Linuxrc is a program used for setting up the kernel for installation purposes. It allows the user to load modules, start an installed system, a rescue system or an installation via YaST.
Linuxrc is designed to be as small as possible. Therefore, all needed programs are linked directly into one binary. So there is no need for shared libraries in the initdisk.
If you run Linuxrc on an installed system, it will work slightly differently so as not to destroy your installation. As a consequence you cannot test all features this way.
Unless Linuxrc is in manual mode, it will look for an
info
file in these locations: first
/info
on the flash disk and if that does not exist,
for /info
in the initrd. After that it parses the
kernel command line for parameters. You may change the
info
file Linuxrc reads by setting the
info
command line parameter. If you do not want
Linuxrc to read the kernel command line (e.g. because you need to
specify a kernel parameter that Linuxrc recognizes as well), use
linuxrc=nocmdline
.
Linuxrc will always look for and parse a file
/linuxrc.config
. Use this file to change default
values if you need to. In general, it is better to use the
info
file instead. Note that
/linuxrc.config
is read before any
info
file, even in manual mode.
info
file format #
Lines starting with #
are comments, valid entries are
of the form:
key: value
Note that value
extends to the end of the line and
therefore may contain spaces. key
is matched case
insensitive.
You can use the same key-value pairs on the kernel command line using
the syntax key=value
. Lines that do not have the form
described above are ignored.
The table below lists Valid keys. The given values are only examples.
Keyword/Value |
Description |
---|---|
Language: de_DE |
Set the language |
Keytable: de-lat1-nd |
Load this key table |
Display: Color|Mono|Alt |
Set the menu color scheme |
Install: nfs://SERVER/install/8.0-i386 |
Install via NFS from SERVER (note: you can give username, password etc. in the URL, too) |
InstMode: cd|hd|nfs|smb|ftp|http|tftp |
Set installation mode |
HostIP: 10.10.0.2 |
The client ip address |
Netmask: 255.255.0.0 |
Network mask |
Gateway: 10.10.0.1 |
Gateway |
Server: 10.10.0.1 |
Installation server address |
Nameserver: 10.10.0.1 |
Nameserver |
Proxy: 10.10.0.1 |
Proxy (either FTP or HTTP) |
ProxyPort: 10.10.0.1 |
Proxy port |
Partition: hda1 |
Partition with install sources for hard disk install |
Serverdir: /install/8.0-i386 |
Base directory of the installation sources |
Netdevice: eth0 |
Network interface to use |
BOOTPWait: 5 |
Sleep 5 seconds between network activation and starting bootp |
BOOTPTimeout: 10 |
10 seconds timeout for BOOTP requests |
DHCPTimeout: 60 |
60 seconds timeout for DHCP requests |
TFTPTimeout: 10 |
10 seconds timeout for TFTP connection |
ForceRootimage: 0|1 |
Load the installation system into RAM disk |
Textmode: 0|1 |
Start YaST in text mode |
Username: name |
Set user name (e.g. for FTP install) |
Password: password |
Set password (e.g. for FTP install) |
WorkDomain: domain |
Set work domain for SMB install |
ForceInsmod: 0|1 |
Use |
DHCP: 0|1 |
Start the DHCP daemon now>, but see |
UseDHCP: 0|1 |
Use DHCP instead of BOOTP (DHCP is default) |
MemLimit: 10000 |
Ask for swap if free memory drops below 10000 KB |
MemYaST: 20000 |
Run YaST in text mode if free memory is below 20000 KB |
MemYaSTText: 10000 |
Ask for swap before starting YaST if free memory is below 10000 KB |
MemModules: 20000 |
Delete all modules before starting YaST if free memory is below 20000 KB |
MemLoadImage: 50000 |
Load installation system into RAM disk if free memory is above 50000 KB |
Manual: 0|1 |
Start Linuxrc in manual mode |
NoPCMCIA: 0|1 |
Do not start card manager |
Domain: example.com |
Set domain name (used for name server lookups) |
RootImage: /suse/images/root |
Installation system image |
RescueImage: /suse/images/rescue |
Rescue system image |
InstallDir: /suse/inst-sys |
Installation system |
Rescue: 1|nfs://server/dir |
Load rescue system; the URL variant specifies the location of the rescue image explicitly |
AutoYaST: ftp://autoyastfile |
Location of autoinstall file; activates autoinstall mode |
VNC: 0|1 |
Setup VNC server |
VNCPassword: password |
Sets VNC server password |
UseSSH: 0|1 |
Setup SSH server |
SSHPassword: password |
Sets SSH server password (this will not be the final root password!) |
AddSwap: 0|3|/dev/sda5 |
If 0, never ask for swap; if the argument is a positive number
|
Exec: command |
Run command |
USBWait: 4 |
Wait 4 seconds after loading USB modules |
Insmod: module params |
Load this module |
Loghost: 10.10.0.22 |
Enable remove logging via syslog |
y2confirm |
Overrides the confirm parameter in a control file and requests confirmation of installation proposal |
The netsetup
keyword allows advanced network
configurations and enables dialogs to setup the network where required.
netsetup=1
the normal network setup questions
netsetup=xxx,yyy
only xxx and yyy
netsetup=+xxx,-yyy
default, additionally xxx, but not yyy
netsetup
can have the following values:
dhcp
, hostip
,
gateway
, netmask
, name
server
. nameserverN
asks for N nameservers
(max. 4).
For example, the following can be entered on the command line:
netsetup=-dhcp,+nameserver3