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authorLinus Torvalds <torvalds@ppc970.osdl.org>2005-04-16 15:20:36 -0700
committerLinus Torvalds <torvalds@ppc970.osdl.org>2005-04-16 15:20:36 -0700
commit1da177e4c3f41524e886b7f1b8a0c1fc7321cac2 (patch)
tree0bba044c4ce775e45a88a51686b5d9f90697ea9d /Documentation/powerpc/zImage_layout.txt
Linux-2.6.12-rc2v2.6.12-rc2
Initial git repository build. I'm not bothering with the full history, even though we have it. We can create a separate "historical" git archive of that later if we want to, and in the meantime it's about 3.2GB when imported into git - space that would just make the early git days unnecessarily complicated, when we don't have a lot of good infrastructure for it. Let it rip!
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+ Information about the Linux/PPC kernel images
+=====================================================================
+
+Please mail me (Cort Dougan, cort@fsmlabs.com) if you have questions,
+comments or corrections.
+
+This document is meant to answer several questions I've had about how
+the PReP system boots and how Linux/PPC interacts with that mechanism.
+It would be nice if we could have information on how other architectures
+boot here as well. If you have anything to contribute, please
+let me know.
+
+
+1. PReP boot file
+
+ This is the file necessary to boot PReP systems from floppy or
+ hard drive. The firmware reads the PReP partition table entry
+ and will load the image accordingly.
+
+ To boot the zImage, copy it onto a floppy with dd if=zImage of=/dev/fd0h1440
+ or onto a PReP hard drive partition with dd if=zImage of=/dev/sda4
+ assuming you've created a PReP partition (type 0x41) with fdisk on
+ /dev/sda4.
+
+ The layout of the image format is:
+
+ 0x0 +------------+
+ | | PReP partition table entry
+ | |
+ 0x400 +------------+
+ | | Bootstrap program code + data
+ | |
+ | |
+ +------------+
+ | | compressed kernel, elf header removed
+ +------------+
+ | | initrd (if loaded)
+ +------------+
+ | | Elf section table for bootstrap program
+ +------------+
+
+
+2. MBX boot file
+
+ The MBX boards can load an elf image, and relocate it to the
+ proper location in memory - it copies the image to the location it was
+ linked at.