Boot Able

Contents

1. Introduction

Boot Able is a script to create a maintenance partition or a bootable CD. This partition/CD supports enough facilities to fully manage and recover your system.

Personally I use it for the CD-RWs I burn my system backups to. Recovering/reinstalling my system just takes booting-off this CD, optionally managing and formatting volumes and unzipping the backup-zip files that are also on the CD!

2. Highlights

A few highlights of the script:

• Can be used to create bootable CD's and maintenance partitions (and thus can be seen as a replacement of bootOS2);
• Easy configuration via configuration files (almost everything is configurable);
• WPS (VGA and gengradd) or command-line boot;
• Support for FAT, FAT32, HPFS, HPFS386, JFS, CDFS, UDF, and LVM;
• Support for IDE, SCSI, USB, Mouse, Serial port, and Parallel port;
• Support for Unicode;
• Support for REXX;
• Support for basic TCP/IP networking, including DHCP;
• Support for NETBIOS and NETBIOS over TCP/IP protocols;
• Support for Roman Stangl's CD Boot Menu;
• Use of DANI or default drivers;
• Use of JJSCDROM or default drivers;
• Support for RSJ or cdrecord/mkisofs;
• Small disk footprint; less than 5MB for the command-line version;
• Can make use of LXLITE to make disk footprint even less;
• And much, much more...

The default settings assume an IDE only setup, instuctions for adding SCSI support are included in the defaults configuration file. If you need extra space on the boot image (for instance if you added SCSI support), instructions for making more room to the CD are included as well. Full USB support is also enabled by default and defaults to one UHCI adapter. Of course this can be fully configured. By default the script uses the DANI drivers for accessing IDE and ATAPI devices as these are the most stable. Again this can be configured.

When creating a bootable CD, the script assumes you use RSJ for burning CDs and that you have already attached the CD-R(W). A virtual 2.88MB floppy should also be available. Instructions for using this script with cdrecord and mkisosofs are included.

3. Installation

Installation is simple, just copy the files to the correct locations:

3.1. BootAble files

3.2. Other files and applications

4. Syntax

The command syntax is as follows:

bootAble [<configuration file>...]

The optional arguments are one or more configuration files to use. If no path for these files is specified, the DPATH is searched. Use these configuration files to override the defaults as specified in the filebootAble.cfg(which is to be found on the DPATH). Note:You only need to specify configuration options/variables which override the defaults!

5. Creating a bootable CD

Here are a few easy steps for creating a bootable CD:

1. Download and install all required files;
2. Read through the configuration file bootAble.cfg. All default settings for the script are done via this file. The options are all commented. Work through them top to bottom, most likely you will only need/want to change a few of the 'basic' ones. You'll probably not going to neet to bother with the 'advanced' ones (unless you know what you are doing...);
   Please note: When configuring bootAble you can/should leave the generic defaults file bootAble.cfg alone and create your own configuration file(s). A configuration file only needs to contain lines for configuration options/variables overriding the defaults! See for example the supplied configurations files bootAble.wps, bootAble.maintenance, etc.
   
3. Create a bootAble.myCfg where you change the default options to match your needs (an example .myCfg as well as other example configuration files are included):
1. You probably need to change directories/drives to match your setup;
2. You probably want to specify BOOTMESSAGES='YES', VERBOSE=3, and PAUSEBEFOREBOOTIMAGE='YES' (already done in the sampe bootAble.myCfg);
3. You probably also want to specify ADDITIONALCFG='' as the default will cause the screen to go to 80x50 mode, causing you to loose all boot progress messages (already done in the sample bootAble.myCfg)
4. Check and or change the USB adapter type;
5. If you have SCSI, set the SCSI option and specify the device driver for your card(s). You may need to set the TWODISKBOOT option or turn-off some other options if the driver(s) is/are a realy big;
4. This should cover most cases, time to create the first boot image (instructions are for using RSJ, see below for necessary adoptations for using cdrecord/mkisofs):
1. Insert an empty CD-R(W) in your burner. I would realy suggest to use CD-RW media; you are probably going to run this script a lot of times to get things the way you want. I know CD-Rs are dirt cheap, but please give the environment a break and what would you do with tons of coasters? (Yeah, you can microwave them for great effects but that becomes boring after a while...);
2. Attach the CD-R(W) (cdattach w:). If it's a CD-RW you can erase it as well (cdwfmt w: /erase);
3. Run the script with your configuration file (bootAble bootAble.myCfg);
4. Put additional files on the CD if you like;
5. Burn the CD (cdattach w: -s);
5. Test it.

