term% cat index.txt PLAN9.INI(8) System Manager's Manual PLAN9.INI(8)
NAME
plan9.ini - configuration file primarily for PCs
SYNOPSIS
none
DESCRIPTION
When booting Plan 9 on a PC, the bootstrap programs described in
9boot(8) first read, via TFTP or a FAT filesystem on the boot disk, a
file containing configuration information. This file, /cfg/pxe/hex-
digits (TFTP; see 9boot(8)) or plan9.ini (FAT), looks like a shell
script containing lines of the form
name=value
each of which defines a kernel or device parameter.
Blank lines and Carriage Returns (\r) are ignored. # comments are ig‐
nored, but are only recognised if appears at the start of a line.
For devices, the generic format of value is
type=TYPE [port=N] [irq=N] [mem=N] [size=N] [dma=N] [ea=N]
specifying the controller type, the base I/O port of the interface, its
interrupt level, the physical starting address of any mapped memory,
the length in bytes of that memory, the DMA channel, and for Ethernets
an override of the physical network address. Not all elements are rel‐
evant to all devices; the relevant values and their defaults are de‐
fined below in the description of each device.
The file is used by the bootstrap programs and the kernel to configure
the hardware available, although nowadays the kernel can usually detect
the attached hardware by itself. The information it contains is also
passed to the boot process, and subsequently other programs, as envi‐
ronment variables (see boot(8)). However, values whose names begin
with an asterisk are used by the kernel and are stored in rather than
The following sections describe how variables are used.
ETHERNET
etherX=value
This defines an Ethernet interface. X, a unique monotonically increas‐
ing number beginning at 0, identifies an Ethernet card to be probed at
system boot. Probing stops when a card is found or there is no line
for etherX+1. After probing as directed by the etherX lines, any re‐
maining Ethernet cards that can be automatically detected are added.
Almost all cards can be automatically detected. For debugging pur‐
poses, automatic probing can be disabled by specifying the line
Many cards are software configurable and do not require all options.
Unspecified options default to the factory defaults.
Known TYPEs are
igbe The Intel 8254X Gigabit Ethernet controllers, as found on the
Intel PRO/1000 adapters for copper (not fiber). Completely con‐
figurable.
igbepcie
The Intel 8256[36], 8257[12], and 82573[ev] Gigabit Ethernet
PCI-Express controllers. Completely configurable.
rtl8169
The Realtek 8169 Gigabit Ethernet controller. Completely con‐
figurable.
ga620 Netgear GA620 and GA620T Gigabit Ethernet cards, and other cards
using the Alteon Acenic chip such as the Alteon Acenic fiber and
copper cards, the DEC DEGPA-SA and the SGI Acenic. Completely
configurable.
dp83820
National Semiconductor DP83820-based Gigabit Ethernet adapters,
notably the D-Link DGE-500T. Completely configurable.
vgbe The VIA Velocity Gigabit Ethernet controller. Known to drive
the VIA8237 (ABIT AV8), but at 100Mb/s full-duplex only.
m10g The Myricom 10-Gigabit Ethernet 10G-PCIE-8A controller. Com‐
pletely configurable.
i82598 The Intel 8259[89] 10-Gigabit Ethernet PCI-Express controllers.
Completely configurable.
i82557 Cards using the Intel 8255[789] Fast Ethernet PCI Bus LAN Con‐
troller such as the Intel EtherExpress PRO/100B. Completely
configurable, no options need be given. If you need to force
the media, specify one of the options (no value) 10BASE-T,
10BASE-2, 10BASE-5, 100BASE-TX, 10BASE-TFD, 100BASE-TXFD,
100BASE-T4, 100BASE-FX, or 100BASE-FXFD. Completely config‐
urable.
2114x Cards using the Digital Equipment (now Intel) 2114x PCI Fast
Ethernet Adapter Controller, for example the Netgear FA310.
Completely configurable, no options need be given. Media can be
specified the same was as for the i82557. Some cards using the
PNIC and PNIC2 near-clone chips may also work.
