\input texinfo @c -*-texinfo-*- @c -*-texinfo-*- @c %**start of header @setfilename multiboot.info @settitle Multiboot Specification @c %**end of header @c Unify all our little indices for now. @syncodeindex fn cp @syncodeindex vr cp @syncodeindex ky cp @syncodeindex pg cp @syncodeindex tp cp @footnotestyle separate @paragraphindent 3 @finalout @dircategory Kernel @direntry * Multiboot Specification: (multiboot). Multiboot Specification. @end direntry @ifinfo Copyright @copyright{} 1995, 96 Bryan Ford Copyright @copyright{} 1995, 96 Erich Stefan Boleyn Copyright @copyright{} 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002 Free Software Foundation, Inc. Permission is granted to make and distribute verbatim copies of this manual provided the copyright notice and this permission notice are preserved on all copies. @ignore Permission is granted to process this file through TeX and print the results, provided the printed document carries a copying permission notice identical to this one except for the removal of this paragraph (this paragraph not being relevant to the printed manual). @end ignore Permission is granted to copy and distribute modified versions of this manual under the conditions for verbatim copying, provided also that the entire resulting derived work is distributed under the terms of a permission notice identical to this one. Permission is granted to copy and distribute translations of this manual into another language, under the above conditions for modified versions. @end ifinfo @titlepage @sp 10 @title The Multiboot Specification @author Yoshinori K. Okuji, Bryan Ford, Erich Stefan Boleyn, Kunihiro Ishiguro @page @vskip 0pt plus 1filll Copyright @copyright{} 1995, 96 Bryan Ford Copyright @copyright{} 1995, 96 Erich Stefan Boleyn Copyright @copyright{} 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002 Free Software Foundation, Inc. Permission is granted to make and distribute verbatim copies of this manual provided the copyright notice and this permission notice are preserved on all copies. Permission is granted to copy and distribute modified versions of this manual under the conditions for verbatim copying, provided also that the entire resulting derived work is distributed under the terms of a permission notice identical to this one. Permission is granted to copy and distribute translations of this manual into another language, under the above conditions for modified versions. @end titlepage @finalout @headings double @ifnottex @node Top @top Multiboot Specification This file documents Multiboot Specification, the proposal for the boot sequence standard. This edition documents version 0.6.93. @end ifnottex @menu * Overview:: * Terminology:: * Specification:: * Examples:: * History:: * Index:: @end menu @node Overview @chapter Introduction to Multiboot Specification This chapter describes some rough information on the Multiboot Specification. Note that this is not a part of the specification itself. @menu * Motivation:: * Architecture:: * Operating systems:: * Boot sources:: * Boot-time configuration:: * Convenience to operating systems:: * Boot modules:: @end menu @node Motivation @section The background of Multiboot Specification Every operating system ever created tends to have its own boot loader. Installing a new operating system on a machine generally involves installing a whole new set of boot mechanisms, each with completely different install-time and boot-time user interfaces. Getting multiple operating systems to coexist reliably on one machine through typical @dfn{chaining} mechanisms can be a nightmare. There is little or no choice of boot loaders for a particular operating system --- if the one that comes with the operating system doesn't do exactly what you want, or doesn't work on your machine, you're screwed. While we may not be able to fix this problem in existing commercial operating systems, it shouldn't be too difficult for a few people in the free operating system communities to put their heads together and solve this problem for the popular free operating systems. That's what this specification aims for. Basically, it specifies an interface between a boot loader and a operating system, such that any complying boot loader should be able to load any complying operating system. This specification does @emph{not} specify how boot loaders should work --- only how they must interface with the operating system being loaded. @node Architecture @section The target architecture This specification is primarily targeted at @sc{pc}, since they are the most common and have the largest variety of operating systems and boot loaders. However, to the extent that certain other architectures may need a boot specification and do not have one already, a variation of this specification, stripped of the x86-specific details, could be adopted for them as well. @node Operating systems @section The target operating systems This specification is targeted toward free 32-bit operating systems that can be fairly easily modified to support the specification without going through lots of bureaucratic rigmarole. The particular free operating systems that this specification is being primarily designed for are Linux, FreeBSD, NetBSD, Mach, and VSTa. It is hoped that other emerging free operating systems will adopt it from the start, and thus immediately be able to take advantage of existing boot loaders. It would be nice if commercial operating system vendors eventually adopted this specification as well, but that's probably a pipe dream. @node Boot sources @section Boot sources It should be possible to write compliant boot loaders that load the OS