoding.

--llaabbeellffiillee file Use a pre-rendered label used with the firmware-

based OS picker.

--sseettBBoooott Set the system to boot off the specified parti-

tion, as with Folder and Mount Modes.

--ssttaarrttuuppffiillee file Add the file as the HFS+ StartupFile, and update

other information on disk as appropriate for the startup file type.

--nneexxttoonnllyy Same as for Folder Mode.

--sshhoorrttffoorrmm Same as for Folder Mode.

--ooppttiioonnss Same as for Folder Mode.

--lleeggaaccyy Same as for Folder Mode.

--lleeggaaccyyddrriivveehhiinntt device

Same as for Folder Mode.

--qquuiieett Do not print any output

--vveerrbboossee Print verbose output

NNEETTBBOOOOTT MMOODDEE NetBoot Mode has the following options:

--nneettbboooott Instead of setting the active boot selection to

a disk-based volume, set the system to NetBoot.

--sseerrvveerr protocol://[interface@]server

A URL specification of how to boot the system. Currently, the only protocol supported is BSDP

("bsdp"), Apple's Boot Service Discovery Proto-

col. The interface is optional, and the server

is the IPv4 address of the server in dotted-quad

notation. If there is not a specific server you'd like to use, pass "255.255.255.255" to

have the firmware broadcast for the first avail-

able server. Examples of this notation would be "bsdp://255.255.255.255" and "bsdp://en1@17.203.12.203".

--nneexxttoonnllyy Same as for Folder Mode.

--ooppttiioonnss Same as for Folder Mode.

--qquuiieett Do not print any output

--vveerrbboossee Print verbose output

IINNFFOO MMOODDEE Info Mode has the following options:

--iinnffoo [directory] Print out the blessed system folder for the vol-

ume mounted at directory . If directory is not specified, print information for the currently selected boot volume (which may not necessarily be `/' .

--ggeettBBoooott Print out the logical boot volume, based on what

is currently selected. This option will take into account the fact that the firmware may be pointing to an auxiliary booter partition, and will print out the corresponding root partition for those cases. If the system is configured to NetBoot, a URL matching the format of the

--sseerrvveerr specification for NetBoot mode will be

printed.

--pplliisstt Output all information in Property List (.plist)

format, suitable for parsing by CoreFoundation. This is most useful when bblleessss is executed from another program and its standard output must be parsed.

--qquuiieett Do not print any output

--vveerrbboossee Print verbose output

--vveerrssiioonn Print bless version and exit immediately

FILES /usr/standalone/ppc/bootx.bootinfo Secondary loader with XML headers,

used with the --bboooottiinnffoo flag. Used

for booting New World PPC-based Mac-

intoshes. If the argument to

--bboooottiinnffoo is ommitted, this file

will be used as the default input.

/usr/standalone/i386/boot.efi Booter for EFI-based systems, used

with the --bbooootteeffii flag. If the argu-

ment to --bbooootteeffii is ommitted, this

file will be used as the default input.

/System/Library/CoreServices Typical blessed folder for Mac OS X

and Darwin EEXXAAMMPPLLEESS FFOOLLDDEERR MMOODDEE

To bless a volume with only Mac OS 9:

bblleessss --ffoollddeerr99 "/Volumes/Mac OS 9/System Folder" --bboooottBBlloocckkFFiillee

"/usr/share/misc/bootblockdata"

To bless a volume with only Mac OS X or Darwin, and create the BootX and

boot.efi files as needed:

bblleessss --ffoollddeerr "/Volumes/Mac OS X/System/Library/CoreServices"

--bboooottiinnffoo --bbooootteeffii

MMOOUUNNTT MMOODDEE To set a volume containing either Mac OS 9 and Mac OS X to be the active volume:

bblleessss --mmoouunntt "/Volumes/Mac OS" --sseettBBoooott

NNEETTBBOOOOTT MMOODDEE To set the system to NetBoot and broadcast for an available server:

bblleessss --nneettbboooott --sseerrvveerr bsdp://255.255.255.255

IINNFFOO MMOODDEE To gather information about the currently selected volume (as determined by the firmware), suitable for piping to a program capable of parsing Property Lists:

bblleessss --iinnffoo --pplliisstt