83815 National Semiconductor DP83815-based adapters, notably the Net‐
gear FA311, Netgear FA312, and various SiS built-in controllers
such as the SiS900. On the SiS controllers, the Ethernet ad‐
dress is not detected properly; specify it with an ea= at‐
tribute. Completely configurable.
rtl8139
The Realtek 8139 Fast Ethernet controller. Completely config‐
urable.
vt6102 The VIA VT6102 Fast Ethernet Controller (Rhine II).
vt6105m
The VIA VT6105M Fast Ethernet Controller (Rhine III).
smc91cxx
SMC 91cXX chip-based PCMCIA adapters, notably the SMC EtherEZ
card.
elnk3 The 3COM Etherlink III series of cards including the 5x9, 59x,
and 905 and 905B. Completely configurable, no options need be
given. The media may be specified by setting media= to the
value 10BaseT, 10Base2, 100BaseTX, 100BaseFX, aui, and mii. If
you need to force full duplex, because for example the Ethernet
switch does not negotiate correctly, just name the word (no
value) fullduplex or 100BASE-TXFD. Similarly, to force 100Mbit
operation, specify force100. Port 0x110 is used for the little
ISA configuration dance.
3c589 The 3COM 3C589 series PCMCIA cards, including the 3C562 and the
589E. There is no support for the modem on the 3C562. Com‐
pletely configurable, no options need be given. Defaults are
port=0x240 irq=10
The media may be specified as media=10BaseT or media=10Base2.
ec2t The Linksys Combo PCMCIA EthernetCard (EC2T), EtherFast 10/100
PCMCIA cards (PCMPC100) and integrated controllers (PCM100), the
Netgear FA410TX 10/100 PCMCIA card and the Accton EtherPair-PCM‐
CIA (EN2216). Completely configurable, no options need be
given. Defaults are
port=0x300 irq=9
These cards are NE2000 clones. Other NE2000 compatible PCMCIA
cards may be tried with the option
id=string
where string is a unique identifier string contained in the at‐
tribute memory of the card (see pcmcia(8)); unlike most options
in plan9.ini, this string is case-sensitive. The option dum‐
myrr=[01] can be used to turn off (0) or on (1) a dummy remote
read in the driver in such cases, depending on how NE2000 com‐
patible they are.
ne2000 Not software configurable iff ISA; PCI clones or supersets are
software configurable; includes the Realtek 8029 clone used by
Parallels. 16-bit card. Defaults are
port=0x300 irq=2 mem=0x04000 size=0x4000
The option (no value) nodummyrr is needed on some (near) clones
to turn off a dummy remote read in the driver.
amd79c970
The AMD PCnet PCI Ethernet Adapter (AM79C970). (This is the
Ethernet adapter used by VMware.) Completely configurable, no
options need be given.
wd8003 Includes WD8013 and SMC Elite and Elite Ultra cards. There are
varying degrees of software configurability. Cards may be in ei‐
ther 8-bit or 16-bit slots. Defaults are
port=0x280 irq=3 mem=0xD0000 size=0x2000
BUG: On many machines only the 16 bit card works.
sink A /dev/null for Ethernet packets — the interface discards sent
packets and never receives any. This is used to provide a test
bed for some experimental Ethernet bridging software.
wavelan
Lucent Wavelan (Orinoco) IEEE 802.11b and compatible PCMCIA
cards. Compatible cards include the Dell TrueMobile 1150 and
the Linksys Instant Wireless Network PC Card. Port and IRQ de‐
faults are 0x180 and 3 respectively.
These cards take a number of unique options to aid in identify‐
ing the card correctly on the 802.11b network. The network may
be ad hoc or managed (i.e. use an access point):
mode=[adhoc, managed]
and defaults to managed. The 802.11b network to attach to (man‐
aged mode) or identify as (ad hoc mode), is specified by
essid=string
and defaults to a null string. The card station name is given
by
station=string
and defaults to Plan 9 STA. The channel to use is given by
channel=number
where number lies in the range 1 to 16 inclusive; the channel is
normally negotiated automatically.
If the card is capable of encryption, the following options may
be used:
crypt=[off, on]
and defaults to on.
keyN=string
sets the encryption key N (where N is in the range 1 to 4 inclu‐
sive) to string; this will also set the transmit key to N (see
below). There are two formats for string which depend on the
length of the string. If it is exactly 5 or 13 characters long
it is assumed to be an alphanumeric key; if it is exactly 10 or
26 characters long the key is assumed to be in hex format (with‐
out a leading 0x). The lengths are checked, as is the format of
a hex key.
txkey=number
sets the transmit key to use to be number in the range 1 to 4
inclusive. If it is desired to exclude or include unencrypted
packets
clear=[off, on]
configures reception and defaults to inclusion.
