Gentoo Archives: gentoo-user

From: Peter Humphrey <peter@××××××××××××.uk>
To: gentoo-user@l.g.o
Subject: Re: [gentoo-user] UEFI booting
Date: Sat, 27 Aug 2016 13:20:11
Message-Id: 18644880.Y7anpSNPvB@peak
In Reply to: Re: [gentoo-user] UEFI booting by Mike Gilbert
1 On Friday 26 Aug 2016 16:13:53 Mike Gilbert wrote:
2 > On Fri, Aug 26, 2016 at 4:32 AM, Peter Humphrey <peter@××××××××××××.uk>
3 wrote:
4 > > In my search for a suitable boot method, I'm trying Mike G's
5 > > systemd-boot
6 > > ebuild. I've installed it with no problem, and now I reach the heart-in-
7 > > mouth stage of actually replacing gummiboot with it. But first, the
8 > > backup, including dd of what used to be called the MBR (what is it
9 > > now?).
10 > It should be basically a drop-in replacement, with a slightly
11 > different name. It should not require any modification to your disk
12 > layout.
13
14 After running "bootctl install" I now have
15 bootctl the binary from the systemd-boot package,
16 gummiboot the binary from the gummiboot package.
17
18 They each install a loader called "Linux Boot Loader" into the EFI
19 variables, as you can see from this:
20
21 # bootctl status
22 System:
23 Firmware: UEFI 2.31 (American Megatrends 5.09)
24 Secure Boot: disabled
25 Setup Mode: setup
26
27 Loader:
28 Product: systemd-boot 231
29 Partition: /dev/disk/by-partuuid/e41cc9a5-fb7e-4d73-a7ee-7f36757137c8
30 File: └─/EFI/Boot/bootx64.efi
31
32 Boot Loader Binaries:
33 ESP: /dev/disk/by-partuuid/e41cc9a5-fb7e-4d73-a7ee-7f36757137c8
34 File: └─/EFI/systemd/systemd-bootx64.efi (systemd-boot 231)
35 File: └─/EFI/BOOT/bootX64.efi (systemd-boot 231)
36
37 Boot Loader Entries in EFI Variables:
38 Title: Linux Boot Manager
39 ID: 0x0002
40 Status: active, boot-order
41 Partition: /dev/disk/by-partuuid/e41cc9a5-fb7e-4d73-a7ee-7f36757137c8
42 File: └─/EFI/GUMMIBOOT/GUMMIBOOTX64.EFI
43
44 Title: Linux Boot Manager
45 ID: 0x0005
46 Status: active, boot-order
47 Partition: /dev/disk/by-partuuid/e41cc9a5-fb7e-4d73-a7ee-7f36757137c8
48 File: └─/EFI/SYSTEMD/SYSTEMD-BOOTX64.EFI
49
50 Title: UEFI OS
51 ID: 0x0007
52 Status: active, boot-order
53 Partition: /dev/disk/by-partuuid/e41cc9a5-fb7e-4d73-a7ee-7f36757137c8
54 File: └─/EFI/BOOT/BOOTX64.EFI
55
56 This makes identifying them a matter of informed guesswork. Mike, if you
57 intend to keep a version of gummiboot around, it might be helpful if it used
58 a different entry title.
59
60 > Also, you should be able to configure your firmware to load either
61 > gummiboot or systemd-boot, so you have a fallback if the new code
62 > fails.
63
64 It does appear to have worked so far, though I can't be sure which loader I
65 started since they both showed the same list of gummiboot loader entries. I
66 think. Another question is where the directory /usr/lib64/systemd/boot/efi
67 came from, which bootctl reads from to get its binaries for efivars.
68
69 My next step is to create a new partition layout and populate it from
70 backups, apart from /boot/EFI and /boot/loader, and omitting gummiboot.
71
72 --
73 Rgds
74 Peter