On Tue, 10 Jul 2001, Samuel Hornus wrote:

> I'm french, nearly new to BSD.
> I have read a lot of times the words bootstrap[ped]
> in the BSD world but can't find it in online english->french
> dictionnary :-(
> I understand the very-global meaning of the word but
> what about the not-so-very-global meaning ? and the
> technical meaning of 'bootstrap' ?

It comes from the expression, "Pull yourself up by your own
bootstraps". Literally, it's physically impossible, of course, but it
means something like, "to achieve success starting from nothing".

In computers, it usually refers to all the magic that happens before
the kernel is loaded. "Boot" comes from "bootstrap". It can also refer
to the steps you take when you first install the system.


Frederick