The defaults are intended to match the common case of a managed
network with encryption and a typical entry would only require,
for example
essid=left-armpit key1=afish key2=calledraawaru
if the port and IRQ defaults are used. These options may be set
after boot by writing to the device's ctl file using a space as
the separator between option and value, e.g.
echo 'key2 1d8f65c9a52d83c8e4b43f94af' >/net/ether0/0/ctl
Card-specific power management may be enabled/disabled by
pm=[on, off]
wavelanpci
PCI Ethernet adapters that use the same Wavelan programming in‐
terface. Currently the only tested cards are those based on the
Intersil Prism 2.5 chipset.
DISKS, TAPES
(S)ATA controllers are autodetected.
usbX=type=uhci
usbX=type=ohci
usbX=type=ehci
This specifies the settings for a USB UHCI, OHCI or EHCI controller.
Like the Ethernet controllers, USB controllers are autodetected after
scanning for the ones listed in plan9.ini. Thus, most systems will not
need a usbX line. Also like the Ethernet controllers, USB autoprobing
can be disabled by specifying the line *nousbprobe=.
scsiX=value
This defines a SCSI interface which cannot be automatically detected by
the kernel.
Known TYPEs are
aha1542
Adaptec 154x series of controllers (and clones). Almost com‐
pletely configurable, only the
port=0x300
option need be given.
NCR/Symbios/LSI-Logic 53c8xx-based adapters and Mylex MultiMaster (Bus‐
logic BT-*) adapters are automatically detected and need no entries.
By default, the NCR 53c8xx driver searches for up to 32 controllers.
This can be changed by setting the variable *maxsd53c8xx.
By default the Mylex driver resets SCSI cards by using both the hard
reset and SCSI bus reset flags in the driver interface. If a variable
*noscsireset is defined, the SCSI bus reset flag is omitted.
aoeif=list
This specifies a space-separated list of Ethernet interfaces to be
bound at boot to the ATA-over-Ethernet driver, aoe(3). For example,
Only interfaces on this list will initially be accessible via AoE.
aoedev=e!#æ/aoe/shelf.slot
This specifies an ATA-over-Ethernet device accessible via the inter‐
faces named in aoeif on AoE shelf and slot to use as a root device for
bootstrapping.
AUDIO
audioX=value
This defines a pre-USB sound interface.
Known types are
sb16 Sound Blaster 16.
ess1688
A Sound Blaster clone.
The DMA channel may be any of 5, 6, or 7. The defaults are
port=0x220 irq=7 dma=5
Uarts
Plan 9 automatically configures COM1 and COM2, if found, as eia0 (port
0x3F8, IRQ4) and eia1 (port 0x2F8, IRQ3) respectively. These devices
can be disabled by adding a line:
eiaX=disabled
This is typically done in order to reuse the IRQ for another device.
Plan 9 used to support various serial concentrators, including the TTC
8 serial line card and various models in the Star Gate Avanstar series
of intelligent serial boards. These are no longer supported; the much
simpler Perle PCI-Fast4, PCI-Fast8, and PCI-Fast16 controllers have
taken their places. These latter cards are automatically detected and
need no configuration lines.
The line serial=type=com can be used to specify settings for a PCMCIA
modem.
mouseport=value
This specifies where the mouse is attached. Value can be
ps2 the PS2 mouse/keyboard port. The BIOS setup procedure should be
used to configure the machine appropriately.
ps2intellimouse
an Intellimouse on the PS2 port.
0 for COM1
1 for COM2
modemport=value
Picks the UART line to call out on. This is used when connecting to a
file server over an async line. Value is the number of the port.
console=value params
This is used to specify the console device. The default value is cga;
a number 0 or 1 specifies COM1 or COM2 respectively. A serial console
is initially configured with the uart(3) configuration string b9600 l8
pn s1, specifying 9600 baud, 8 bit bytes, no parity, and one stop bit.
If params is given, it will be used to further configure the uart. No‐
tice that there is no = sign in the params syntax. For example,
console=0 b19200 po
would use COM1 at 19,200 baud with odd parity.
PC CARD
pccard0=disabled
Disable probing for and automatic configuration of PC card controllers.
pcmciaX=type=XXX irq=irq
If the default IRQ for the PCMCIA is correct, this entry can be omit‐
ted. The value of type is ignored.
pcmcia0=disabled
Disable probing for and automatic configuration of PCMCIA controllers.
