palo.8

.\" DO NOT MODIFY THIS FILE!  It was generated by help2man 1.47.17.
.TH PALO "8" "January 2021" "boot media management tool for PA-RISC/HPPA." "System Administration Utilities"
.SH NAME
palo \- boot media management tool for PA-RISC/HPPA.
.SH SYNOPSIS
.B palo
[\fI\,options\/\fR]
.SH DESCRIPTION
palo \- boot media management tool for PA\-RISC/HPPA.
.TP
\-?, \fB\-\-help\fR
Print this information
.HP
\fB\-c\fR, \fB\-\-commandline\fR=\fI\,default\/\fR kernel command line
.IP
Maximum 1023 characters.
.HP
\fB\-k\fR, \fB\-\-recoverykernel\fR=\fI\,path\/\fR to recovery kernel (perhaps \fI\,/boot/vmlinux\/\fP)
.HP
\fB\-b\fR, \fB\-\-bootloader\fR=\fI\,path\/\fR to boot loader (usually \fI\,/usr/share/palo/iplboot\/\fP)
.HP
\fB\-r\fR, \fB\-\-ramdisk\fR=\fI\,path\/\fR to initial ramdisk image
.HP
\fB\-I\fR, \fB\-\-init\-partitioned\fR=\fI\,partitioned\/\fR device or file
.IP
Initialize a pre\-partitioned device, usually a hard disk.
The partition table is not modified.  Requires only \fB\-c\fR and \fB\-b\fR
though \fB\-k\fR is customary and prudent.
.HP
\fB\-U\fR, \fB\-\-update\-partitioned\fR=\fI\,partitioned\/\fR device or file
.IP
Update a pre\-partitioned device, usually a hard disk.
The partition table is not modified.  Usually used to
modify the default kernel command line (\fB\-c\fR).
.HP
\fB\-s\fR, \fB\-\-init\-tape\fR=\fI\,file\/\fR
.IP
Initialize an unpartitioned file which can be copied to
tape, disk, or used as a bootp image.  Requires \fB\-c\fR, \fB\-b\fR, \fB\-k\fR.
.HP
\fB\-C\fR, \fB\-\-init\-cdrom\fR=\fI\,iso\-image\-file\/\fR
.IP
Convert an ISO image already containing a kernel, boot loader,
and optionally a ramdisk, into a PA\-RISC bootable image.
Requires \fB\-c\fR, \fB\-b\fR, \fB\-k\fR, and optionally \fB\-r\fR.  The files named on
the palo command line must have EXACTLY the same contents as
those already in the ISO image.
.HP
\fB\-f\fR, \fB\-\-configfile\fR=\fI\,path\/\fR to config file
.IP
Each line in the named configuration file is added
as a separate argument to the beginning of the palo
command line arguments (thus command\-line options
override config file options).
.IP
Short or long options can be used with long options
peferred for readability in the configuration file.
WARNING: No quotations or other shell syntax is understood,
so use
.IP
\fB\-\-commandline\fR=\fI\,a\/\fR b c
.TP
not
\fB\-\-commandline=\fR'a b c'.
.TP
The short\-option config file form of the above is:
\fB\-c\fR
a b c
.IP
Blank lines and lines beginning with # are ignored.
Whitespace at the beginning and ends of lines is discarded.
.TP
When \fB\-f\fR is not specified, palo tries \fI\,/etc/palo.conf\/\fP.
Use
.IP
\fB\-\-configfile=\fR/dev/null to avoid configuration files or
warnings when \fI\,/etc/palo.conf\/\fP is missing.
.HP
\fB\-v\fR, \fB\-\-verbose\fR
.IP
Provide more verbose information when running palo
.HP
\fB\-e\fR, \fB\-\-format\-as\fR=\fI\,type\/\fR
.IP
This is only for partitioned media. Format the palo
partition as an ext2 (type == 2), ext3 (type == 3) or
ext4 (type == 4) partition. With this option, you
cannot specify any parameters, kernels or ramdisks to
be loaded into the palo partition
.PP
\&'palo' with no arguments whatsoever is equivalent to 'palo \fB\-f\fR \fI\,/etc/palo\/\fP.conf'.
.PP
When more than one of \fB\-I\fR, \fB\-U\fR, \fB\-s\fR and \fB\-C\fR are used, only the
last one is effective.
.PP
palo version 2.15
https://parisc.wiki.kernel.org \- Sat, 30 Jan 2021 11:37:58 +0000

palo is the installation and management tool for the parisc
bootloader, called iplboot.  The size required for the iplboot binary
is 256kb.  Older MS-DOS label disks begin the first partition at
sector 63 and there is no room for iplboot within the disk label, so
you must create a palo partition of type F0 to hold iplboot.  If your
disk was formatted more recently it should have a newer MS-DOS label
where the first partition begins at sector 2048 meaning there is room
for iplboot within the disk label and a palo (F0) partition is not
required.

If you have a palo partition (type F0), it must occur within the first
2GB of the beginning of the disk.  If you choose to have a palo
partition, you may store both the kernel and the initrd in this
partition, meaning you have to update it every time you update the
kernel, or you may choose to have a /boot partition, which must be
formatted as an ext2/3/4 filesystem, from which palo will load
kernels.  This /boot partition also must be within the first 2GB of
the beginning of the disk.  If you have no palo partition, and palo is
installed inside the disk label, you must have a /boot partition
because the disk label is still too small to contain a kernel and a
ramdisk.

Palo allows you to specify a kernel command line, which is stored in
the firstboot partition.  The format should be kernel first followed
by an optional initrd= and then the rest of the kernel parameters.
The format of the kernel and initial ramdisk files is <partition
number>/<path to file>.  It is recommended, but not required, that
both the kernel and the initial ramdisk be in the root directory of
the filesystem.
.SH EXAMPLES

Create a Bootable disk on sda for the first time by installing palo

    $ palo -c "1/vmlinux initrd=1/initrd.img" -I /dev/sda

Update the bootloader command line without re-installing it

    $ palo -c "1/vmlinux.new initrd=1/initrd.img.new" -U /dev/sda

Format the palo partition as ext4 and install iplboot within that
partition using ext4 badblocks [requires a palo (type F0) partition]:

    $ palo  palo -c "1/vmlinux initrd=1/initrd.img" --format-as=4 -I /dev/sda