
This directory contains some "host tools" that may be useful for
porting CFE.

MKBOOTIMAGE
-----------

The 'mkbootimage' program is used to attach a CFE boot block to
an image file.  Boot blocks are used on block-structured devices
such as disks and CD-ROM.

The boot block contains information to help CFE locate the boot
loader program and verify its validity.  To create boot file,
link your boot loader to be executable within CFE's boot
environment (it should be a binary file, not an ELF file).

Convert the file to a boot block using:

	mkbootimage [-EB] [-EL] myfile.elf myfile.boot

Supply the -EB or -EL switch to configure the target endianness,
since the values in the boot block are endian-specific.


INSTALLBOOT
-----------

Once you have a boot file, the 'installboot' program can 
insert the boot file into a simulated disk file (such as the
file that you can use with the IDE emulation in the 
BCM12500's functional simulator).  The 'installboot' program
installs your boot file into a disk image file starting at 
the first sector, preserving the beginning part of the boot
sector where the the boot block lives.

Install the boot block using:

	installboot myfile.boot my_disk_image.dsk

Where the "my_disk_image.dsk" is the simulated disk file for
the functional simulator.

installboot could probably be ported to the target OS to
install boot blocks on raw disk devices.





