| MKBOOTIMAGE(8) | System Manager's Manual (alpha) | MKBOOTIMAGE(8) | 
mkbootimage —
| /usr/mdec/mkbootimage | [ -nv] infile
      [outfile] | 
mkbootimage utility creates bootable image files
  from NetBSD/alpha bootstrap programs. Bootable image
  files can be placed directly on disk or tape to create bootable media which
  can be booted by the SRM console. This is primarily useful for creating
  bootable tapes or disk sets with the
  /usr/mdec/ustarboot bootstrap program, or for creating
  firmware upgrade media using firmware upgrade programs.
The bootstrap program infile is padded to a 512-byte boundary, has a properly formed Alpha Boot Block prepended, and is written to the output file outfile. If no output file is specified, the result is written to standard output.
The mkbootimage utility does not install
    bootstrap programs to make disks bootable. To do that, use
    installboot(8).
    Similarly, it is not necessary to use mkbootimage to
    create images to boot over the network; network-capable bootstrap programs
    are usable without modification.
The options recognized by mkbootimage are
    as follows:
mkbootimage utility exits 0 on success,
  and >0 if an error occurs.
mkbootimage as200_v5_8.exe as200_v5_8.exe.bootimage
Create a bootable image from the (firmware image) file as200_v5_8.exe. That bootable image could then be written to floppy, disk, CD-ROM, or tape to create bootable firmware update media.
(mkbootimage /usr/mdec/ustarboot; tar cvf - netbsd) | \
    dd of=/dev/rst0
Make a bootable image from the bootstrap program /usr/mdec/ustarboot, concatenate it with a tar file containing a kernel, and write the output to a tape. This is an example of how to create a tape which boots a kernel.
mkbootimage
  command first appeared in NetBSD 1.4.
mkbootimage utility was written by
  Chris Demetriou.
| February 17, 2017 | NetBSD 9.4 |