Home modified by Etienne LORRAIN

Etienne LORRAIN — Thu, 07 Feb 2019 03:47:12 -0000
--- v1
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-This is the default page, edit it as you see fit. To add a new page simply reference it within brackets, e.g.: [SamplePage].
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-[[project_admins]]
-[[download_button]]
+
+
+
+
+<title>Gujin boot/Linux/system loader</title>
+<meta content="program to start your PC and run Linux, Windows, *BSD from floppies, CDROMs, DVDs, hard disks..." name="Description">
+<meta content="MBR bootloader bootmanager fdisk partition real-mode GCC Linux" name="Keywords">
+
+
+
+
+ Gujin is hosted by
+
+
+
+Version v2.8.5
+
+
+
+What is Gujin
+
+How to install
+
+Documentation
+
+Screen shoots
+
+
+Donate to gujin boot/system loader  
+
+
+
+
+What is Gujin
+
+Here is the description you can find at
+ Freshmeat:
+

+Gujin is a PC boot loader which can analyze your partitions and filesystems.

+It finds the Linux kernel images available, as well as other bootable
+partitions (for *BSD, MS-DOS, Windows, etc.), files (*.kgz) and bootable
+disk images (*.bdi), and displays a graphical menu for selecting which
+system to boot.

+Gujin boots Linux kernel using the documented interface, like LILO and GRUB,
+so it doesn't need any other pre-installed bootloader. It can also directly
+load gzip'ed ELF32 or ELF64 files, with a simple interface to collect
+real-mode BIOS data.
+There is no need to execute anything after making a new kernel: just copy
+the kernel image file into the "/boot" directory, with a standard name.

+Gujin is written almost entirely in C with GCC, and it fully executes in
+real mode to be as compatible as possible.
+
+
+
+
+And here is Gujin's  OSDev Wiki,
+and Linux Wiki. 
+
+A patch which has never been merged due to lack of interest, and would solve the "ISO not able to locate its own "source" iso file", valid for most distributions:
+Casper Gujin patch.
+
+
+
+You can download the source code (you will need also gcc-4.5.1/gmp-5.0.1/mpfr-2.4.2/mpc-0.8.1/binutils-2.20.1
+to get the same binaries), download the pre-compiled pack for installation, the RPM or DEB packages
+(generated by the distribution toolchain), and/or the precompiled standard/debug executable in
+ here.
+
+
+
+If you have any question about Gujin, please ask them on a public list/forum
+(the ones on sourceforge
+should do the job, or use the list "gujin-users" at "lists.sourceforge.net" if you do not want to register SourceForge),
+I simply cannot find the time to answer same questions by E-mail more than once, and then spend time to write FAQs.
+Why Ask Questions in Public?
+
+
+
+Free advertisement
+
+Want to do something your grandchildrens will thank you for?

+STOP eating fish! See The End Of The Line DVD.

+
+
+
+Do not forget the other freedom, The Freedom of Information.

+Your Right To Know for U.K., read the book!
+Or freedominfo.org for other countries.

+The day I support Europe institutions is the day they enforce a strong Freedom of Information Act, see 
+RMR.

+
+
+
+
+How to install
+
+The number of choices seems to be a problem for new users, because the installer tries to
+support every possible need - but it is in fact quite simple.
+Install as the main bootloader of a PC:
+
Then, use the Gujin package (.deb/.rpm) and your package manager. For instance
+on debian, right-click on the .deb file and select "Open with GDebi", or type "dpkg -i gujin*.deb".

+For Fedora, you can type "yum localinstall gujin*.rpm".
+This method also handle upgrading Gujin, by uninstalling the previous version and
+installing the new one. Unlike the Grub package, you can safely uninstall the Gujin
+package and your system will stay bootable using the bootloader which was previously
+installed.

+Because the upgrading method uninstall the previous version (and restore the previous
+bootloader) and then install the new version, you always keep the initial bootloader
+ready if you want to get rid of Gujin.

+The Gujin installer may create the file /boot/gujin.cmd if it detects
+special booting options in /proc/cmdline. See file gujin.cmd
+in install*.tar.gz for real world examples.
+
+For all other choices, you need to execute the Gujin installer as root in a console.

+To get that executable, you either install the package as previously, or copy the
+executable from the file install*.tar.gz in the /sbin directory.
+If you install manually, also copy the manual file gujin.8 in /usr/share/man/man8/.

+If you want to have the Gujin package installed (to access /sbin/gujin installer) but
+keep Grub/LILO as your main bootloader, just type:
+/sbin/gujin --remove /boot/gujin.ebios after installing the package.

