During initial system startup, the boot loader(8) reads device.hints(5). This file stores kernel boot information known as variables, sometimes referred to as “device hints”. These “device hints” are used by device drivers for device configuration.

Device hints may also be specified at the Stage 3 boot loader prompt, as demonstrated in Section 12.2.3, “Stage Three”. Variables can be added using set, removed with unset, and viewed show. Variables set in /boot/device.hints can also be overridden. Device hints entered at the boot loader are not permanent and will not be applied on the next reboot.

Once the system is booted, kenv(1) can be used to dump all of the variables.

The syntax for /boot/device.hints is one variable per line, using the hash “#” as comment markers. Lines are constructed as follows:

hint.driver.unit.keyword="value"

The syntax for the Stage 3 boot loader is:

set hint.driver.unit.keyword=value

where driver is the device driver name, unit is the device driver unit number, and keyword is the hint keyword. The keyword may consist of the following options:

Since device drivers may accept or require more hints not listed here, viewing a driver's manual page is recommended. For more information, refer to device.hints(5), kenv(1), loader.conf(5), and loader(8).