NVRAM
nvram=file
nvrlen=length
nvroff=offset
This is used to specify an nvram device and optionally the length of
the ram and read/write offset to use. These values are consulted by
readnvram (see authsrv(2)). The most common use of the nvram is to
hold a secstore(1) password for use by factotum(4).
nvr=value
This is used by the WORM file server kernel to locate a file holding
information to configure the file system. The file cannot live on a
SCSI disk. The default is fd!0!plan9.nvr (sic), unless bootfile is
set, in which case it is plan9.nvr on the same disk as bootfile. The
syntax is either fd!unit!name or hd!unit!name where unit is the numeric
unit id. This variant syntax is a vestige of the file server kernel's
origins.
BOOTING
bootfile=value
This is used to direct the actions of the bootstrap programs by naming
the device and file from which to load the kernel.
rootdir=dir
rootspec=spec
These are used by the bootstrap programs to identify the directory dir
to make the root directory for the kernel, and the file system speci‐
fier spec (see mount in bind(2)) on which it can be found. These are
usually used to test variant file systems for distributions, etc.
bootargs=args
The value of this variable is passed to boot(8) by the kernel as the
name of the root file system. It is typically used to specify addi‐
tional arguments to pass to kfs(4) or ipconfig(8). For example, if the
system is to run from a local kfs(4) partition, the definition might
read bootargs=local!#S/sdC0/fs. See boot(8) for more.
nobootprompt=root
Suppress the prompt and use root as the answer instead.
user=user
Suppress the prompt and use user as the answer instead.
debugfactotum=
Causes boot(8) to start factotum with the -p option, so that it can be
debugged.
factotumopts=options
Causes boot(8) to start factotum with the given options, which must be
a single word (i.e., contain no whitespace).
venti=value
When booting from a local fossil server backed by a local or remote
venti server, this variable specifies how to establish the connection
to the venti server. See boot(8) for more.
cfs=partition
This names the file holding the disk partition for the cache file sys‐
tem, cfs(4). Extending the bootargs example, one would write
cfs=#S/sdC0/cache.
bootdisk=value
This deprecated variable was used to specify the disk used by the cache
file system and other disk-resident services. It is superseded by
bootargs and cfs.
partition=value
This defines the partition table 9load(8) will examine to find disk
partitioning information. By default, a partition table in a Plan 9
partition is consulted; if no such table is found, an old-Plan 9 parti‐
tion table on the next-to-last or last sector of the disk is consulted.
A value of new consults only the first table, old only the second.
readparts=
Causes boot(8) to look for MBR and Plan 9 partition tables on all sd(3)
disks, even before factotum is started, so NVRAM, for example, may be
found. On PCs, 9load (but not 9boot) normally does this and passes the
partitions found in #ec/sdCnpart.
fs=a.b.c.d
auth=a.b.c.d
These specify the IP address of the file and authentication server to
use when mounting a network-provided root file system. They are used
only if the addresses cannot be determined via DHCP.
PROCESSOR
*norealmode=
The PC kernel switches the processor to 16-bit real mode to run BIOS
interrupts, for example to find the memory map or to enable VESA. This
variable disables such switches.
*noe820scan=
When available, the PC kernel uses the BIOS E820 memory map to size
memory. This variable disables the scan.
*maxmem=address
This defines the maximum physical address that the system will scan
when sizing memory. By default the PC operating system will scan up to
3.75 gigabytes (0xF0000000, the base of kernel virtual address space),
but setting *maxmem will limit the scan. *maxmem must be less than
3.75 gigabytes. This variable is not consulted if using the E820 mem‐
ory map.
*kernelpercent=percent
This defines the percentage of available memory reserved for the kernel
allocation pool. The remainder is left for user processes. The de‐
fault percent is 30 on CPU servers, 60 on terminals with less than 16MB
of memory, and 40 on terminals with memories of 16MB or more. Termi‐
nals use more kernel memory because draw(3) maintains its graphic im‐
ages in kernel memory. This deprecated option is rarely necessary in
newer kernels.
*nomce=value
If machine check exceptions are supported by the processor, then they
are enabled by default. Setting this variable to 1 causes them to be
disabled even when available.
*nomp=
A multiprocessor machine will enable all processors by default. Set‐
ting *nomp restricts the kernel to starting only one processor and us‐
ing the traditional interrupt controller.
*ncpu=cpus
Setting *ncpu restricts the kernel to starting at most cpus processors.
*pcimaxbno=bno
Limits the maximum bus number probed on a PCI bus (default 7). For ex‐
ample, a bno of 1 should suffice on a 'standard' motherboard with an
AGP slot. This, and *pcimaxdno below are rarely used and only on trou‐
blesome or suspect hardware.