+If you want to know which bootloader is currently installed in a device, just type:
+/sbin/gujin --report /dev/sda
+
+Install on a USB hard disk, USB stick or a SD-card which is currently mounted on /media/usbdisk:
+
just type: /sbin/gujin /media/usbdisk/gujin.ebios
+
+Install on a USB hard disk, and format that device:
+
The main advantage of formating (to FAT) the device is that the complete
+content is written to known values, the device will be able to boot on BIOS which
+are more buggy. Other advantage is that the FAT filesystem is created to have
+aligned data blocks in all cases, so should be quicker to use.

+To install that way, you have first to backup all the files you want to keep (they
+will all be erased), locate and unmount that device (should be something like
+/dev/sdX with X being a letter), remove all
+partitions of that device (gparted or fdisk) and then type:
+/sbin/gujin --mbr /dev/sdX

+
+Install on a USB stick or a SD-card (as superfloppy), and format that device:
+
Even if those devices can be treated as USB hard disk like the precedent choice,
+most have the "removable" bit set in their USB description and will boot with more
+BIOS if they do not have any partition defined, like a floppy disk.

+To install that way, you have first to backup all the files you want to keep (they
+will all be erased), locate and unmount that device (should be something like
+/dev/sdX with X being a letter), check that
+the device do not have any partition defined, and then type:
+/sbin/gujin /dev/sdX
+
+Install a minimalistic bootloader on a PC with a single Linux distribution
+
If you have a PC with a single disk and a single Linux distribution on an
+ext2/3/4 filesystem, there is no need to have a full menu, or even a menu at all.
+You can install by:

+/sbin/gujin -t tinyext4.bin /boot/minigujin.ebios

+At boot, Gujin will search for the newest kernel (by modification date) and
+load it without any question.

+The Linux parameters can be written inside /boot/minigujin.ebios with
+the --cmdline='' parameters, or be written in the /boot/gujin.cmd file.
+If the newest kernel has a problem, you can interrupt its load (and so load
+an older kernel) by pressing Control-Break.
+
Install as the El-Torito bootloader of a live CDROM/DVD
+
Just use the provided gujin.bcd in install*.tar.gz as your El-Torito
+boot file, or the file minigujin.bcd if you do not want any menu.

+You can regenerate those two *.bcd file, for instance to add a command
+line (if not using /boot/gujin.cmd) by:

+/sbin/gujin gujin.bcd --cmdline=""

+/sbin/gujin -t minigujin.bcd --stop_emulation=2 --cmdline=""
+
+There is a lot of other options to /sbin/gujin, but they are
+not needed in the general case, and you should ignore them if its is the first
+time you are trying the Gujin bootloader.
+
+
+
+
+Documentation
+
+
+The documentation (FAQ & HowTo) is in file README.htm in the source tar file.

+Gujin also has its "man" page in section 8: "man 8 gujin"

+Note also the file "install.txt" and the help given by --help/-h option of the
+"gujin" and "gzcopy" software included.
+
+
+You basically have three flavour of the same Gujin bootloader, pre-compiled
+inside the "gujin" installer executable for ease of use:
+
+the standard one (around 330 Kbytes) supports everything, it can be
+  transformed by the "gujin" installer into a DOS program, a floppy, a partition,
+  a full disk image, or inserted into an ISO image, and it displays a complete menu.

+
+  The "gujin" installer uses this standard bootloader if the "-t" option is not given,
+  and (try to) autodetect the intended format of the output using the filename
+  extension or the characteristics of the device.

+  Just type one of those in a Linux console (insert parameter --lang=fr for french version):
+
+
+
./gujin /boot/gujin.ebios  # install the second stage in contiguous file /boot/gujin.ebios and update the MBR (RAID still not supported)
+
./gujin gujin.exe      # for DOS executable
+
./gujin eltoritobootableimage.iso # to be able to copy that image to SD card or USB drive
+
./gujin boot.144 --full    # For 1.44 Mb floppy image, for instance use with "mkisoimage -b boot.144", see Makefile target CD144FD
+
./gujin gujin.bcd      # For Bootable CD in no emulation mode, use with "mkisoimage -no-emul-boot -boot-load-size 4 -b gujin.bcd"
+
./gujin /dev/fd0       # autodetect the floppy in /dev/fd0 and format a new FAT12 with Gujin
+
./gujin /dev/hdg3  # format a Gujin-bootable FAT16/32 filesystem on /dev/hdg3; this partition needs to be activated by the MBR (MBR is not modified)
+
./gujin --mbr /dev/sda11   # format a Gujin-bootable FAT16/32 filesystem on /dev/sda11 and replace the code of the MBR to run Gujin from /dev/sda11 (keeping the partition table)
+
./gujin /dev/sda0  # install Gujin into a B.E.E.R partition at end of the disk /dev/sda (needs empty space there) and set the MBR (keeping the partition table)
+

+
+ The uninstall method (i.e. replacing the MBR with the original one) is handled by Gujin itself in its
+ setup menu at boot time, but if you have used the "contiguous file method" (i.e. /boot/gujin.ebios) you
+ can also desinstall by "./gujin --remove=/boot/gujin.ebios".