image from a variety of sources, including floppy disk, hard disk, and across a network. Disk-based boot loaders may use a variety of techniques to find the relevant OS image and boot module data on disk, such as by interpretation of specific file systems (e.g. the BSD/Mach boot loader), using precalculated @dfn{block lists} (e.g. LILO), loading from a special @dfn{boot partition} (e.g. OS/2), or even loading from within another operating system (e.g. the VSTa boot code, which loads from DOS). Similarly, network-based boot loaders could use a variety of network hardware and protocols. It is hoped that boot loaders will be created that support multiple loading mechanisms, increasing their portability, robustness, and user-friendliness. @node Boot-time configuration @section Configure an operating system at boot-time It is often necessary for one reason or another for the user to be able to provide some configuration information to an operating system dynamically at boot time. While this specification should not dictate how this configuration information is obtained by the boot loader, it should provide a standard means for the boot loader to pass such information to the operating system. @node Convenience to operating systems @section How to make OS development easier OS images should be easy to generate. Ideally, an OS image should simply be an ordinary 32-bit executable file in whatever file format the operating system normally uses. It should be possible to @code{nm} or disassemble OS images just like normal executables. Specialized tools should not be required to create OS images in a @emph{special} file format. If this means shifting some work from the operating system to a boot loader, that is probably appropriate, because all the memory consumed by the boot loader will typically be made available again after the boot process is created, whereas every bit of code in the OS image typically has to remain in memory forever. The operating system should not have to worry about getting into 32-bit mode initially, because mode switching code generally needs to be in the boot loader anyway in order to load operating system data above the 1MB boundary, and forcing the operating system to do this makes creation of OS images much more difficult. Unfortunately, there is a horrendous variety of executable file formats even among free Unix-like @sc{pc}-based operating systems --- generally a different format for each operating system. Most of the relevant free operating systems use some variant of a.out format, but some are moving to @sc{elf}. It is highly desirable for boot loaders not to have to be able to interpret all the different types of executable file formats in existence in order to load the OS image --- otherwise the boot loader effectively becomes operating system specific again. This specification adopts a compromise solution to this problem. Multiboot-compliant OS images always contain a magic @dfn{Multiboot header} (@pxref{OS image format}), which allows the boot loader to load the image without having to understand numerous a.out variants or other executable formats. This magic header does not need to be at the very beginning of the executable file, so kernel images can still conform to the local a.out format variant in addition to being Multiboot-compliant. @node Boot modules @section Boot modules Many modern operating system kernels, such as those of VSTa and Mach, do not by themselves contain enough mechanism to get the system fully operational: they require the presence of additional software modules at boot time in order to access devices, mount file systems, etc. While these additional modules could be embedded in the main OS image along with the kernel itself, and the resulting image be split apart manually by the operating system when it receives control, it is often more flexible, more space-efficient, and more convenient to the operating system and user if the boot loader can load these additional modules independently in the first place. Thus, this specification should provide a standard method for a boot loader to indicate to the operating system what auxiliary boot modules were loaded, and where they can be found. Boot loaders don't have to support multiple boot modules, but they are strongly encouraged to, because some operating systems will be unable to boot without them. @node Terminology @chapter The definitions of terms used through the specification @table @dfn @item must We use the term @dfn{must}, when any boot loader or OS image needs to follow a rule --- otherwise, the boot loader or OS image is @emph{not} Multiboot-compliant. @item should We use the term @dfn{should}, when any boot loader or OS image is recommended to follow a rule, but it doesn't need to follow the rule. @item may We use the term @dfn{may}, when any boot loader or OS image is allowed to follow a rule. @item boot loader Whatever program or set of programs loads the image of the final operating system to be run on the machine. The boot loader may itself consist of several stages, but that is an implementation detail not relevant to this specification. Only the @emph{final} stage of the boot loader --- the stage that eventually transfers control to an operating system --- must follow the rules specified in this document in order to be @dfn{Multiboot-compliant}; earlier boot loader stages may be designed in whatever way is most convenient. @item OS image The initial binary image that a boot loader loads into memory and transfers control to start an operating system. The OS image is typically an executable containing the operating system kernel. @item boot module Other auxiliary