How to create the boot image: ----------------------------------- tip22 tip32 - vmlinux is a ELF Linux kernel - initrd is a gzip compressed initial ramdisk - outputfile is the bootimage. It is in ECOFF format for ip22 and in ELF format for ip32. You can for example tfpboot this image on an SGI Indy using the bootp(): command in the prom. it basically works like this: ----------------------------- - tftpload.o is a relocatable object created during package build time - the tip22 script converts the ramdisk and vmlinux to relocatable objects using linker scripts including symbols that mark the begin and the end of kernel and ramdisk - those are linked together into the output file using yet another linker script - when executed by the prom the embedded loader: - memcopies the kernel to its loadaddress - memcopies the initrd after the kernel to a page boundary - parses the command line and everything within an append="..." statement is passed on to the kernel, e.g. 'bootp(): append="console=ttyS0"' - jumps into the kernel passing the start address and size of the initrd on the command line -- Thu, 15 May 2002 23:07:18 +0200 Guido Guenther