BLESS(1)

NAME
bless - set boot options for volumes and Open Firmware

SYNOPSIS
bless -info mountpoint [ -plist ] [ -verbose ] [ -bootBlocks ] bless [ -bootinfo arg ] [ -bootBlocks ] [ -noexec ] [ -folder folder ] [ -folder9 folder ] [ -quiet ] [ -setOF ] [ -use9 ] [ -verbose ]

DESCRIPTION
The bless command modifies on-disk an Open Firmware-based parameters used during the boot sequence. It allows folders the be “blessed” in the volume header, which allows OF to find the loader program (usually BootX). bless also sets Open Firmware variables to boot off the volume specified.

In the first usage, the following flags apply:

-bootBlocks
    Display important data from the boot blocks for the specified volume

-info mountpoint
    Choose the volume mounted at mountpoint to print information about.

-plist
    Display the requested information as a Property List using the CoreFoundation API.

-verbose
    Be verbose while collecting data and accessing the volume.

Root privelege is not required to collect this information, although you must have read access to the volume.

The second form of the command can take:

-bootinfo arg
    Create a new BootX file in the folder specified by -folder. arg should point to a bootx.bootinfo file, most commonly /System/Library/CoreServices/bootx.bootinfo

-bootBlocks
    Create boot blocks for the specified volume by extracting them from the System file contained in -folder9. Write these boot blocks to the volume.

-noexec
    Simulate execution of bless without performing any permanent changes to the system. This flag is used by default when bless is run by a non-root user.

-folder folder
    The Mac OS X/Darwin folder to by blessed. This folder should have a valid BootX file (unless -bootinfo was also specified to create a new one). The folder's volume is what all disk operations will be performed on. This is most commonly /System/Library/CoreServices

-folder9 folder
    The Mac OS 9 System folder to bless. This folder should have a valid System file and Finder. If CarbonCore is available, the -bootBlocks option is also available.

-quiet
    Don't print out any information except errors

-setOF
    Using the volume where -folder resides (or both -folder and -folder9, if both were specified), set Open Firmware variables to boot off this device.

-use9
    If both -folder and -folder9 were specified, prefer -folder9 as the primary blessed folder.

-verbose
    Be verbose while collecting data and accessing the volume.

EXAMPLES
Darwin and Mac OS 9 are on seperate partitions, and want to boot into OS 9: bless -folder9 "/Volumes/Mac OS 9/System Folder" -setOF Darwin and Mac OS 9 on the same partition, and want to boot into OS 9: bless -folder "/System/Library/CoreServices" -folder9 "/Volumes/Mac OS 9/System Folder" Darwin and Mac OS X on seperate partitions, and want to boot into Mac OS X: bless -folder "/Volumes/Mac OS X/System/Library/CoreServices" -setOF BootX file needs to be created (for creating a bootable partition): bless -folder "/Volumes/Test/System/Library/CoreServices" -bootinfo /usr/standalone/ppc/bootx.bootinfo

BUGS
bless is only intelligent enough to deal with HFS+ volumes for most cases. It will detect external booters, but other functionality may not work and has not been well-tested.