That's all! Now you probably want to play a bit with the numerous other options :-)

5.1 Using cdrecord+mkisofs instead of RSJ

When using cdrecord and mkisofs, change the configuration variable CDWRITER to the path you are going to build the CD in and set the option CDRECORD to "YES". The script is now ready to be used for cdrecord/mkisofs. Just one more thing needs to be done after running the script; instead of creating a normal ISO image for burning by cdrecord, you need to specify CDBOOT_1.IMG as the boot image on the mkisofs command-line (-b option to mkisofs).

6. Creating a maintenance partition

When creating a maintenance partition, follow the instructions found in the section describing the creation of a bootable CD (skip the specific steps involving CD creation; 4a, 4b, and 4c). When adapting the configuration file, additionally specify CREATEBOOTCD='NO' and point WRITERDRIVE to the maintenance partition (see bootAble.maintenance for an example); and run the script with these additional settings (e.g., bootAble bootAble.myCfg bootAble.maintenance).

Please note that the partition will be formatted by default (this can be prevented by specifying FORMATMAINTENANCE='NO')!

7. Contact information

8. Thanks

Thanks go to Allan Dermody for providing CD_BOOT.FLT and the first insight into creating bootable CDs;
Thanks also go to Alfredo Fernandez Diaz for writing an excelent article on how to create a bootable CD in OS2Voice, July 2000;
More thanks go to Daniela Engert for writing the DANI suite of device drivers and filters;
Many thanks go to Simon Wright who helped me get my DHCP and DDNS server up and running.

Finaly big thanks also go to all you people testing and commenting the script; because of you I kept working on it ;-)

Version History

v2.12 (20/10/2002)

• Added NETBIOS and NETBIOS over TCP/IP protocol support (NETBIOS and NETBIOSTCPIP, disabled by default);
  Note: Only the protocols themselves are supported, PEER functionality, for instance, is not provided.
• Added option to clean-out cdrecord image directory (pointed to by WRITERDRIVE) prior to adding bootable files and directories (CDRECORDCLEANDIR, disabled by default);
• Added option to support latest IBM Atapi driver which doesn't need IBMIDECD.FLT anymore (LATESTATAPI, disabled by default);
• Made many changes to TCP/IP support:
• Added ARP.EXE by default,
• Added INETWAIT.EXE to the TCP/IP initialisation,
• Corrected TCP/IP initialisation when using DHCP,
  
• Now using AFLEAN.SYS and SOCKETS.SYS instead of AFINETK.SYS and SOCKETSK.SYS,
• AFOS2.SYS has been removed (was not required for basic TCP/IP),
• Improved DHCP support; nameserver can now also be specified by the server dynamically (requires RAMDISK support on a bootAble CD),
• DHCP Client Monitor gets added when DHCP is enabled (WPS),
  
• Improved TCP/IP version 4.31 support; the 4.31 DHCP client required some additional DLLs, these will now be added when TCP/IP 4.31 is specified (TCPIP431, default).
• Additional DEVICE drivers can now be specified similar to how extra BASEDEV drivers were specified (EXTRADEVICE, EXTRADEVICEFILE.n, EXTRADEVICEOPTIONS.n).
• You can now specify multi-level directory structures without having to create the higher level directories first (EXTRADIRECTORY.n), you can now also specify the BOOKSHELF as path (EXTRADIRECTORYADDTOPATH.n);
• You can now comment-out lines in the configuration files and ini-file template with ';' as well;
• Corrected bug with ASPI support;
• Options of CDROM and ASPI support are now respected;
• Added sample configuration file for adding EMX runtime (bootAble.emxrt, contributed by Christoph Brendes)
  
• Improved parsing of ini-file templates: using '$$' as variable and '%%' as option delimeters, furthermore all configuration variables and options can now be used;
  
• Removed second setting of displaytype and help-path when WPS support was enabled;
• Rewrote installation instructions and merged with obtaining required files section.
  

v2.11 (30/09/2002)

• Added DHCP support (TCPIPDHCP);
  
• Fixed bug in bootAble.extra (missing quotes);
• Fixed bug in handling of extra directories, sometimes ',1' was added to the directory name.
  

v2.10 (29/09/2002)

• You can now specify a search path (SEARCHPATH) where files will be searched for in addition to the location specified (by default this is set to the DPATH). This allows for adding components to a bootable CD/maintenance partition which have not (yet) been installed on your system (or reside in a completely different location from the deafult); just add the files to a directory on the specified path!;
• Added support for HPFS386 file system (HPFS386);
• Added support for parallel port ZIP drive (PPZIP);
  
• Added support for using lxlite when copying files, freeing extra space! (LXLITE);
• Added option for using the small keyboard.dcp file from the Warp 4 boot disks, saving yet again quite some space! (SMALLKEYBOARDDCP);
  Note: This keyboard.dcp most likely only supports a very limited set of keyboard layouts...
  
