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documentation.suse.com / Documentation de SUSE Linux Enterprise Server / AutoYaST / Advanced Linuxrc Options
Applies to SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 12 SP5

C Advanced Linuxrc Options

Linuxrc is a program used for setting up the kernel for installation purposes. It allows the user to load modules, start an installed system, a rescue system or an installation via YaST.

Linuxrc is designed to be as small as possible. Therefore, all needed programs are linked directly into one binary. So there is no need for shared libraries in the init disk.

Note
Note: Running Linuxrc on an Installed System

If you run Linuxrc on an installed system, it will work slightly differently so as not to destroy your installation. As a consequence you cannot test all features this way.

C.1 Passing parameters to Linuxrc

Unless Linuxrc is in manual mode, it will look for an info file in these locations: first /info on the flash disk and if that does not exist, for /info in the initrd. After that it parses the kernel command line for parameters. You may change the info file Linuxrc reads by setting the info command line parameter. If you do not want Linuxrc to read the kernel command line (for example because you need to specify a kernel parameter that Linuxrc recognizes as well), use linuxrc=nocmdline.

Linuxrc will always look for and parse a file /linuxrc.config. Use this file to change default values if you need to. In general, it is better to use the info file instead. Note that /linuxrc.config is read before any info file, even in manual mode.

C.2 info file format

Lines starting with # are comments, valid entries are of the form:

key: value

Note that value extends to the end of the line and therefore may contain spaces. key is matched case-insensitive.

You can use the same key-value pairs on the kernel command line using the syntax key=value. Lines that do not have the form described above are ignored.

The table below lists important keys and example values. For a complete list of linuxrc parameters refer to https://en.opensuse.org/SDB:Linuxrc.

Table C.1:
Table C.2: Advanced linuxrc keywords

Keyword: Example Value

Description

addswap: 0|3|/dev/sda5

If 0, never ask for swap; if the argument is a positive number n, activate the n'th swap partition; if the argument is a partition name, activate this swap partition.

autoyast: ftp://AUTOYASTFILE

Location of the auto installation file; activates auto installation mode. See AutoYaST Control File Locations for details.

bootptimeout: 10

10 seconds timeout for BOOTP requests.

bootpwait: 5

Sleep 5 seconds between network activation and starting bootp.

display: color|mono|alt

Set the menu color scheme.

exec: COMMAND

Run command.

forceinsmod: 0|1

Use the -f option (force) when running insmod commands.

forcerootimage: 0|1

Load the installation system into RAM disk.

ifcfg: NETWORK_CONFIGURATION

Set up and start the network. See Section C.3, “Advanced Network Setup” for more information.

insmod: MODULE

Load MODULE.

install: URL

Install from the repository specified with URL. For the syntax of URL refer to https://en.opensuse.org/SDB:Linuxrc#url_descr.

keytable: de-lat1-nd

Virtual console keyboard map to load.

language: de_DE

Language preselected for the installation.

loghost: 10.10.0.22

Enable remote logging via syslog.

memloadimage: 50000

Load installation system into RAM disk if free memory is above 50000 KB.

memlimit: 10000

Ask for swap if free memory drops below 10000 KB.

memYaST: 20000

Run YaST in text mode if free memory is below 20000 KB.

memYaSTText: 10000

Ask for swap before starting YaST if free memory is below 10000 KB.

proxy: 10.10.0.1

Proxy (either FTP or HTTP).

rescue: 1|nfs://server/dir

Load the rescue system; the URL variant specifies the location of the rescue image explicitly.

rescueimage: /suse/images/rescue

Location of the rescue system image.

rootimage: /suse/images/root

Location of the installation system image.

textmode: 1

Start YaST in text mode.

usbwait: 4

Wait 4 seconds after loading the USB modules.

y2confirm

Overrides the confirm parameter in a control file and requests confirmation of installation proposal.

C.3 Advanced Network Setup

Even if parameters like hostip, nameserver, and gateway are passed to linuxrc, the network is only started when it is needed (for example, when installing via SSH or VNC). Since autoyast is not a linuxrc parameter (this parameter is ignored by linuxrc and only passed to YaST), the network will not be started automatically when specifying a remote location for the AutoYaST profile.

Therefore the network needs to be started explicitly. This used to be done with the linuxrc parameter netsetup. Starting with SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 12, the parameter ifcfg is available. It offers more configuration options, for example configuring more than one interface. ifcfg directly controls the content of the /etc/sysconfig/network/ifcfg-* files.

DHCP Network Configuration

The general syntax to configure DHCP is

 ifcfg=INTERFACE=DHCP*,OPTION1=VALUE1,OPTION2=VALUE2

where INTERFACE is the interface name, for example eth0, or eth* for all interfaces. DHCP* can either be dhcp (IPv4 and IPv6), dhcp4, or dhcp6.

To set up DHCP for eth0 use:

ifcfg=eth0=dhcp

To set up DHCP on all interfaces use:

ifcfg=eth*=dhcp
Static Network Configuration

The general syntax to configure a static network is

ifcfg=INTERFACE=IP_LIST,GATEWAY_LIST,NAMESERVER_LIST,DOMAINSEARCH_LIST,\
OPTION1=value1,...

where INTERFACE is the interface name, for example eth0. If using eth*, the first device available will be used. The other parameters need to be replaced with the respective values in the given order. Example:

ifcfg=eth0=192.168.2.100/24,192.168.5.1,192.168.1.116,example.com

When specifying multiple addresses for a parameter, use spaces to separate them and quote the complete string. The following example uses two name servers and a search list containing two domains.

ifcfg="eth0=192.168.2.100/24,192.168.5.1,192.168.1.116 192.168.1.117,example.com example.net"

For more information refer to https://en.opensuse.org/SDB:Linuxrc#Network_Configuration.