files that a boot loader loads into memory along with an OS image, but does not interpret in any way other than passing their locations to the operating system when it is invoked. @item Multiboot-compliant A boot loader or an OS image which follows the rules defined as @dfn{must} is Multiboot-compliant. When this specification specifies a rule as @dfn{should} or @dfn{may}, a Multiboot-complaint boot loader/OS image doesn't need to follow the rule. @item u8 The type of unsigned 8-bit data. @item u16 The type of unsigned 16-bit data. Because the target architecture is little-endian, u16 is coded in little-endian. @item u32 The type of unsigned 32-bit data. Because the target architecture is little-endian, u32 is coded in little-endian. @item u64 The type of unsigned 64-bit data. Because the target architecture is little-endian, u64 is coded in little-endian. @end table @node Specification @chapter The exact definitions of Multiboot Specification There are three main aspects of a boot loader/OS image interface: @enumerate @item The format of an OS image as seen by a boot loader. @item The state of a machine when a boot loader starts an operating system. @item The format of information passed by a boot loader to an operating system. @end enumerate @menu * OS image format:: * Machine state:: * Boot information format:: @end menu @node OS image format @section OS image format An OS image may be an ordinary 32-bit executable file in the standard format for that particular operating system, except that it may be linked at a non-default load address to avoid loading on top of the @sc{pc}'s I/O region or other reserved areas, and of course it should not use shared libraries or other fancy features. An OS image must contain an additional header called @dfn{Multiboot header}, besides the headers of the format used by the OS image. The Multiboot header must be contained completely within the first 8192 bytes of the OS image, and must be longword (32-bit) aligned. In general, it should come @emph{as early as possible}, and may be embedded in the beginning of the text segment after the @emph{real} executable header. @menu * Header layout:: The layout of Multiboot header * Header magic fields:: The magic fields of Multiboot header * Header address fields:: * Header graphics fields:: @end menu @node Header layout @subsection The layout of Multiboot header The layout of the Multiboot header must be as follows: @multitable @columnfractions .1 .1 .2 .5 @item Offset @tab Type @tab Field Name @tab Note @item 0 @tab u32 @tab magic @tab required @item 4 @tab u32 @tab flags @tab required @item 8 @tab u32 @tab checksum @tab required @item 12 @tab u32 @tab header_addr @tab if flags[16] is set @item 16 @tab u32 @tab load_addr @tab if flags[16] is set @item 20 @tab u32 @tab load_end_addr @tab if flags[16] is set @item 24 @tab u32 @tab bss_end_addr @tab if flags[16] is set @item 28 @tab u32 @tab entry_addr @tab if flags[16] is set @item 32 @tab u32 @tab mode_type @tab if flags[2] is set @item 36 @tab u32 @tab width @tab if flags[2] is set @item 40 @tab u32 @tab height @tab if flags[2] is set @item 44 @tab u32 @tab depth @tab if flags[2] is set @end multitable The fields @samp{magic}, @samp{flags} and @samp{checksum} are defined in @ref{Header magic fields}, the fields @samp{header_addr}, @samp{load_addr}, @samp{load_end_addr}, @samp{bss_end_addr} and @samp{entry_addr} are defined in @ref{Header address fields}, and the fields @samp{mode_type}, @samp{width}, @samp{height} and @samp{depth} are defind in @ref{Header graphics fields}. @node Header magic fields @subsection The magic fields of Multiboot header @table @samp @item magic The field @samp{magic} is the magic number identifying the header, which must be the hexadecimal value @code{0x1BADB002}. @item flags The field @samp{flags} specifies features that the OS image requests or requires of an boot loader. Bits 0-15 indicate requirements; if the boot loader sees any of these bits set but doesn't understand the flag or can't fulfill the requirements it indicates for some reason, it must notify the user and fail to load the OS image. Bits 16-31 indicate optional features; if any bits in this range are set but the boot loader doesn't understand them, it may simply ignore them and proceed as usual. Naturally, all as-yet-undefined bits in the @samp{flags} word must be set to zero in OS images. This way, the @samp{flags} fields serves for version control as well as simple feature selection. If bit 0 in the @samp{flags} word is set, then all boot modules loaded along with the operating system must be aligned on page (4KB) boundaries. Some operating systems expect to be able to map the pages containing boot modules directly into a paged address space during startup, and thus need the boot modules to be page-aligned. If bit 1 in the @samp{flags} word is set, then information on available memory via at least the @samp{mem_*} fields of the Multiboot information structure (@pxref{Boot information format}) must be included. If the boot loader is capable of passing a memory map (the @samp{mmap_*} fields) and one exists, then it may be included as well. If bit 2 in the @samp{flags} word is set, information about the video mode table (@pxref{Boot information format}) must be available to the kernel. If bit 16 in the @samp{flags} word is set, then the fields at offsets 8-24 in the Multiboot header are valid, and the boot loader should use them instead of the fields in the actual executable header to calculate where to load the OS image. This information does not need to be provided if the kernel image is in @sc{elf} format, but it @emph{must} be provided if