xref: /freebsd/sbin/reboot/nextboot.8 (revision b1f92fa22938fe29ab7e53692ffe0ed7a0ecc4d0)
1.\" Copyright (c) 2002 Gordon Tetlow
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25.\" $FreeBSD$
26.\"
27.Dd March 17, 2015
28.Dt NEXTBOOT 8
29.Os
30.Sh NAME
31.Nm nextboot
32.Nd "specify an alternate kernel and boot flags for the next reboot"
33.Sh SYNOPSIS
34.Nm
35.Op Fl e Ar variable=value
36.Op Fl f
37.Op Fl k Ar kernel
38.Op Fl o Ar options
39.Nm
40.Fl D
41.Sh DESCRIPTION
42The
43.Nm
44utility allows specifying some combination of an alternate kernel, boot flags
45and kernel environment for the
46next time the machine is booted.
47Once the
48.Xr loader 8
49loads in the new kernel
50information, it is deleted so in case the new kernel hangs the machine,
51once it is rebooted, the machine will automatically revert to its previous
52configuration.
53.Pp
54The options are as follows:
55.Bl -tag -width ".Fl o Ar options"
56.It Fl D
57Invoking
58.Nm
59with this
60option removes an existing
61.Nm
62configuration.
63.It Fl e Ar variable=value
64This option adds the provided variable and value to the kernel environment.
65The value is quoted when written to the
66.Nm
67configuration.
68.It Fl f
69This
70option disables the sanity checking which checks if the kernel really exists
71before writing the
72.Nm
73configuration.
74.It Fl k Ar kernel
75This option specifies a kernel directory relative to
76.Pa /boot
77to load the kernel and any modules from.
78.It Fl o Ar options
79This option
80allows the passing of kernel flags for the next boot.
81.El
82.Sh FILES
83.Bl -tag -width ".Pa /boot/nextboot.conf" -compact
84.It Pa /boot/nextboot.conf
85The configuration file that the
86.Nm
87configuration is written into.
88.El
89.Sh EXAMPLES
90To boot the
91.Pa GENERIC
92kernel with the
93.Nm
94command:
95.Pp
96.Dl "nextboot -k GENERIC"
97.Pp
98To enable into single user mode with the normal kernel:
99.Pp
100.Dl "nextboot -o ""-s"" -k kernel"
101.Pp
102To remove an existing nextboot configuration:
103.Pp
104.Dl "nextboot -D"
105.Sh SEE ALSO
106.Xr boot 8 ,
107.Xr loader 8
108.Sh HISTORY
109The original
110.Nm
111manual page first appeared in
112.Fx 2.2 .
113It used a very different interface to achieve similar results.
114.Pp
115The current incarnation of
116.Nm
117appeared in
118.Fx 5.0 .
119.Sh AUTHORS
120This manual page was written by
121.An Gordon Tetlow Aq Mt gordon@FreeBSD.org .
122.Sh BUGS
123The
124.Nm
125code is implemented in the
126.Xr loader 8 .
127It is not the most thoroughly tested code.
128It is also my first attempt to write in Forth.
129.Pp
130Finally, it does some evil things like writing to the file system before it
131has been checked.
132If it scrambles your file system, do not blame me.
133.Pp
134.Xr loader 8
135is only able to read ZFS, not write to it.
136.Pa nextboot.conf
137will NOT be reset in case of a kernel boot failure.
138