• You can now specify additional ini file lines using the format of the makeini command (EXTRAUSERINI, EXTRASYSINI);
  
• Added configuration variable for specifying the command shell prompt (SHELLPROMPT);
• Added configuration variables for specifying the names of the boot images (BOOTIMAGENAME.1 and BOOTIMAGENAME.2);
  Note: When using AudioCDCreator, the name of the first image should be OSBOOT.IMG (now default).
  
• Added advanced configuration variables for specifying the number of threads (advanced, THREADS, now 1024 by default), FAT cache options (advanced, FATCACHEOPTIONS, now 1MB by default), swapping parameters (advanced, MEMMAN and SWAPPATH);
• Renamed all *DLLS option variables to *DLLFILES for consistency;
  Note: If you have created your own configuration files, make sure to reflect this change!
  
• Added ability to specify additional directory structure and the extra files to go into these directories, including the ability to add these directories to a path (EXTRADIRECTORY.n, EXTRADIRECTORYFILES.n, EXTRADIRECTORYADDTOPATHS.n);
• Files can now contain spaces (just make sure they are within double-quotes!);
  
• Fixed bug where extra basedev files where not copied at all;
• Added main option name of new options in the version history (starting from version 2.0), to ease finding them;
• Corrected typo in Alfredo Fernandez Diaz's name in the documentation (Thanks section in this file);
  
• rxqueue.exe is now added by default when REXX support is enabled;
  
• wpstkmri.dll is now an optional file as well (only for scroll mouse?);
• When TCP/IP and REXX support are both enabled with WPS, either the file rxsock.infor the file rxsocket.inf is added (seems the file got renamed with later Warp installations);
• The maxtransmits directive has been removed from the protocol.ini file (network support), it is not supported on all network cards (and not required either);
• Added sample configuration file bootAble.testCD for testing the creation of a bootAble CD. Instead of writing the results to a CD-R(W), the results are written to a temp directory;
• Added sample configuration file bootAble.acrobat for adding acrobat reader to your system, also shows the use of the new EXTRADIRECTORY and EXTRA*INI configuration variables.
  

v2.9 (24/09/2002)

• Added support for Roman Stangl's CD Boot Menu (CDBOOTMENU);
  Note: When using RSJ, make sure that Roman Stangl's cdboot command is not located on the PATH!
• Added comments to clarify the use of configuration files (you only need to specify the configuration options/variables which override the defaults in bootAble.cfg!);
• Added comments for when files are required (Obtaining required and optional files section in this file);
• Added reference to help for the country and keyboard definition configuration variables;
• UNICODELANGDIR not required anymore (some installations did not even have one!);
  
• Added icon (based on default CD icon), anyone a better idea?;
  
• Improved error checking for required files; created new function searchPath to be used in configuration files instead of the standard sysSearchPath.
  

v2.8 (23/09/2002)

• Corrected typos in required files for REXX TCP/IP support.

v2.7 (22/09/2002)

• Added basic TCP/IP networking support (TCPIP).
  Note: For most TCP/IP commands to work, WPS support is required.

v2.6 (17/09/2002)

• Added REXX support (REXX);
  Note: In order for REXX to work when booting to a command-line (even when WPS support is enabled), you will need to have bos2rexx.exe (from the BootOS2 package) located somewhere on your DPATH.
• Added support for non 512 bytes/sector removable media (NON512DASD);
• Added support for removable SCSI media geometry filter (REMOVABLESCSI);
• Added "Refresh removable media" object when LVM support is enabled (WPS);
• Help support is now installed as part of the command-line apps, not only when WPS support is installed;
• Corrected a bug introduced in version 2.5 where setting configuration variables to an empty string did not override the default (which could be non-empty);
• Corrected a bug with autochecking HPFS partitions (now it works :-).

v2.5 (13/09/2002)