the images is in a.out format or in some other format. Compliant boot loaders must be able to load images that either are in @sc{elf} format or contain the load address information embedded in the Multiboot header; they may also directly support other executable formats, such as particular a.out variants, but are not required to. @item checksum The field @samp{checksum} is a 32-bit unsigned value which, when added to the other magic fields (i.e. @samp{magic} and @samp{flags}), must have a 32-bit unsigned sum of zero. @end table @node Header address fields @subsection The address fields of Multiboot header All of the address fields enabled by flag bit 16 are physical addresses. The meaning of each is as follows: @table @code @item header_addr Contains the address corresponding to the beginning of the Multiboot header --- the physical memory location at which the magic value is supposed to be loaded. This field serves to @dfn{synchronize} the mapping between OS image offsets and physical memory addresses. @item load_addr Contains the physical address of the beginning of the text segment. The offset in the OS image file at which to start loading is defined by the offset at which the header was found, minus (header_addr - load_addr). load_addr must be less than or equal to header_addr. @item load_end_addr Contains the physical address of the end of the data segment. (load_end_addr - load_addr) specifies how much data to load. This implies that the text and data segments must be consecutive in the OS image; this is true for existing a.out executable formats. If this field is zero, the boot loader assumes that the text and data segments occupy the whole OS image file. @item bss_end_addr Contains the physical address of the end of the bss segment. The boot loader initializes this area to zero, and reserves the memory it occupies to avoid placing boot modules and other data relevant to the operating system in that area. If this field is zero, the boot loader assumes that no bss segment is present. @item entry_addr The physical address to which the boot loader should jump in order to start running the operating system. @end table @node Header graphics fields @subsection The graphics fields of Multiboot header All of the graphics fields are enabled by flag bit 2. They specify the preferred graphics mode. Note that that is only a @emph{recommended} mode by the OS image. If the mode exists, the boot loader should set it, when the user doesn't specify a mode explicitly. Otherwise, the boot loader should fall back to a similar mode, if available. The meaning of each is as follows: @table @code @item mode_type Contains @samp{0} for linear graphics mode or @samp{1} for EGA-standard text mode. Everything else is reserved for future expansion. Note that the boot loader may set a text mode, even if this field contains @samp{0}. @item width Contains the number of the columns. This is specified in pixels in a graphics mode, and in characters in a text mode. The value zero indicates that the OS image has no preference. @item height Contains the number of the lines. This is specified in pixels in a graphics mode, and in characters in a text mode. The value zero indicates that the OS image has no preference. @item depth Contains the number of bits per pixel in a graphics mode, and zero in a text mode. The value zero indicates that the OS image has no preference. @end table @node Machine state @section Machine state When the boot loader invokes the 32-bit operating system, the machine must have the following state: @table @samp @item EAX Must contain the magic value @samp{0x2BADB002}; the presence of this value indicates to the operating system that it was loaded by a Multiboot-compliant boot loader (e.g. as opposed to another type of boot loader that the operating system can also be loaded from). @item EBX Must contain the 32-bit physical address of the Multiboot information structure provided by the boot loader (@pxref{Boot information format}). @item CS Must be a 32-bit read/execute code segment with an offset of @samp{0} and a limit of @samp{0xFFFFFFFF}. The exact value is undefined. @item DS @itemx ES @itemx FS @itemx GS @itemx SS Must be a 32-bit read/write data segment with an offset of @samp{0} and a limit of @samp{0xFFFFFFFF}. The exact values are all undefined. @item A20 gate Must be enabled. @item CR0 Bit 31 (PG) must be cleared. Bit 0 (PE) must be set. Other bits are all undefined. @item EFLAGS Bit 17 (VM) must be cleared. Bit 9 (IF) must be cleared. Other bits are all undefined. @end table All other processor registers and flag bits are undefined. This includes, in particular: @table @samp @item ESP The OS image must create its own stack as soon as it needs one. @item GDTR Even though the segment registers are set up as described above, the @samp{GDTR} may be invalid, so the OS image must not load any segment registers (even just reloading the same values!) until it sets up its own @samp{GDT}. @item IDTR The OS image must leave interrupts disabled until it sets up its own @code{IDT}. @end table However, other machine state should be left by the boot loader in @dfn{normal working order}, i.e. as initialized by the @sc{bios} (or DOS, if that's what the boot loader runs from). In other words, the operating system should be able to make @sc{bios} calls and such after being loaded, as long as it does not overwrite the @sc{bios} data structures before doing so. Also, the boot loader must leave the @sc{pic} programmed with the normal @sc{bios}/DOS values, even if it changed them during the switch to 32-bit mode. @node Boot information format @section Boot information format FIXME: Split