Mac OS X in a Nutshell

Name

bless

Synopsis

bless [folder 
                     options | device 
                     options | info 
                     options]

Enables a device containing a Mac OS 9, Darwin, or Mac OS X system folder to be bootable, and selects an enabled device or system folder to be the default boot system. bless can also report the current boot settings.

Folder options

Use bless’s folder options to enable and select system folders.

-bootinfo pathname

Enable a volume on New World Macintoshes to boot into Mac OS X by copying file pathname into the Mac OS X system folder (specified with -folder) to use as the BootX file. pathname is typically /usr/standalone/ppc/bootx.bootinfo.

-bootBlocks

Enable a volume to boot into Mac OS 9 by setting the required boot blocks.

-bootBlockFile pathname

Enable a volume to boot into Mac OS 9 by setting the required boot blocks, which are extracted from the data fork of file pathname.

-folder pathname

Bless a Mac OS X system for booting, identified by its CoreServices directory pathname. (See example.)

-folder9 pathname

Bless a Mac OS 9 folder for booting or use by Classic, identified by its system folder pathname. (See example.)

-label name

Use name as the system volume label used by the OS Picker, which appears when the Option key is held during startup.

-mount pathname

Select to boot from volume pathname using its already blessed system folder, instead of selecting a specific folder. Specify a volume by its mount point pathname, such as /Volumes/Mac HD.

-save9

Retain the blessing of the blessed Mac OS 9 system folder ...