• Added html documentation;
• fdisk.exe is now included if LVM support is disabled;
• Added harderr.exe to support error handling, autofail=yes is now specified as well;
• Added bootAble.extra sample configuration file for adding some extra applications;
• Added label.com and tedit.hlp by default;
• Language dll files only added when WPS support is enabled;
• chkdsk.sys is now included;
• Added configuration option for adding help files (WPS only, EXTRAHELPFILES);
• Improved handling of ide cd when not using the DANI drivers (ibmidecd.flt is now added as well);
• Added cachef32.exe and f32stat.exe when FAT32 support is enabled;
• Added configuration options for autochecking HPFS and JFS file systems (HPFSAUTOCHECK, JFSAUTOCHECK);
• pstat.exe is now only added with WPS support (doesn't work when not running WPS).

v2.4 (04/09/2002)

• Renamed script to bootAble (pronounce boot able) as bootIT happened to be a trademark of TeraByte Unlimited;
• Removed unnecessary files and adopted for non eCS Warp systems.

v2.3 (02/09/2002)

• Corrected a very annoying bug where the script would fail under the standard OS/2 command processor cmd.exe (it worked under 4OS/2);
• Added verbosity level 3 where also errors from external commands are shown (9 shows all output).

v2.2 (01/09/2002)

• Corrected additional bug regarding cleanup when creating a directory failed;
• The bootdrive is now determined by sysBootDrive by default (somehow this function is missing from the rexx documentation...);
• Renamed options for the FAT32 file system from FAT to FAT32.

v2.1 (01/09/2002)

• Corrected a bug where output would always be verbose and no cleanup was performed.

v2.0 (01/09/2002)

• Renamed script to bootIT as it is now able to create a maintenance partition as well;
• Added WPS support (VGA and GENGRADD, WPS);
• Added APM support (APM);
• Added UDF support (UDF);
• The command-line option can now specify multiple configuration files and these are now used to override the defaults in bootIT.cfg;
• Added ability to enable SCSI support before IDE (SCSIBEFOREIDE);
• Added ability to specify any number of SCSI cards. Note: The SCSI option has been changed into a number to support this!;
• Added option to use DANI drivers instead of the default drivers (the default is still to use the DANI drivers, DANIIDE, DANIATAPI);
• Adapted the script to handle both daniatapi.flt and daniatap.flt versions of the DANI ATAPI driver.
• Added option to use JJSCDROM instead of default cdrom driver (the default is not to use JJSCDROM, JJSCDROM)
• Added the ability to add extra basedevs (EXTRABASEDEV);
• Made sure that files copied to the FAT boot image follow the 8.3 file naming restrictions.

v1.4 (23/08/2002)

• Files now are copied without extended attributes to the boot image;
• Added command-line option for the specification of the configuration file;
• Corrected error in option name in bootCD.cfg for fallback driver (wasn't renamed);
• USB printer device now defaults to LPTn instead of $USBPRT;
• Added parallel port (printer) support;
• Added serial port support;
• Added mouse support;
• Improved the way of to specificy which shell to use, now it is possible to specify PROTSHELL and OS2_SHELL independantly (advanced options);
• Improved VERBOSE, you can now specify the message level;
• Added genral instructions for using this script;
• Added instructions for using this script with cdrecord/mkisofs;
• Added ability to split boot image over two disks providing even more room for device drivers and other things;
• Other general improvements.

v1.3 (22/08/2002)

• Added USB support;
• Fixed bug with SHELLFILE variable not being respected;
• Renamed option IDECD to ATAPI (more correct);
• Renamed option HDDFALLBACK to DASDFALLBACK (more correct);
• Now possible to specify options for IFS and BASEDEV lines (advanced options);
• Added comment why there is no autocheck for file systems;
• Better option handling, not case sensitive anymore and only first letter is required (e.g., specifying "Y" or "yes" works now);
• Cache sizes for HPFS and JFS file systems now 1024KB by default;
• Added VERBOSE option, with this set to "YES" all command output is shown;
• Added option to pause the script right before writing the boot image to CD. You can use this to check and or correct the content of the boot image on the virtual drive before it is actually written.

v1.2 (20/08/2002)

• Now a REXX script;
• Added configuration options
• CONFIG.SYS is now created automatically by the script and respects set options;
• Added notes concerning choices of virtual floppy software;
• Added contact information.

v1.1 (21/02/2002)

• Now using daniboot.flt instead of cdboot.flt.

v1.0 (16/02/2002)

• Original version for creating a bootable CD with support for most file systems and LVM.