this chapter like the chapter ``OS image format''. Upon entry to the operating system, the @code{EBX} register contains the physical address of a @dfn{Multiboot information} data structure, through which the boot loader communicates vital information to the operating system. The operating system can use or ignore any parts of the structure as it chooses; all information passed by the boot loader is advisory only. The Multiboot information structure and its related substructures may be placed anywhere in memory by the boot loader (with the exception of the memory reserved for the kernel and boot modules, of course). It is the operating system's responsibility to avoid overwriting this memory until it is done using it. The format of the Multiboot information structure (as defined so far) follows: @example @group +-------------------+ 0 | flags | (required) +-------------------+ 4 | mem_lower | (present if flags[0] is set) 8 | mem_upper | (present if flags[0] is set) +-------------------+ 12 | boot_device | (present if flags[1] is set) +-------------------+ 16 | cmdline | (present if flags[2] is set) +-------------------+ 20 | mods_count | (present if flags[3] is set) 24 | mods_addr | (present if flags[3] is set) +-------------------+ 28 - 40 | syms | (present if flags[4] or | | flags[5] is set) +-------------------+ 44 | mmap_length | (present if flags[6] is set) 48 | mmap_addr | (present if flags[6] is set) +-------------------+ 52 | drives_length | (present if flags[7] is set) 56 | drives_addr | (present if flags[7] is set) +-------------------+ 60 | config_table | (present if flags[8] is set) +-------------------+ 64 | boot_loader_name | (present if flags[9] is set) +-------------------+ 68 | apm_table | (present if flags[10] is set) +-------------------+ 72 | vbe_control_info | (present if flags[11] is set) 76 | vbe_mode_info | 80 | vbe_mode | 82 | vbe_interface_seg | 84 | vbe_interface_off | 86 | vbe_interface_len | +-------------------+ @end group @end example The first longword indicates the presence and validity of other fields in the Multiboot information structure. All as-yet-undefined bits must be set to zero by the boot loader. Any set bits that the operating system does not understand should be ignored. Thus, the @samp{flags} field also functions as a version indicator, allowing the Multiboot information structure to be expanded in the future without breaking anything. If bit 0 in the @samp{flags} word is set, then the @samp{mem_*} fields are valid. @samp{mem_lower} and @samp{mem_upper} indicate the amount of lower and upper memory, respectively, in kilobytes. Lower memory starts at address 0, and upper memory starts at address 1 megabyte. The maximum possible value for lower memory is 640 kilobytes. The value returned for upper memory is maximally the address of the first upper memory hole minus 1 megabyte. It is not guaranteed to be this value. If bit 1 in the @samp{flags} word is set, then the @samp{boot_device} field is valid, and indicates which @sc{bios} disk device the boot loader loaded the OS image from. If the OS image was not loaded from a @sc{bios} disk, then this field must not be present (bit 3 must be clear). The operating system may use this field as a hint for determining its own @dfn{root} device, but is not required to. The @samp{boot_device} field is laid out in four one-byte subfields as follows: @example @group +-------+-------+-------+-------+ | drive | part1 | part2 | part3 | +-------+-------+-------+-------+ @end group @end example The first byte contains the @sc{bios} drive number as understood by the @sc{bios} INT 0x13 low-level disk interface: e.g. 0x00 for the first floppy disk or 0x80 for the first hard disk. The three remaining bytes specify the boot partition. @samp{part1} specifies the @dfn{top-level} partition number, @samp{part2} specifies a @dfn{sub-partition} in the top-level partition, etc. Partition numbers always start from zero. Unused partition bytes must be set to 0xFF. For example, if the disk is partitioned using a simple one-level DOS partitioning scheme, then @samp{part1} contains the DOS partition number, and @samp{part2} and @samp{part3} are both 0xFF. As another example, if a disk is partitioned first into DOS partitions, and then one of those DOS partitions is subdivided into several BSD partitions using BSD's @dfn{disklabel} strategy, then @samp{part1} contains the DOS partition number, @samp{part2} contains the BSD sub-partition within that DOS partition, and @samp{part3} is 0xFF. DOS extended partitions are indicated as partition numbers starting from 4 and increasing, rather than as nested sub-partitions, even though the underlying disk layout of extended partitions is hierarchical in nature. For example, if the boot loader boots from the second extended partition on a disk partitioned in conventional DOS style, then @samp{part1} will be 5, and @samp{part2} and @samp{part3} will both be 0xFF. If bit 2 of the @samp{flags} longword is set, the @samp{cmdline} field is valid, and contains the physical address of the command line to be passed to the kernel. The command line is a normal C-style zero-terminated string. If bit 3 of the @samp{flags} is set, then the @samp{mods} fields indicate to the kernel what boot modules were loaded along with the kernel image, and where they can be found. @samp{mods_count} contains the number of modules loaded; @samp{mods_addr} contains the physical address of the first module structure. @samp{mods_count} may be zero, indicating no boot modules were loaded, even if bit 1 of @samp{flags} is set. Each module structure is formatted as follows: @example @group +-------------------+ 