setboot(1M)

NAME

setboot — display and modify boot variables in stable storage

SYNOPSIS

/usr/sbin/setboot [-p primary-path] [-a alternate-path] [-b on|off]

DESCRIPTION

The setboot command displays and sets boot variables in stable storage (also known as nonvolatile memory). Any user can display the values; only a superuser can change them.

On all systems, the variables are: primary path, alternate path, and autoboot flag.

With no options, setboot displays the current values for the primary and alternate boot paths and the autoboot flag.

Options

The setboot command supports the following options:

(none): Display the current values for the primary and alternate boot paths and the autoboot and autosearch flags. See example 2 in the "EXAMPLES: General" section.
-p primary-path: Set the primary boot path variable to primary-path. See ioscan(1M) for the correct format.
-a alternate-path: Set the alternate boot path variable to alternate-path. See ioscan(1M) for the correct format.
-b on|off: Enable or disable the autoboot sequence.

RETURN VALUE

The setboot command returns one of:

0: Successful completion
1: Failure

DIAGNOSTICS

The setboot command returns the following error messages:

" bootpath " is not a proper bootpath

The boot path bootpath is not in correct format. See ioscan(1M) for the proper hardware path format.

cannot open /dev/kepd - message

setboot cannot open the kernel pseudo driver file /dev/kepd. The message explains why.

cannot set autoboot/autosearch flags

The autoboot or autosearch flag could not be set.

cannot set type boot path

setboot can't set the specified boot path. type may be primary or alternate.

error accessing boot path - message

The message explains why. For example, you may not have permission (not be superuser) to change parameters.

error accessing firmware - message

The firmware could not be read or written. The message explains why.

Invalid Arguments Passed to the invoked PDC routine

This is an internal error.

EXAMPLES

1.

Set the primary path to 2/4.1.0 and enable the autoboot sequence:

setboot -p 2/4.1.0 -b on

2.

Display the boot paths and auto flags:

setboot

displays

    Primary bootpath : 2/0/1.6.0 
    Alternate bootpath : 2/0/2.0.0 

    Autoboot is ON (enabled) 

WARNINGS

The setboot command fails under the following circumstances:

The number of writes to the stable storage exceeds the number allowed by the architecture implementation.
Hardware failure.
The implementation does not have memory for the alternate boot path, in which case, this variable is neither readable nor writable.

The SpeedyBoot firmware and software extensions allow a superuser to control which firmware tests are executed by the system during the boot process. SpeedyBoot is not available on the first release of HP-UX for the IA architecture.

AUTHOR

setboot was developed by HP.

FILES

/dev/kepd: Special device file used by the setboot command.