MKRESCUE(E)                                           MKRESCUE(E)



NAME
       mkrescue - make rescue floppy

SYNOPSIS
       /usr/sbin/mkrescue  -  make a bootable rescue floppy using
       the existing kernel and any initial ramdisk.

DESCRIPTION
       mkrescue assumes that the present running system was  suc-
       cessfully  booted using the lilo boot loader, and that the
       specification for the kernel and any initial  ramdisk  are
       in /etc/lilo.conf. This command will make a bootable 1.44M
       rescue floppy which uses the current kernel,  any  initial
       ramdisk, and the "current" root directory.

OPTIONS
       --device <device>
              Make  the  floppy  on a device other than /dev/fd0.
              The floppy disk will always be made to boot on BIOS
              device  code 0x00 (A: drive), without regard to the
              drive on which it is created.

       --fast Use a faster method of creating  the  boot  floppy.
              This  involves  first creating a 1.44M file mounted
              using a loopback device, then copying the  file  to
              the  disk.  Currently, loopback device 'loop4' must
              be free for this option to be used.

       --fs [ ext2 | msdos | minix ]
              Specify the type of filesystem  to  create  on  the
              drive.   ext2  is  the  default,  but  "msdos"  and
              "minix" allow slightly more disk sectors for really
              big kernels.

       --help Print  a  short usage synopsis, including a list of
              command options.

       --initrd <filepath>  and  --kernel <filepath>
              These options, which must be used  together,  allow
              specification  of an arbitrary kernel file and ini-
              tial ramdisk file to be used on  the  created  boot
              floppy.  Be sure you know what you are doing before
              you use these options.

       --nocompact
              For faster kernel loading from a floppy,  LILO  map
              compaction  is  normally  enabled. This option will
              disable map compaction by omitting  the  lilo  "-c"
              switch.

       --noformat
              Suppresses creation of a new filesystem on the boot
              floppy. This option may be used only when you  know
              that the floppy you will be writing upon is format-
              ted with the same filesystem as specified by  "--fs
              XXX" (default is ext2).

       --root <device>
              Specify  the  root filesystem for the kernel on the
              boot floppy. The  currently  mounted  root  is  the
              default, if this option is not specified.

       --version
              Print the version number of 'mkrescue', then termi-
              nate.

SEE ALSO
       lilo(o), lilo.conf(f), mkfs(s),  dd(d),  mount(t),  mkini-
       trd(d).

AUTHOR
       John Coffman <johninsd@san.rr.com> (1.0)



                           31 Oct 2001                MKRESCUE(E)