0 | mod_start | 4 | mod_end | +-------------------+ 8 | string | +-------------------+ 12 | reserved (0) | +-------------------+ @end group @end example The first two fields contain the start and end addresses of the boot module itself. The @samp{string} field provides an arbitrary string to be associated with that particular boot module; it is a zero-terminated ASCII string, just like the kernel command line. The @samp{string} field may be 0 if there is no string associated with the module. Typically the string might be a command line (e.g. if the operating system treats boot modules as executable programs), or a pathname (e.g. if the operating system treats boot modules as files in a file system), but its exact use is specific to the operating system. The @samp{reserved} field must be set to 0 by the boot loader and ignored by the operating system. @strong{Caution:} Bits 4 & 5 are mutually exclusive. If bit 4 in the @samp{flags} word is set, then the following fields in the Multiboot information structure starting at byte 28 are valid: @example @group +-------------------+ 28 | tabsize | 32 | strsize | 36 | addr | 40 | reserved (0) | +-------------------+ @end group @end example These indicate where the symbol table from an a.out kernel image can be found. @samp{addr} is the physical address of the size (4-byte unsigned long) of an array of a.out format @dfn{nlist} structures, followed immediately by the array itself, then the size (4-byte unsigned long) of a set of zero-terminated @sc{ascii} strings (plus sizeof(unsigned long) in this case), and finally the set of strings itself. @samp{tabsize} is equal to its size parameter (found at the beginning of the symbol section), and @samp{strsize} is equal to its size parameter (found at the beginning of the string section) of the following string table to which the symbol table refers. Note that @samp{tabsize} may be 0, indicating no symbols, even if bit 4 in the @samp{flags} word is set. If bit 5 in the @samp{flags} word is set, then the following fields in the Multiboot information structure starting at byte 28 are valid: @example @group +-------------------+ 28 | num | 32 | size | 36 | addr | 40 | shndx | +-------------------+ @end group @end example These indicate where the section header table from an ELF kernel is, the size of each entry, number of entries, and the string table used as the index of names. They correspond to the @samp{shdr_*} entries (@samp{shdr_num}, etc.) in the Executable and Linkable Format (@sc{elf}) specification in the program header. All sections are loaded, and the physical address fields of the @sc{elf} section header then refer to where the sections are in memory (refer to the i386 @sc{elf} documentation for details as to how to read the section header(s)). Note that @samp{shdr_num} may be 0, indicating no symbols, even if bit 5 in the @samp{flags} word is set. If bit 6 in the @samp{flags} word is set, then the @samp{mmap_*} fields are valid, and indicate the address and length of a buffer containing a memory map of the machine provided by the @sc{bios}. @samp{mmap_addr} is the address, and @samp{mmap_length} is the total size of the buffer. The buffer consists of one or more of the following size/structure pairs (@samp{size} is really used for skipping to the next pair): @example @group +-------------------+ -4 | size | +-------------------+ 0 | base_addr_low | 4 | base_addr_high | 8 | length_low | 12 | length_high | 16 | type | +-------------------+ @end group @end example where @samp{size} is the size of the associated structure in bytes, which can be greater than the minimum of 20 bytes. @samp{base_addr_low} is the lower 32 bits of the starting address, and @samp{base_addr_high} is the upper 32 bits, for a total of a 64-bit starting address. @samp{length_low} is the lower 32 bits of the size of the memory region in bytes, and @samp{length_high} is the upper 32 bits, for a total of a 64-bit length. @samp{type} is the variety of address range represented, where a value of 1 indicates available @sc{ram}, and all other values currently indicated a reserved area. The map provided is guaranteed to list all standard @sc{ram} that should be available for normal use. If bit 7 in the @samp{flags} is set, then the @samp{drives_*} fields are valid, and indicate the address of the physical address of the first drive structure and the size of drive structures. @samp{drives_addr} is the address, and @samp{drives_length} is the total size of drive structures. Note that @samp{drives_length} may be zero. Each drive structure is formatted as follows: @example @group +-------------------+ 0 | size | +-------------------+ 4 | drive_number | +-------------------+ 5 | drive_mode | +-------------------+ 6 | drive_cylinders | 8 | drive_heads | 9 | drive_sectors | +-------------------+ 10 - xx | drive_ports | +-------------------+ @end group @end example The @samp{size} field specifies the size of this structure. The size varies, depending on the number of ports. Note that the size may not be equal to (10 + 2 * the number of ports), because of an alignment. The @samp{drive_number} field contains the BIOS drive number. The @samp{drive_mode} field represents the access mode used by the boot loader. Currently, the following modes are defined: @table @samp @item 0 CHS mode (traditional cylinder/head/sector addressing mode). @item 1 LBA mode (Logical Block Addressing mode). @end table The three fields, @samp{drive_cylinders}, @samp{drive_heads} and @samp{drive_sectors}, indicate the geometry of the drive detected by the @sc{bios}. @samp{drive_cylinders} contains the number of the cylinders. @samp{drive_heads} contains