Yaboot

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title: "Yaboot" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["free-boot-loaders"] description: "Bootloader for Linux on PowerPC-based hardware" topic_path: "general/free-boot-loaders" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yaboot" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Bootloader for Linux on PowerPC-based hardware ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox software"]

Field	Value
title	Yaboot
logo
collapsible
screenshot
released
ver layout
discontinued
latest release date
latest preview date
repo
programming language	C
engine
platform	PowerPC
language count
genre	Bootloader
license	GPLv2
website
::

| title = Yaboot | logo = | logo caption = | logo alt = | logo size = | collapsible = | screenshot = | screenshot size = | screenshot alt = | caption = | other_names = | author = | developer = | released = | ver layout = | discontinued = | latest release version = | latest release date = | latest preview version = | latest preview date = | repo = | qid = | programming language = C | middleware = | engine = | operating system = | platform = PowerPC | included with = | replaces = | replaced_by = | service_name = | size = | standard = | language = | language count = | language footnote = | genre = Bootloader | license = GPLv2 | website = | AsOf = Yaboot (yet another boot loader) is a bootloader for PowerPC-based hardware running Linux.

History

In 2009, maintenance by Paul Nasrat was handed over to Tony Breeds.

Hardware support

Support includes the New World ROM Macintosh and IBM RS/6000 systems. It does not support the "OldWorld" PowerMacs.

Booting procedure

It is built to run within the Open Firmware layer common to most such systems instead of working as a Mac OS 9 program like its predecessor BootX.

Yaboot is similar to LILO and GNU GRUB. Yaboot uses the following steps to boot:

1. Yaboot is invoked by Open Firmware
2. Finds a boot device, boot path and opens boot partition
3. Opens /etc/yaboot.conf or a command shell
4. Loads image or kernel and initrd
5. Executes image

References

References

1. "First Look at an Apple G4 with the Altivec Processor".
2. (2004-06-16). "penguinppc.org - The New Home of PowerPC Linux".
3. Rodriguez, Claudia Salzberg. (2005). "The Linux Kernel primer : a top-down approach for X86 and PowerPC architectures". Prentice Hall Professional Technical Reference.
4. Nasrat, Paul. (24 May 2009). "Introducing new maintainer".
5. "Encrypt Your Root Filesystem".

::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::