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authorThomas Huth <thuth@redhat.com>2017-02-28 18:40:01 +0100
committerPaolo Bonzini <pbonzini@redhat.com>2017-03-14 13:26:36 +0100
commitc0d9f7d0bcedeaa65d5c984fbe0d351e1402eab5 (patch)
treec8083b5eda8104dda97e580a3cd98b1498aa555e
parente8f5fe2de125a0bfbefbaa6a69af81f4817cb7a0 (diff)
docs: Add a note about mixing bootindex with "-boot order"
Occasionally the users try to mix the bootindex properties with the "-boot order" parameter - and this likely does not give the expected results. So let's add a proper statement that these two concepts should not be used together. Signed-off-by: Thomas Huth <thuth@redhat.com> Message-Id: <1488303601-23741-1-git-send-email-thuth@redhat.com> Reviewed-by: Eric Blake <eblake@redhat.com> Reviewed-by: Laszlo Ersek <lersek@redhat.com> Signed-off-by: Paolo Bonzini <pbonzini@redhat.com>
-rw-r--r--docs/bootindex.txt9
-rw-r--r--qemu-options.hx5
2 files changed, 13 insertions, 1 deletions
diff --git a/docs/bootindex.txt b/docs/bootindex.txt
index f84fac7200..b9a8ba122f 100644
--- a/docs/bootindex.txt
+++ b/docs/bootindex.txt
@@ -41,3 +41,12 @@ has three bootable devices target1, target3, target5 connected to it,
the option ROM will have a boot method for each of them, but it is not
possible to map from boot method back to a specific target. This is a
shortcoming of the PC BIOS boot specification.
+
+== Mixing bootindex and boot order parameters ==
+
+Note that it does not make sense to use the bootindex property together
+with the "-boot order=..." (or "-boot once=...") parameter. The guest
+firmware implementations normally either support the one or the other,
+but not both parameters at the same time. Mixing them will result in
+undefined behavior, and thus the guest firmware will likely not boot
+from the expected devices.
diff --git a/qemu-options.hx b/qemu-options.hx
index 8dd8ee34a6..99af8edf5f 100644
--- a/qemu-options.hx
+++ b/qemu-options.hx
@@ -252,7 +252,10 @@ drive letters depend on the target architecture. The x86 PC uses: a, b
(floppy 1 and 2), c (first hard disk), d (first CD-ROM), n-p (Etherboot
from network adapter 1-4), hard disk boot is the default. To apply a
particular boot order only on the first startup, specify it via
-@option{once}.
+@option{once}. Note that the @option{order} or @option{once} parameter
+should not be used together with the @option{bootindex} property of
+devices, since the firmware implementations normally do not support both
+at the same time.
Interactive boot menus/prompts can be enabled via @option{menu=on} as far
as firmware/BIOS supports them. The default is non-interactive boot.