+ You can get some information on your installed bootloader using "./gujin --report=/dev/sda".

+
+
+ If you want to format the complete disk (i.e. erase/initialise the MBR and the partition table), for instance
+ to create a bootable USB drive, you have to umount and manually clear first the beginning of the device by:

+ 
+umount /dev/sdg*

+dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sdg bs=512 count=63     # triple check the output device of= parameter!!!

+
+And then invoke ./gujin to create either a disk image or a floppy image (with or without partition table):

+ 
+./gujin /dev/sdg --disk=BIOS:0x00,auto # (super)floppy image

+./gujin /dev/sdg --disk=BIOS:0x80,auto --mbr  # disk image

+ 
+If your PC BIOS is new enough to support the Extended BIOS interface on USB disks, you can
+forget the parameter "--disk=BIOS:0x?0,auto", the installer will defaults to "--disk=EBIOS:0x?0,auto".

+Laptops like DELL PRECISION M70 will not boot if "--disk=BIOS:" is used (i.e. Extended BIOS only), netbook like EeePc will not boot
+if "--disk=EBIOS:" is used (i.e. BIOS only for USB keys).

+
+ If the only machine you can boot (after a disaster day) is a windows machine and you need a bootable
+floppy/USB stick as soon as possible, you can get file boot.144 or USB*Gb.img in install.tar.gz and get
+dd for windows
+ (documentation).

+You then type dd --list to list all drives available on your PC, look for "Removable media"
+on this list, you should have something like:

+
+\\?\Device\Harddisk9\Partition0
+  link to \\?\Device\Harddisk9\DR36
+  Removable media other than floppy. Block size = 512
+  size is 1048576000 bytes
+
+Where Partition0 means the whole disk. Check that by unplugging the USB stick, the corresponding entry disappear.

+Then backup any important file on that USB disk, they will be deleted.

+Then type in a console, if your USB key has a capacity of 1 Gbyte (you probably need administrator priviledge):

++dd if=..\USB1Gb.img of=\\?\Device\Harddisk9\Partition0 --progress
+
+Take extreme care in selecting the right disk: it will destroy every files on that disk, if you have
+selected the wrong disk there isn't any recovery possible (never ever select a fixed hard disk),
+your windows PC would never boot again.

+Once the copy is done, remove and re-insert the USB stick, you should see a new disk with a single file named boot-ebi.sys.

+That method is not the best way to initialise a USB thumb drive because you will lose some of its capacity
+(USB*Gb.img are pre-made images for 1,000,000,000 bytes and multiple thereof), all your USB drives will have the
+same disk identifier, it will not boot if your BIOS do not support EBIOS for USB drives, but if you just have windows...

+
+
+
+To use the target "eltoritobootableimage.iso", you just need a bootable ISO image like ubuntu-9.10-desktop-i386.iso.

+If that image is written in a USB thumb drive like "cat ubuntu-9.10-desktop-i386.iso > /dev/sdc ; sync", it will not
+produce a bootable USB thumb drive. Moreover, some PC (like my EeePc) do not accept to boot a USB device
+if a partition table is present, so most of the usual methods found on Internet to create a bootable USB drive do not
+work (on my EeePc).

+The solution is simple, just type "./gujin ubuntu-9.10-desktop-i386.iso", it will modify the file ubuntu-9.10-desktop-i386.iso
+so that you can do "cat ubuntu-9.10-desktop-i386.iso > /dev/sdc ; sync" and have a bootable USB disk.

+The modifications are just changing the first 512 bytes of ubuntu-9.10-desktop-i386.iso, and add a very small
+FAT12 filesystem at the end, so the modified file ubuntu-9.10-desktop-i386.iso is still a valid ISO image and can
+be written to a DVD and that does not affect El-Torito booting. The modifications are reversible by "--remove=" parameter.

+
+
+  The "gujin" installer has a lot of options (seen by typing "./gujin -ha"), for instance the --full option for floppies
+  and the -w option to have a verbose  installation, the --read_retry, --cmdline="", --single_sector_load,
+  --partition_index=[1-4]... parameters.

