120 lines
4.3 KiB
HTML
120 lines
4.3 KiB
HTML
<HTML>
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<HEAD>
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<TITLE>GRUB -- GRand Unified Bootloader</TITLE>
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<BODY>
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<CENTER><H1>GRUB -- GRand Unified Bootloader</H1></CENTER>
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<CENTER><H3>version 0.5</H3></CENTER>
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<CENTER><H3>by
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<A HREF=http://www.uruk.org/~erich/>Erich Boleyn</A></H3></CENTER>
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<HR>
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<H2>Master Contents</H2>
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Some of these contents are included in other pages.<P>
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<UL>
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<LI> <A HREF="#intro">Introduction</A>
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<LI> <A HREF="#thanks">Thanks To</A>
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<LI> <A HREF="#status">Distribution and Status</A>
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<LI> <A HREF=using.html>Using GRUB</A>
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<LI> <A HREF=install.html>Installation</A>
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<LI> <A HREF=errors.html>GRUB Error Messages</A>
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<LI> <A HREF=technical.html>Technical Info</A>
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<LI> <A HREF=faq.html>GRUB FAQ</A>
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</UL>
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<B>NOTE</B>: Up-to-date versions of this documentation directory can
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be found at
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<A HREF=http://www.uruk.org/grub/>http://www.uruk.org/grub/</A>. The
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specifics might be for a newer version of the program, so check the
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<A HREF=http://www.uruk.org/grub/NEWS>online NEWS file</A> for details
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about the differences.<P>
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<HR>
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<H2><A NAME="intro">Introduction</A></H2>
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GRUB is an attempt to produce a bootloader for IBM PC-compatible machines
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that has both the capability to be friendly to beginning or
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otherwise non-technically
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interested users and the flexibility to help experts in diverse
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environments. It is currently most useful for users of at least
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one of the various free UNIX-like operating systems, though it can
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be used with most any PC operating system.<P>
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This project actually started because we wanted to boot the
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<A HREF=http://www.cs.pdx.edu/~trent/gnu/hurd/>GNU HURD</A>
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operating system on top of
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<A HREF=http://www.cs.utah.edu/projects/flux/mach4/html/Mach4-proj.html>
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Mach4</A> on an IBM PC-compatible system in a manner compliant
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with the <A HREF=boot-proposal.html>Multiboot Standard</A>, which
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was put together as a general solution to the problem of the different
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boot formats and the functionality they need.
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I then tried to add support for the extra functionality to the
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standard bootloader used for FreeBSD. The number of things I had to do
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to get it all to work multiplied until it was obviously necessary to
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start from scratch with something different.<P>
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GRUB has evolved a long way from it's beginnings as a multi-module
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bootloader. Several
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of the techniques used have no analogue in the rest of the free
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software world, and a few are apparently superior to most proprietary OSes
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as well.
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The documentation here and in the multiboot proposal should be very
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useful to prospective OS and bootloader writers for PCs.<P>
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The name comes from the acronym, but also from the realization that although
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a grub is one of the smaller (and less interesting) critters - barely worthy
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of notice - it is nearly ubiquitous and vital to the order of things.<P>
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<HR>
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<H2><A NAME="thanks">Thanks To</A></H2>
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<UL>
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<LI><B>Members of the Multiboot e-mail list and Bryan Ford
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(baford@cs.utah.edu)</B> -- for all the multiboot discussion
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and OS code to test with.<P>
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<LI><B>VaX#n8 (vax@linkdead.paranoia.com)</B> -- for testing feedback plus the
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initial implementation for the ext2fs filesystem.<P>
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<LI><B>Miles Bader (miles@gnu.ai.mit.edu)</B> -- for testing feedback.<P>
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<LI><B>Eric Hanchrow (erich@microsoft.com)</B> -- for interstate remote
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debugging by hand.<P>
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<LI><B>Gord Matzigkeit (gord@enci.ucalgary.ca)</B> -- for lots of
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testing feedback.<P>
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<LI><B>Heiko Schroeder (heiko@pool.informatik.rwth-aachen.de)</B> -- for
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a re-writing stage1 to be much more readable, plus several patches.<P>
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</UL>
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<HR>
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<H2><A NAME="status">Distribution and Status</A></H2>
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GRUB is currently available under the
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<A HREF=COPYING>GNU General Public License</A>.
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This should not be an issue for OS developers or users who dislike
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the terms of the GPL, as it is a separate package, and will not
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have any licensing impact upon their own work or installation.
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If it is still an issue,
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<A HREF=mailto:erich@uruk.org>send me e-mail</A> and maybe we can
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work something out.<P>
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The publically available releases are available on my
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<A HREF=ftp://ftp.uruk.org/public/grub/>FTP site</A>, and I
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believe they will get included in the GNU FTP sites as well.<P>
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Here are links to the <A HREF=NEWS>NEWS file</A>,
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<A HREF=TODO>TODO list</A>, and list of <A HREF=BUGS>known BUGS</A>.<P>
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<HR>
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<A HREF=mailto:erich@uruk.org><I>erich@uruk.org</I></A><P>
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