aboutsummaryrefslogtreecommitdiff
path: root/Documentation/x86/boot.txt
diff options
context:
space:
mode:
Diffstat (limited to 'Documentation/x86/boot.txt')
-rw-r--r--Documentation/x86/boot.txt66
1 files changed, 65 insertions, 1 deletions
diff --git a/Documentation/x86/boot.txt b/Documentation/x86/boot.txt
index 406d82d5d2b..3840b6f28af 100644
--- a/Documentation/x86/boot.txt
+++ b/Documentation/x86/boot.txt
@@ -57,6 +57,10 @@ Protocol 2.10: (Kernel 2.6.31) Added a protocol for relaxed alignment
Protocol 2.11: (Kernel 3.6) Added a field for offset of EFI handover
protocol entry point.
+Protocol 2.12: (Kernel 3.8) Added the xloadflags field and extension fields
+ to struct boot_params for for loading bzImage and ramdisk
+ above 4G in 64bit.
+
**** MEMORY LAYOUT
The traditional memory map for the kernel loader, used for Image or
@@ -182,7 +186,7 @@ Offset Proto Name Meaning
0230/4 2.05+ kernel_alignment Physical addr alignment required for kernel
0234/1 2.05+ relocatable_kernel Whether kernel is relocatable or not
0235/1 2.10+ min_alignment Minimum alignment, as a power of two
-0236/2 N/A pad3 Unused
+0236/2 2.12+ xloadflags Boot protocol option flags
0238/4 2.06+ cmdline_size Maximum size of the kernel command line
023C/4 2.07+ hardware_subarch Hardware subarchitecture
0240/8 2.07+ hardware_subarch_data Subarchitecture-specific data
@@ -386,6 +390,7 @@ Protocol: 2.00+
F Special (0xFF = undefined)
10 Reserved
11 Minimal Linux Bootloader <http://sebastian-plotz.blogspot.de>
+ 12 OVMF UEFI virtualization stack
Please contact <hpa@zytor.com> if you need a bootloader ID
value assigned.
@@ -582,6 +587,27 @@ Protocol: 2.10+
misaligned kernel. Therefore, a loader should typically try each
power-of-two alignment from kernel_alignment down to this alignment.
+Field name: xloadflags
+Type: read
+Offset/size: 0x236/2
+Protocol: 2.12+
+
+ This field is a bitmask.
+
+ Bit 0 (read): XLF_KERNEL_64
+ - If 1, this kernel has the legacy 64-bit entry point at 0x200.
+
+ Bit 1 (read): XLF_CAN_BE_LOADED_ABOVE_4G
+ - If 1, kernel/boot_params/cmdline/ramdisk can be above 4G.
+
+ Bit 2 (read): XLF_EFI_HANDOVER_32
+ - If 1, the kernel supports the 32-bit EFI handoff entry point
+ given at handover_offset.
+
+ Bit 3 (read): XLF_EFI_HANDOVER_64
+ - If 1, the kernel supports the 64-bit EFI handoff entry point
+ given at handover_offset + 0x200.
+
Field name: cmdline_size
Type: read
Offset/size: 0x238/4
@@ -1029,6 +1055,44 @@ must have read/write permission; CS must be __BOOT_CS and DS, ES, SS
must be __BOOT_DS; interrupt must be disabled; %esi must hold the base
address of the struct boot_params; %ebp, %edi and %ebx must be zero.
+**** 64-bit BOOT PROTOCOL
+
+For machine with 64bit cpus and 64bit kernel, we could use 64bit bootloader
+and we need a 64-bit boot protocol.
+
+In 64-bit boot protocol, the first step in loading a Linux kernel
+should be to setup the boot parameters (struct boot_params,
+traditionally known as "zero page"). The memory for struct boot_params
+could be allocated anywhere (even above 4G) and initialized to all zero.
+Then, the setup header at offset 0x01f1 of kernel image on should be
+loaded into struct boot_params and examined. The end of setup header
+can be calculated as follows:
+
+ 0x0202 + byte value at offset 0x0201
+
+In addition to read/modify/write the setup header of the struct
+boot_params as that of 16-bit boot protocol, the boot loader should
+also fill the additional fields of the struct boot_params as described
+in zero-page.txt.
+
+After setting up the struct boot_params, the boot loader can load
+64-bit kernel in the same way as that of 16-bit boot protocol, but
+kernel could be loaded above 4G.
+
+In 64-bit boot protocol, the kernel is started by jumping to the
+64-bit kernel entry point, which is the start address of loaded
+64-bit kernel plus 0x200.
+
+At entry, the CPU must be in 64-bit mode with paging enabled.
+The range with setup_header.init_size from start address of loaded
+kernel and zero page and command line buffer get ident mapping;
+a GDT must be loaded with the descriptors for selectors
+__BOOT_CS(0x10) and __BOOT_DS(0x18); both descriptors must be 4G flat
+segment; __BOOT_CS must have execute/read permission, and __BOOT_DS
+must have read/write permission; CS must be __BOOT_CS and DS, ES, SS
+must be __BOOT_DS; interrupt must be disabled; %rsi must hold the base
+address of the struct boot_params.
+
**** EFI HANDOVER PROTOCOL
This protocol allows boot loaders to defer initialisation to the EFI