the number of the heads. @samp{drive_sectors} contains the number of the sectors per track. The @samp{drive_ports} field contains the array of the I/O ports used for the drive in the @sc{bios} code. The array consists of zero or more unsigned two-bytes integers, and is terminated with zero. Note that the array may contain any number of I/O ports that are not related to the drive actually (such as @sc{dma} controller's ports). If bit 8 in the @samp{flags} is set, then the @samp{config_table} field is valid, and indicates the address of the @sc{rom} configuration table returned by the @dfn{GET CONFIGURATION} @sc{bios} call. If the @sc{bios} call fails, then the size of the table must be @emph{zero}. If bit 9 in the @samp{flags} is set, the @samp{boot_loader_name} field is valid, and contains the physical address of the name of a boot loader booting the kernel. The name is a normal C-style zero-terminated string. If bit 10 in the @samp{flags} is set, the @samp{apm_table} field is valid, and contains the physical address of an @sc{apm} table defined as below: @example @group +----------------------+ 0 | version | 2 | cseg | 4 | offset | 8 | cseg_16 | 10 | dseg | 12 | flags | 14 | cseg_len | 16 | cseg_16_len | 18 | dseg_len | +----------------------+ @end group @end example The fields @samp{version}, @samp{cseg}, @samp{offset}, @samp{cseg_16}, @samp{dseg}, @samp{flags}, @samp{cseg_len}, @samp{cseg_16_len}, @samp{dseg_len} indicate the version number, the protected mode 32-bit code segment, the offset of the entry point, the protected mode 16-bit code segment, the protected mode 16-bit data segment, the flags, the length of the protected mode 32-bit code segment, the length of the protected mode 16-bit code segment, and the length of the protected mode 16-bit data segment, respectively. Only the field @samp{offset} is 4 bytes, and the others are 2 bytes. See @uref{http://www.microsoft.com/hwdev/busbios/amp_12.htm, Advanced Power Management (APM) BIOS Interface Specification}, for more information. If bit 11 in the @samp{flags} is set, the graphics table is available. This must only be done if the kernel has indicated in the @samp{Multiboot Header} that it accepts a graphics mode. The fields @samp{vbe_control_info} and @samp{vbe_mode_info} contain the physical addresses of @sc{vbe} control information returned by the @sc{vbe} Function 00h and @sc{vbe} mode information returned by the @sc{vbe} Function 01h, respectively. The field @samp{vbe_mode} indicates current video mode in the format specified in @sc{vbe} 3.0. The rest fields @samp{vbe_interface_seg}, @samp{vbe_interface_off}, and @samp{vbe_interface_len} contain the table of a protected mode interface defined in @sc{vbe} 2.0+. If this information is not available, those fields contain zero. Note that @sc{vbe} 3.0 defines another protected mode interface which is incompatible with the old one. If you want to use the new protected mode interface, you will have to find the table yourself. The fields for the graphics table are designed for @sc{vbe}, but Multiboot boot loaders may simulate @sc{vbe} on non-@sc{vbe} modes, as if they were @sc{vbe} modes. @node Examples @chapter Examples @strong{Caution:} The following items are not part of the specification document, but are included for prospective operating system and boot loader writers. @menu * Notes on PC:: * BIOS device mapping techniques:: * Example OS code:: * Example boot loader code:: @end menu @node Notes on PC @section Notes on PC In reference to bit 0 of the @samp{flags} parameter in the Multiboot information structure, if the bootloader in question uses older @sc{bios} interfaces, or the newest ones are not available (see description about bit 6), then a maximum of either 15 or 63 megabytes of memory may be reported. It is @emph{highly} recommended that boot loaders perform a thorough memory probe. In reference to bit 1 of the @samp{flags} parameter in the Multiboot information structure, it is recognized that determination of which @sc{bios} drive maps to which device driver in an operating system is non-trivial, at best. Many kludges have been made to various operating systems instead of solving this problem, most of them breaking under many conditions. To encourage the use of general-purpose solutions to this problem, there are 2 @sc{bios} device mapping techniques (@pxref{BIOS device mapping techniques}). In reference to bit 6 of the @samp{flags} parameter in the Multiboot information structure, it is important to note that the data structure used there (starting with @samp{BaseAddrLow}) is the data returned by the INT 15h, AX=E820h --- Query System Address Map call. See @xref{Query System Address Map, , Query System Address Map, grub.info, The GRUB Manual}, for more information. The interface here is meant to allow a boot loader to work unmodified with any reasonable extensions of the @sc{bios} interface, passing along any extra data to be interpreted by the operating system as desired. @node BIOS device mapping techniques @section BIOS device mapping techniques Both of these techniques should be usable from any PC operating system, and neither require any special support in the drivers themselves. This section will be flushed out into detailed explanations, particularly for the I/O restriction technique. The general rule is that the data comparison technique is the quick and dirty solution. It works most of the time, but doesn't cover all the bases, and is relatively simple. The I/O restriction technique is much more complex, but it has potential to solve the problem under all conditions, plus allow access of the remaining @sc{bios} devices when