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This is a text-only version of the following page on https://raymii.org:
---
Title : Boot to Vim, Vim as Pid 1
Author : Remy van Elst
Date : 18-09-2014
URL : https://raymii.org/s/blog/Vim_as_PID_1_Boot_to_Vim.html
Format : Markdown/HTML
---

- **Update 22-04-2023:** I've figured out [how to boot to Vi bare metal][9], no operating system required!

![image][1]

This is a response on a great article from [Pascal Bourguignon][2], namely how
to run [Emacsas PID 1][3].

As we all know, nobody uses emacs.

The above statement is ment to start a flamewar. Please do so, see the contact
page to contact me.

No, all joking aside, I found it to be a good article and wanted to see how I
could do that with Vim. Not in User Mode Linux, but by creating an actual ISO.
Boot to Vim, as you might want to call it.

This is actually fairly simple. Compile vim statically, set it as `init=` at
boot and you're done.

We are going to use small (9MB) distro named [Tiny Core, Core edition][4] and
customize that to boot right into our static build of Vim.

Recently I removed all Google Ads from this site due to their invasive tracking, as well as Google Analytics. Please, if you found this content useful, consider a small donation using any of the options below: <a href="https://leafnode.nl">I'm developing an open source monitoring app called Leaf Node Monitoring, for windows, linux & android. Go check it out!</a> <a href="https://github.com/sponsors/RaymiiOrg/">Consider sponsoring me on Github. It means the world to me if you show your appreciation and you'll help pay the server costs.</a> <a href="https://www.digitalocean.com/?refcode=7435ae6b8212">You can also sponsor me by getting a Digital Ocean VPS. With this referral link you'll get $100 credit for 60 days. </a>

### Building Vim

Please read and follow my [tutorial on building a statically linked Vim][6].
This will give you an executable we will use later on in the tutorial.

### Preparation

You will need a few tools to build the ISO, namely `cpio`, `tar`, `gzip`,
`advdef` and `mkisofs`. These can probably be installed with your package
manager. Please do that first.

First create a folder for building:

mkdir vim-as-pid-1
cd vim-as-pid-1

Also create a few folders for the ISO build:

mkdir /tmp/isomount
mkdir extract

Download the latest Tiny Core, Core edition (without GUI):

wget http://distro.ibiblio.org/tinycorelinux/5.x/x86/release/Core-current.iso

Copy the files from the ISO:

mount Core-current.iso /tmp/isomount/ -o loop,ro

cp -a /tmp/isomount/boot /tmp/

This creates a `/tmp/boot` folder with the `core.gz` and boot loader. Don't
forget to umount it:

umount /tmp/isomount

We will use the `/tmp/boot` folder later on when putting back together the ISO.

### Changing the ISO

Go into the folder where we will extract the `core.gz` root filesystem:

cd extract

Use `zcat` and `cpio` to extract the `core.gz` rootfs:

zcat /tmp/boot/core.gz | cpio -i -H newc -d

We now have an extracted root filesystem:

# ls
bin dev etc home init lib linuxrc mnt opt proc root run sbin sys tmp usr var

Place the [earlier built static Vim][6] in the `bin/` folder:

cp ~/vim bin/

You can do more customizations, for example, editing the boot loader message.
That is in a file named `boot.msg` in `/tmp/boot/isolinux/`:

# vim /tmp/boot/isolinux/boot.msg
^L
_
( - Boot to Vim
//\ Vim as Pid 1, because Awesome!
v_/_ https://raymii.org/

Press <Enter> to begin or F2, F3, or F4 to view boot options.

### Changing the inittab

To boot in to Vim right away we need to change the init configuration. Edit the
following file:

vim etc/inittab

Change the following lines:

::sysinit:/etc/init.d/rcS
tty1::respawn:/sbin/getty 38400 tty1

To:

::sysinit:/bin/vim
tty1::respawn:/bin/vim

Do note that this does not actually make Vim PID 1. Init will still manage Vim,
and do stuff like `fsck` and mount the root partition read/write. If you want to
go barebones, add `init=/bin/vim` to the bootloader (`isolinux.cfg`). Then, from
Vim, do `:!fsck /dev/sda` and `mount -o remount,rw /`.

### Building a new ISO

Make sure you are still in the `extract` folder. Issue the following command to
build a new `tinycore.gz` file which the ISO will use as it's `initramfs`:

find | cpio -o -H newc | gzip -2 > ../tinycore.gz

Copy that over the original `core.gz` file in `/tmp/boot` which we copied
ealier:

cp ../tinycore.gz /tmp/boot/core.gz

Create a new folder for the new ISO build files:

mkdir /tmp/newiso

Copy the `/tmp/boot` folder to it:

cp -a /tmp/boot /tmp/newiso/

Build a new ISO using `mkisofs`:

cd /tmp/
mkisofs -l -J -R -V Boot_To_Vim -no-emul-boot -boot-load-size 4 -boot-info-table -b boot/isolinux/isolinux.bin -c boot/isolinux/boot.cat -o Boot_to_Vim.iso newiso

You now have a file in `/tmp` named `Boot_to_Vim.iso`:

ls -la /tmp/Boot_to_Vim.iso
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 11044864 Sep 17 08:05 /tmp/Boot_to_Vim.iso

You can use this to boot a VM, or burn an ISO. If you exit `vim`, it will
restart.

You can start up a real shell by giving the `:!sh` command, in command mode. To
shut down, issue the `:!halt` command.

More info on remastering Tiny Core can be found [here][7].

![image][8]

[1]: https://raymii.org/s/inc/img/boot-to-vim-1.png
[2]: http://www.informatimago.com/index.html
[3]: http://www.informatimago.com/linux/emacs-on-user-mode-linux.html?raymii.org
[4]: http://distro.ibiblio.org/tinycorelinux/
[5]: https://www.digitalocean.com/?refcode=7435ae6b8212
[6]: https://raymii.org/s/blog/Statically_cross_compiled_vim_for_x86_x86-64_and_mips.html
[7]: http://wiki.tinycorelinux.net/wiki:remastering
[8]: https://raymii.org/s/inc/img/boot-to-vim-2.png
[9]: /s/blog/Bare_Metal_Boot_to_Vi.html

---

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