*pcimaxdno=dno
Limits the maximum device number probed on a PCI bus (default 31).
*nopcirouting=
Disable pci routing during boot. May solve interrupt routing problems
on certain machines.
*nodumpstack=
Disable printing a stack dump on panic. Useful if there is only a lim‐
ited cga screen available, otherwise the textual information about the
panic may scroll off.
ioexclude=range
Specifies a list of ranges of I/O ports to exclude from use by drivers.
Ranges are inclusive on both ends and separated by commas. For exam‐
ple:
ioexclude=0x330-0x337,0x430-0x43F
umbexclude=range
Specifies a list of ranges of UMB to exclude from use by drivers.
Ranges are inclusive on both ends and separated by commas. For exam‐
ple:
umbexclude=0xD1800-0xD3FFF
apm0=
This enables the ‘‘advanced power management'' interface as described
in apm(3) and apm(8). The main feature of the interface is the ability
to watch battery life (see stats(8)). It is not on by default because
it causes problems on some laptops.
VIDEO
monitor=monitor
vgasize=xxyxd
These are used not by the kernel but by termrc (see cpurc(8)) when
starting vga(8).
*dpms=value
This is used to specify the screen blanking behavior of the MGA4xx
video driver. Values are standby, suspend, and off. The first two
specify differing levels of power saving; the third turns the monitor
off completely.
Multiple Configurations
A plan9.ini file may contain multiple configurations, each within a
block beginning with a line
[tag]
A special block with the tag menu gives a list of blocks from which the
user may interactively select the contents of plan9.ini. There may
also be multiple blocks with the tag common which will be included in
all selections; if any lines appear in plan9.ini before the first
block, they are treated as a common block.
Within the menu block the following configuration lines are allowed:
menuitem=tag[, description]
The block identified by tag will appear in the presented menu. The
menu entry will consist of the tag unless the optional description is
given.
menudefault=tag[, timeout]
Identifies a default block to be given in the menu selection prompt.
If the optional timeout is given (in seconds), the default block will
be selected if there is no user input within the timeout period.
menuconsole=value[, baud]
Selects a serial console upon which to present the menu as no console
or baud configuration information will have been processed yet (the
plan9.ini contents are still to be decided...).
In response to the menu being printed, the user is prompted to select a
menu item from the list. If the numeric response is followed by a p,
the selected configuration is printed and the menu presented again.
The line
menuitem=tag
is prefixed to the selected configuration as an aid to user-level ini‐
tialization scripts.
EXAMPLES
A representative plan9.ini:
% cat /n/c:/plan9.ini
ether0=type=3C509
mouseport=ps2
modemport=1
serial0=type=generic port=0x3E8 irq=5
monitor=445x
vgasize=1600x1200x8
%
Minimum CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT files to use COM2 as a console:
% cat /n/c:/config.sys
SHELL=COMMAND.COM COM2 /P
% cat /n/c:/autoexec.bat
@ECHO OFF
PROMPT $p$g
PATH C:\DOS;C:\BIN
mode com2:96,n,8,1,p
SET TEMP=C:\TMP
%
Simple plan9.ini with multiple configurations:
[menu]
menuitem=vga, Plan 9 with VGA
menuitem=novga, Plan 9 no automatic VGA
menudefault=vga
[vga]
monitor=multisync135
vgasize=1024x768x8
[novga]
[common]
ether0=type=i82557
audio0=type=sb16 port=0x220 irq=5 dma=1
With this, the following menu will be presented on boot:
Plan 9 Startup Menu:
====================
1. Plan 9 with VGA
2. Plan 9 no automatic VGA
Selection[default==1]:
Selecting item 1 generates the following plan9.ini to be used by the
remainder of the bootstrap process:
menuitem=vga
monitor=multisync135
vgasize=1024x768x8
ether0=type=i82557
audio0=type=sb16 port=0x220 irq=5 dma=1
and selecting item 2:
menuitem=novga
ether0=type=i82557
audio0=type=sb16 port=0x220 irq=5 dma=1
SEE ALSO
9boot(8), booting(8), boot(8)
BUGS
Being able to set the console device to other than a display is margin‐
ally useful on file servers; MS-DOS and the programs which run under it
are so tightly bound to the display that it is necessary to have a dis‐
play if any setup or reconfiguration programs need to be run. Also,
the delay before any messages appear at boot time is disconcerting, as
any error messages from the BIOS are lost.
This idea is at best an interesting experiment that needs another iter‐
ation.
PLAN9.INI(8)