not all of them have operating system drivers. @menu * Data comparison technique:: * I/O restriction technique:: @end menu @node Data comparison technique @subsection Data comparison technique Before activating @emph{any} of the device drivers, gather enough data from similar sectors on each of the disks such that each one can be uniquely identified. After activating the device drivers, compare data from the drives using the operating system drivers. This should hopefully be sufficient to provide such a mapping. Problems: @enumerate @item The data on some @sc{bios} devices might be identical (so the part reading the drives from the @sc{bios} should have some mechanism to give up). @item There might be extra drives not accessible from the @sc{bios} which are identical to some drive used by the @sc{bios} (so it should be capable of giving up there as well). @end enumerate @node I/O restriction technique @subsection I/O restriction technique This first step may be unnecessary, but first create copy-on-write mappings for the device drivers writing into @sc{pc} @sc{ram}. Keep the original copies for the @dfn{clean @sc{bios} virtual machine} to be created later. For each device driver brought online, determine which @sc{bios} devices become inaccessible by: @enumerate @item Create a @dfn{clean @sc{bios} virtual machine}. @item Set the I/O permission map for the I/O area claimed by the device driver to no permissions (neither read nor write). @item Access each device. @item Record which devices succeed, and those which try to access the @dfn{restricted} I/O areas (hopefully, this will be an @dfn{xor} situation). @end enumerate For each device driver, given how many of the @sc{bios} devices were subsumed by it (there should be no gaps in this list), it should be easy to determine which devices on the controller these are. In general, you have at most 2 disks from each controller given @sc{bios} numbers, but they pretty much always count from the lowest logically numbered devices on the controller. @node Example OS code @section Example OS code In this distribution, the example Multiboot kernel @file{kernel} is included. The kernel just prints out the Multiboot information structure on the screen, so you can make use of the kernel to test a Multiboot-compliant boot loader and for reference to how to implement a Multiboot kernel. The source files can be found under the directory @file{docs} in the GRUB distribution. The kernel @file{kernel} consists of only three files: @file{boot.S}, @file{kernel.c} and @file{multiboot.h}. The assembly source @file{boot.S} is written in GAS (@pxref{Top, , GNU assembler, as.info, The GNU assembler}), and contains the Multiboot information structure to comply with the specification. When a Multiboot-compliant boot loader loads and execute it, it initialize the stack pointer and @code{EFLAGS}, and then call the function @code{cmain} defined in @file{kernel.c}. If @code{cmain} returns to the callee, then it shows a message to inform the user of the halt state and stops forever until you push the reset key. The file @file{kernel.c} contains the function @code{cmain}, which checks if the magic number passed by the boot loader is valid and so on, and some functions to print messages on the screen. The file @file{multiboot.h} defines some macros, such as the magic number for the Multiboot header, the Multiboot header structure and the Multiboot information structure. @menu * multiboot.h:: * boot.S:: * kernel.c:: * Other Multiboot kernels:: @end menu @node multiboot.h @subsection multiboot.h This is the source code in the file @file{multiboot.h}: @example @include multiboot.h.texi @end example @node boot.S @subsection boot.S In the file @file{boot.S}: @example @include boot.S.texi @end example @node kernel.c @subsection kernel.c And, in the file @file{kernel.c}: @example @include kernel.c.texi @end example @node Other Multiboot kernels @subsection Other Multiboot kernels Other useful information should be available in Multiboot kernels, such as GNU Mach and Fiasco @url{http://os.inf.tu-dresden.de/fiasco/}. And, it is worth mentioning the OSKit @url{http://www.cs.utah.edu/projects/flux/oskit/}, which provides a library supporting the specification. @node Example boot loader code @section Example boot loader code The GNU GRUB (@pxref{Top, , GRUB, grub.info, The GRUB manual}) project is a full Multiboot-compliant boot loader, supporting all required and optional features present in this specification. A public release has not been made, but the test release is available from: @url{ftp://alpha.gnu.org/gnu/grub} See the webpage @url{http://www.gnu.org/software/grub/grub.html}, for more information. @node History @chapter The change log of this specification @table @asis @item 0.7 @itemize @bullet @item @dfn{Multiboot Standard} is renamed to @dfn{Multiboot Specification}. @item Graphics fields are added to Multiboot header. @item BIOS drive information, BIOS configuration table, the name of a boot loader, APM information, and graphics information are added to Multiboot information. @item Rewritten in Texinfo format. @item Rewritten, using more strict words. @item The maintainer changes to the GNU GRUB maintainer team @email{bug-grub@@gnu.org}, from Bryan Ford and Erich Stefan Boleyn. @end itemize @item 0.6 @itemize @bullet @item A few wording changes. @item Header checksum. @item Clasification of machine state passed to an operating system. @end itemize @item 0.5 @itemize @bullet @item Name change. @end itemize @item 0.4 @itemize @bullet @item Major changes plus HTMLification. @end itemize @end table @node Index @unnumbered Index @printindex cp @contents @bye