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The format of the Multiboot information structure (as defined so far) follows:

             +-------------------+
     0       | flags             |    (required)
             +-------------------+
     4       | mem_lower         |    (present if flags[0] is set)
     8       | mem_upper         |    (present if flags[0] is set)
             +-------------------+
     12      | boot_device       |    (present if flags[1] is set)
             +-------------------+
     16      | cmdline           |    (present if flags[2] is set)
             +-------------------+
     20      | mods_count        |    (present if flags[3] is set)
     24      | mods_addr         |    (present if flags[3] is set)
             +-------------------+
     28 - 40 | syms              |    (present if flags[4] or
             |                   |                flags[5] is set)
             +-------------------+
     44      | mmap_length       |    (present if flags[6] is set)
     48      | mmap_addr         |    (present if flags[6] is set)
             +-------------------+
     52      | drives_length     |    (present if flags[7] is set)
     56      | drives_addr       |    (present if flags[7] is set)
             +-------------------+
     60      | config_table      |    (present if flags[8] is set)
             +-------------------+
     64      | boot_loader_name  |    (present if flags[9] is set)
             +-------------------+
     68      | apm_table         |    (present if flags[10] is set)
             +-------------------+
     72      | vbe_control_info  |    (present if flags[11] is set)
     76      | vbe_mode_info     |
     80      | vbe_mode          |
     82      | vbe_interface_seg |
     84      | vbe_interface_off |
     86      | vbe_interface_len |
             +-------------------+
    
...

If bit 3 of the flags is set, then the mods fields indicate to the kernel what boot modules were loaded along with the kernel image, and where they can be found. mods_count contains the number of modules loaded; mods_addr contains the physical address of the first module structure. mods_count may be zero, indicating no boot modules were loaded, even if bit 1 of flags is set. Each module structure is formatted as follows:

             +-------------------+
     0       | mod_start         |
     4       | mod_end           |
             +-------------------+
     8       | string            |
             +-------------------+
     12      | reserved (0)      |
             +-------------------+
     

The first two fields contain the start and end addresses of the boot module itself. The string field provides an arbitrary string to be associated with that particular boot module; it is a zero-terminated ASCII string, just like the kernel command line. The string field may be 0 if there is no string associated with the module. Typically the string might be a command line (e.g. if the operating system treats boot modules as executable programs), or a pathname (e.g. if the operating system treats boot modules as files in a file system), but its exact use is specific to the operating system. The reserved field must be set to 0 by the boot loader and ignored by the operating system.