boot_folder.md

The Boot folder

In a basic Raspbian install, the boot files are stored on the first partition of the SD card, which is VFAT-formatted. This means that it can be read on both Windows and Linux devices.

When the Raspberry Pi is powered on, it loads various files from the boot partition/folder in order to start up the various processors, then it boots the Linux kernel.

Boot folder contents

bootcode.bin

The bootloader. Loaded by the SoC on boot, does some very basic setup, and subsequently loads one of the start*.elf files.

start.elf, start_x.elf, start_db.elf, start_cd.elf

These are binary blobs (firmware) that are loaded on to the VideoCore in the SoC, which then take over the boot process. start.elf is the basic firmware, start_x.elf includes camera drivers and codec, start_db.elf is a debug version of the firmware, and start_cd.elf is a cut-down version with no support hardware blocks like codecs and 3D, and for use when gpu_mem=16 is specified in config.txt. More information on how to use these can be found in the config.txt section.

fixup.dat, fixup_x.dat, fixup_db.dat, fixup_cd.dat

These are linker files and are matched pairs with the start*.elf files.

cmdline.txt

The kernel command line passed in to the kernel when it boots.

config.txt

Contains many configuration parameters for setting up the Pi. See the config.txt section.

issue.txt

Some text-based housekeeping information containing the date and git commit ID of the distribution.

Device Tree files

There are various Device Tree blob files, \*.dtb. These contain the hardware definitions of the various Pi models, and are used on boot to set up the kernel according to which Pi model is detected. More details here.