+  The "gujin" installer produces the file "/boot/gujin.cmd" when it detects that command line parameters are
+  needed by the Linux kernel, reading file "/proc/cmdline". You can review that file and edit as needed.

+  Note also some binary debug versions of file "boot.bin" which can be transformed
+  into dbgdisk.exe, dbgfs.exe, dbgload.exe... for debugging (creates a file named "DBG" when
+  run under DOS - the file needs to be closed properly, for instance type ^C).
+
+

+
+  the size optimised (50 Kbytes), DOS only version does not have
+  a menu, is regenerated by "./gujin -t mingujin.exe", and it has to be used like:
+
+
mingujin.exe D:\boot\vmlinuz D:\boot\initrd root=/dev/hda3 <other kernel parameters>
+

+  or (the "initrd=" parameter has to follow the kernel name, always as 2nd parameter):
+
+
mingujin.exe D:\boot\vmlinuz initrd=D:\boot\initrd root=/dev/hda3 <other kernel parameters>
+

+  If you do not have an initial RAM disk to load, either use a minus "-" sign or use
+  a parameter which cannot be a filename because it contains an equal "=" sign:
+
+
mingujin.exe D:\boot\vmlinuz - root=/dev/hdb5 <other kernel parameters>
+

+  The <kernel parameters> needs at least a "root=/dev/hd..." parameter,
+  this flavour will not try to probe anything, and return to DOS if an
+  error happens before Linux takes control of the PC.

+  Obviously, the kernel and initrd files have to be accessible by DOS, that mingujin.exe do
+  not have the filesystem detection functions at all.

+  You can display a list of possible parameter for your VESA video card to switch to
+  a VESA mode with "mingujin.exe /V" or "mingujin.exe -V", and set it (first parameter only)
+  like "mingujin /V=1024x768x32 c:vmlinuz ...".
+
+

+
+  the size optimised (80 Kbytes), floppy only version to be used like:
+
+
./gujin -t tinystd.bin /dev/fd0
+
mcopy vmlinuz-2.6.10 a:
+
mcopy initrd-2.6.10 a:
+
mdir a:
+

+  And then reboot by Control-Alt-Del or a power cycle. It should load the
+  kernel and the initrd and start Linux.

+  You can replace file tinystd.bin by tinyusb.bin when the device has partitions (like
+  when using --mbr-device=) to load the first kernel+initrd in the booted device with FAT filesystem,
+  and use ./gujin "--cmdline=" parameter to set the command line.

+  You can replace file tinystd.bin by tinyext4.bin for ext2/3/4fs partitions.

+  You can replace file boot.bin by tinycdrom.bin (with --stop_emulation=0) to load the first kernel+initrd
+  in the booted CDROM, and use ./gujin "--cmdline=" parameter to set the command line; see Makefile
+  target CDtiny for details.
 
+
+
+
+
+One of the problem of using Gujin is that there is only one command line editable and
+stored, so it is difficult to manage multiple distributions with different command lines.

+I have added a small executable named "gujin-cmdline" to insert an "embedded command line"
+into some free space of vmlinuz files (i.e. the end of the bootsector). The starting marker
+is simply "cmdline:" and the string has to be zero terminated, it has to be located below
+the first vmlinuz parameter. The maximum space there is currently 296 bytes.

+This embedded command line can only be edited under Linux, use as:

+./gujin-cmdline /boot/bzImage+2.6.24  # to display this embedded command line

+./gujin-cmdline /boot/bzImage+2.6.24 "root=/dev/sda6"  # to set it

+Gujin will erase this field from memory before running the kernel, so Linux will
+never see the difference. Other bootloaders will not see any difference neither.
+
+
+
+In short, to make all this possible, I wrote a GCC interface to the PC BIOS
+and all the library functions needed to easily boot a kernel.

+I also wrote a DOS interface to be used if you booted a rescue DOS floppy or
+if you choose "return to DOS" in Windows 3.x/9x. This DOS software should work
+everywhere but will not be able to start Linux in a Windows DOS box -
+you do not want to do that anyways (too many open files not properly closed, 
+so a scandisk at boot).

+I am using a completely re-written GZIP (decompression only) library, 100%
+compatible with
+ GZIP and 
+ zlib
+and a small Linux/UNIX "gzcopy" application to edit the comment field of
+GZIP files.

+The main reason for the rewrite is a smaller program size, it has been
+seriously tested (10 CD-ROM full of .tar.gz decompressed and CRC checked),
+but if anyone find a problem (else than CDROM not readable or a file
+renamed to *.gz after being compressed with another tool) I will be glad
+to hear from it.

