Linux 4.11 Adds EFI Memory Attributes Table Support

[jrch2k8]

I know you can. But untill there is grub-mkconfig replacement for efi i will be stuck with grub.

well, you should try systemd-boot with ArchLinux, i have it on 2 of my PC(xeon haswell / amd fx) and my mac mini and its stupidly easy to use and even magically boot my OS X(sierra) partition on the mini with Archlinux and the Arch wiki is super complete and easy to follow.

On ubuntu and the like i'm not sure how it works tho since i'm not sure how complete their UEFI and mkinitcpio systems are but on Arch like linuxes is a shot to the ground

[starshipeleven]

I know you can. But untill there is grub-mkconfig replacement for efi i will be stuck with grub.

With rEFInd there is no need for that, once it is setup it will autoscan for bootable systems on each boot, so you don't need to enter configs manually. Only reason I had to change its text file config in the EFI partition is because I installed a theme so I had to add a line for that.

Also no distro has any understanding that it exists at all, so they simply won't go and fuck with it like it happens routinely in multiboot environments with GRUB2.

[starshipeleven]

UEFI can go to hell. It's was developed by insane people. It's very bloated, complex in an area that should be kept non-complex, highly insecure (network stack? For whose benefit? Not mine, clearly!), bug ridden. Machines got bricked because "userland" programs did what they were allowed - and stored something. Bam! Bricked.

For the sake of fairness, also BIOS had a network stack. I clearly remember boards that offered to autocheck for firmware update from BIOS screen (reaction=nopenopenopenope).

Maybe a few non-consumer boards's FW is not that horrible in terms of interface, but one can't always afford those or simply doesn't need something like 2 CPU/APU sockets. And in case of UEFI those even have more functionality in them...

Workstation or single-CPU server boards don't cost more than a gaming board, btw.

I'd so wish manufacturers would just offer their boards with Coreboot/LibreCore/Libreboot + Seabios or something.

They would manage to fuck them up beyond recognition anyway. I'm in the camp of those that think that OEMs should NOT be allowed to touch any kind of software AT ALL.
ASUS, HP and anyone else isn't better than a random chinese crap manufacturer when it comes to software (in many times the latter puts in less bullshit).

[cj.wijtmans]

Refined sucks i tried it. I dont need anything like that i just need efibootmgr with automatic setup to boot my efi stub kernels.

[starshipeleven]

Refined sucks i tried it.

What part sucks?

I dont need anything like that i just need efibootmgr with automatic setup to boot my efi stub kernels.

Define "automatic setup", what part you want to be automatic?

Because it's not horribly complex to just write down a script that automates the loading/unloading of it to update the available kernels, but having it do an automatic scan on boot is impossible as it just sets EFI variables, and is the board firmware that does the booting work.

[cj.wijtmans]

What part sucks?

The kernel scanning loop was stuck. It doesnt feel right to use. unlike grub where you can actually go into command and stuff.

Define "automatic setup", what part you want to be automatic?

Because it's not horribly complex to just write down a script that automates the loading/unloading of it to update the available kernels, but having it do an automatic scan on boot is impossible as it just sets EFI variables, and is the board firmware that does the booting work.

My UEFI board works perfectly fine. Actually surprised by it. i just need something like grub-mkconfig for setting EFI boot options like efibootmgr does but automatic.

[starshipeleven]

The kernel scanning loop was stuck. It doesnt feel right to use. unlike grub where you can actually go into command and stuff.

Weird, never had that issue on Debian or OpenSUSE. You can go in EFI shell too, if you install that. Never really saw the point of CLI in a bootloader. I use that stuff so rarely that I never ever remember it when I need it most.

If shit does not work I pop in SuperGRUBDisk that scans for systems automatically (same as rEFInd).

My UEFI board works perfectly fine. Actually surprised by it. i just need something like grub-mkconfig for setting EFI boot options like efibootmgr does but automatic.

As I said, I would make a shell script that operates efibootmgr so you can just run that and it will update all entries.

You just do a ls on the folder where you have the kernels and iterate on kernel names, maybe with a question and an if-then to decide what of these kernels should be default.

something like

for kernel_name in $(ls /boot | grep "some filter") ; do

efibootmgr do stuff for $kernel_name

done

Really, for someone that likes command line in a bootloader too, you should be able to figure this out on your own.

[Yndoendo]

With rEFInd there is no need for that, once it is setup it will autoscan for bootable systems on each boot, so you don't need to enter configs manually. Only reason I had to change its text file config in the EFI partition is because I installed a theme so I had to add a line for that.

Also no distro has any understanding that it exists at all, so they simply won't go and fuck with it like it happens routinely in multiboot environments with GRUB2.

rEFind auto find and configuration does not work with encrypted file systems and configuration file will need to be created. Also boot loader of choice for EFI since it was one of the first stable applications and simple to setup and use.

It also auto found my dual boot to Windows, before I stopped dual booting and moved to VMs only for Windows, and USB flash drives. It will work off a configuration file if present but also auto find during each boot too.

[boxie]

I won't be using EFI until LILO supports it *runs away with tongue in cheek*

[beniwtv]

UEFI can go to hell. It's was developed by insane people. It's very bloated, complex in an area that should be kept non-complex, highly insecure (network stack? For whose benefit? Not mine, clearly!), bug ridden. Machines got bricked because "userland" programs did what they were allowed - and stored something. Bam! Bricked.

And nobody needs animations of spinning fans in a BIOS-setup. Instead of using the space for better explanations of the setup options those people chose to go away from a working text res. interface towards a graphical interface with all sorts of non-sense.
Moreover I have seen some menus with a design that ended up being unreadable - white text on bright background. Useless!

There is one good thing about UEFI, though.

In the normal BIOS days to get anything booted, we needed to 1) Create a partition and install syslinux or what-have-you to it, 2) mark that partition as bootable, 3) use some obscure cli command, or otherwise tool to install a "MBR", to a part of the HDD you couldn't see and check easily.

And then pray that the thing actually boots. I've had that not work countless of times. I've had "fix MBR (in the Windows installer, for Windows installs)" not work countless of times.
I've had USB sticks / USB HDDs not work countless of times.

With UEFI, you loose your boot entries, or need to add a new one? - It's dead simple!

Many UEFIs allow you to just select what you want to add as boot entry.
If not, there is the EFI shell, and you can just "cd" to your bootloader directory on the partition and execute it, like a program.

Plus, on the UEFI partition you can actually see, if there is a bootloader there or not.