The loader will read loader.help to produce detailed help, however it is built but not installed so it no longer works. I assume it was accidentally broken earlier but I don't have a good idea when it stopped working. I had a look to find out where the loader is installed but go lost in a twisty maze of Makefiles, all alike.
Orientation =========== <https://github.com/freebsd/freebsd-src/commit/25c2f4cb95686fa3dc2144872abe6df2a983c608> (2017-12-18) was: > Move loader help file definitions to being 100% inside of loader.mk. > > … <https://github.com/freebsd/freebsd-src/blob/main/stand/loader.mk> Related ======= ⚙ D22951 "help" loader command broken ⚙ D28591 loader: always install help files
A commit in branch main references this bug: URL: https://cgit.FreeBSD.org/src/commit/?id=8859960436f5727f163a7b3468e08710c5e6d874 commit 8859960436f5727f163a7b3468e08710c5e6d874 Author: Mitchell Horne <mhorne@FreeBSD.org> AuthorDate: 2021-02-11 14:29:00 +0000 Commit: Mitchell Horne <mhorne@FreeBSD.org> CommitDate: 2023-02-03 20:35:06 +0000 loader: always install help files Address two issues with current help file logic: The existing condition prevents the common help file from being installed when there are no additional help files defined. This results in no loader.help on EFI platforms, for example. Second, due to the fact that we build and install multiple loader types, each successive install will clobber the previous loader.help. The result is that we could lose type-specific commands, or possibly list them in loaders that do not have such commands. Instead, give each loader type a uniquely named help file. The EFI loader will look for /boot/loader.help.efi, userboot will look for /boot/loader.help.userboot, etc. The interpreter variant has no effect on which help file is loaded. This leaves the old /boot/loader.help unused. Some credit for the final approach goes to Mathieu <sigsys@gmail.com> for their version of the fix in https://reviews.freebsd.org/D22951. PR: 267134 Reported by: Daniel O'Connor <darius@dons.net.au> Reviewed by: imp MFC after: 1 week Differential Revision: https://reviews.freebsd.org/D28591 ObsoleteFiles.inc | 3 +++ stand/common/commands.c | 4 ++-- stand/efi/loader/Makefile | 1 + stand/i386/loader/Makefile | 1 + stand/kboot/Makefile | 2 ++ stand/loader.mk | 15 ++++++++++----- stand/powerpc/ofw/Makefile | 1 + stand/uboot/Makefile | 3 ++- stand/userboot/userboot/Makefile | 2 ++ 9 files changed, 24 insertions(+), 8 deletions(-)
A commit in branch stable/13 references this bug: URL: https://cgit.FreeBSD.org/src/commit/?id=a2b4abce0e30e014b2c08c0bdc34b368aa9c7a6f commit a2b4abce0e30e014b2c08c0bdc34b368aa9c7a6f Author: Mitchell Horne <mhorne@FreeBSD.org> AuthorDate: 2021-02-11 14:29:00 +0000 Commit: Mitchell Horne <mhorne@FreeBSD.org> CommitDate: 2023-02-15 16:44:21 +0000 loader: always install help files Address two issues with current help file logic: The existing condition prevents the common help file from being installed when there are no additional help files defined. This results in no loader.help on EFI platforms, for example. Second, due to the fact that we build and install multiple loader types, each successive install will clobber the previous loader.help. The result is that we could lose type-specific commands, or possibly list them in loaders that do not have such commands. Instead, give each loader type a uniquely named help file. The EFI loader will look for /boot/loader.help.efi, userboot will look for /boot/loader.help.userboot, etc. The interpreter variant has no effect on which help file is loaded. This leaves the old /boot/loader.help unused. Some credit for the final approach goes to Mathieu <sigsys@gmail.com> for their version of the fix in https://reviews.freebsd.org/D22951. PR: 267134 Reported by: Daniel O'Connor <darius@dons.net.au> Reviewed by: imp MFC after: 1 week Differential Revision: https://reviews.freebsd.org/D28591 (cherry picked from commit 8859960436f5727f163a7b3468e08710c5e6d874) ObsoleteFiles.inc | 3 +++ stand/common/commands.c | 4 ++-- stand/efi/loader/Makefile | 1 + stand/i386/loader/Makefile | 1 + stand/kboot/Makefile | 2 ++ stand/loader.mk | 15 ++++++++++----- stand/powerpc/ofw/Makefile | 1 + stand/uboot/Makefile | 3 ++- stand/userboot/userboot/Makefile | 2 ++ 9 files changed, 24 insertions(+), 8 deletions(-)
A commit in branch releng/13.2 references this bug: URL: https://cgit.FreeBSD.org/src/commit/?id=ac25a113775ad527a0fc4040738bfc9e43c7db4e commit ac25a113775ad527a0fc4040738bfc9e43c7db4e Author: Mitchell Horne <mhorne@FreeBSD.org> AuthorDate: 2021-02-11 14:29:00 +0000 Commit: Mitchell Horne <mhorne@FreeBSD.org> CommitDate: 2023-02-23 18:10:19 +0000 loader: always install help files Address two issues with current help file logic: The existing condition prevents the common help file from being installed when there are no additional help files defined. This results in no loader.help on EFI platforms, for example. Second, due to the fact that we build and install multiple loader types, each successive install will clobber the previous loader.help. The result is that we could lose type-specific commands, or possibly list them in loaders that do not have such commands. Instead, give each loader type a uniquely named help file. The EFI loader will look for /boot/loader.help.efi, userboot will look for /boot/loader.help.userboot, etc. The interpreter variant has no effect on which help file is loaded. This leaves the old /boot/loader.help unused. Some credit for the final approach goes to Mathieu <sigsys@gmail.com> for their version of the fix in https://reviews.freebsd.org/D22951. Approved by: re (cperciva) PR: 267134 Reported by: Daniel O'Connor <darius@dons.net.au> Reviewed by: imp MFC after: 1 week Differential Revision: https://reviews.freebsd.org/D28591 (cherry picked from commit 8859960436f5727f163a7b3468e08710c5e6d874) (cherry picked from commit a2b4abce0e30e014b2c08c0bdc34b368aa9c7a6f) ObsoleteFiles.inc | 3 +++ stand/common/commands.c | 4 ++-- stand/efi/loader/Makefile | 1 + stand/i386/loader/Makefile | 1 + stand/kboot/Makefile | 2 ++ stand/loader.mk | 15 ++++++++++----- stand/powerpc/ofw/Makefile | 1 + stand/uboot/Makefile | 3 ++- stand/userboot/userboot/Makefile | 2 ++ 9 files changed, 24 insertions(+), 8 deletions(-)