+I am also using a completely re-written E2/3/4FS (read only, only fixed size inodes)
+library, a DOS FAT12/16/32 (read only) and a ISO9660 library to search for and load kernels;
+they have been tested extensively (E2FS, E3FS with 1 & 4 Kbytes blocks, lot of
+DOS filesystems, CDROM and DVDROM), no problem has been found.

+There isn't any NTFS nor CDROM/UDF support.

+The system to access the video interface, which can handle in graphic modes
+CGA/EGA only, VGA only, VESA1 only and VESA2+ video card is unique to Gujin.

+Four types of mouse are detected, for fun you can even have a joystick on
+a VT320 when using the serial interface - I have to make a screen shoot
+one day!

+The size of this bootloader (only one file) is in between 50 and 250 Kbytes,
+depending on the compile time options.
+
+
+Screen Shoots
+
+Screenshots are not easy to take in the real BIOS environment, but
+fortunately  DosEmu is here,
+to give you some idea of what you get, just before switching to graphic (if verbose mode is active):

+
+You should check at least once that this information is correct, for instance note
+that here, I have a partition 45667938 sectors (i.e. 21 Gbytes) bigger than the filesystem
+it contains (a 22 Gbytes partition where I copied the Damn Small Linux bootable
+CDROM by "cat /dev/cdrom ⊃ /dev/hda8" - obviouly a lot of wasted space for this
+100 Mb CDROM); you can then uncheck the "verbose" box in the setup screen for
+a "quick" boot.
+
+Just after switching to graphic, you will see something like this if you
+have a Linux distribution with a memtest floppy image and three kernels, a Redmond system,
+a CDROM image inside a partition, and the demo standalone *.kgz on a floppy:

+
+Then, if a mouse/joystick has been detected, you can click to one of the
+highlighted fields to either switch to another video mode or boot a kernel,
+else you can use the keyboard interface (keys '+', '-','/', '*' ... , and function keys).

+Note that those kernels have been found automagically, they are not described
+in any "/etc/gujin.conf" file: this file do not and will never exist.
+
+If you press "space" or the "setup" field (on the top right), you can
+setup the display and remove some fields (click on checkboxes):

+
+
+So you get by re-clicking setup or re-pressing space:

+
+
+The setup screen has a lot more checkboxes, to search kernel and/or MBR,
+to search on floppy disks or on BIOS disks or only on IDE...:

+
+
+To show a screenshot of Gujin menu with CDROM/DVDs, I need to use another
+emulator:  Bochs.

+This one is slower but simulate correctly the (first session only) of CDROMs.
+If you want to generate more complex CDROMs than this one, you should read the
+few commands lines of target "CDall" and/or "CD_BDI" in file Makefile.

+
+
+You can also change the language used at run time by typing
+Control T - look at "messages.h" file to help supporting/correcting
+your own language...

+
+
+At the end (press the end key or click on the button) you get some
+command, last one being "uninstall" to remove Gujin and restore the
+old boot process. Here, that option is not enabled because dosemu
+has booted from a floppy, so there isn't any saved boot sector:

+
+
+You can also get more unusual video modes, like text mode 40x25:

+
+16 colors video modes in VGA only graphic:

+
+or even 4 colors video modes (2 Bit Per Pixel but in dosemu):

+
+Yes, that is the same software, the same floppy!
+
+By the way, if you do, on a test floppy:
+
+
./gujin --full /dev/fd0 --serial=com1,9600,n,8,1
+

+put this floppy in the PC to boot, and link the two PCs by
+a crossed serial line (fully wired null-modem) (with or without
+two modems and a phone line in between), you can type:

+
+The "serial initialisation failed" is due to no answer
+received whatsoever when interrogating the terminal type - Gujin then
+assumes a monochrome VT100 terminal. If you have a more powerful
+terminal, like a color VT430, or a VT420 which can do 132 columns
+and 48 lines, be sure to connect it before the identification code is asked
+(physical terminal autodetection).
+You can start minicom/GtkTerm/PuTTY and set it to /dev/ttyS0, 9600 bauds,
+no parity 8 bits, no hardware flow control and get:

+
+Active/clickable fields are underlined, as usual.
+Selecting a kernel will really boot it (you will have the console
+on your serial line) - you will need to setup getty to accept connection
+on serial line (in /etc/inittab) if you want to connect (see also /etc/securetty).
+
+Have fun!
+
+
+Comments to Etienne Lorrain.

+
+
+Donate to gujin boot/system loader  
+
+
+
+
+Last modified 2010-12-03
+
+
+
+
+ Gujin is hosted by
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
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