GRUB2 Working On TPM2 Automatic Disk Unlock, TrenchBoot & More

[phoronix]

Phoronix: GRUB2 Working On TPM2 Automatic Disk Unlock, TrenchBoot & More

Daniel Kiper with Oracle has provided a status update on current GRUB bootloader development activities, a look ahead, and plans for hopefully having out the next release in November...

https://www.phoronix.com/news/GRUB-2024-Plans

[Artim]

I think the upcoming Argon2 support is even more exciting, especially if it might mean replacing libgcrypt with something faster. Grub always seemed kinda slow decrypting partitions. At least Grub 2.12 skipped the pointless waiting time when you leave the bootup password empty to get to the grub console.

And even though the developer of LUKS said there's no immediate reason to abandon PBKDF2, I did recently see him replying on a reddit thread that he'd vote for just going with Argon2 whenever possible, as it's the default for LUKS2 for a reason.

[mirmirmir]

Back in my arch phase, I used systemd bootloader because arch wiki doesn't take side, and systemd bootloader just happened to be on top. I know it's minimal, but what stops you -fellow phoronix useres- from using systemd bootloader, or any other alternatives really, and use grub instead?

[You-]

Back in my arch phase, I used systemd bootloader because arch wiki doesn't take side, and systemd bootloader just happened to be on top. I know it's minimal, but what stops you -fellow phoronix useres- from using systemd bootloader, or any other alternatives really, and use grub instead?

Most users go by the default bootloader of the distro.

Most distros only want to support one bootloader and with systemd-boot, they will either need to drop non-uefi boot or have two bootloaders if they choose systemd-boot.

(ofcourse there is the other option of using grub to emulate uefi that then uses systemd-boot... but I am not sure if that is just theoretical or people are using it in the wild yet.)

[docontra]

(...)but what stops you -fellow phoronix useres- from using systemd bootloader, or any other alternatives really, and use grub instead?

For me it's because I've grown used to it and feel like I have a decent grip on it . It has some neat, if rapidly becoming irrelevant features:

• works on both EFI and BIOS
• Supports multiple OSes (mostly irrelevant on EFI, but the comfort element is big)
• With a borderline absurd amount of finagling[1], it supports as close to a fully encrypted disk as you can get without Hardware/TPM/Firmware support (on EFI, you only leave the EFI partition unencrypted)

(And yes, from the bullet points in the article the big-ticket item for my use-cases is argon2 support)

[1]: Did it twice on Arch Linux ; tried and failed to do so on Ubuntu 22.04

[Britoid]

I'd much rather distros commit to using systemd-boot

much reduced attack surface, uses the secure boot stack and doesn't add its own, and is under LGPL so should in theory be signable with Microsoft approved keys (not a lawyer), where GRUB can not because its GPL (hence the shim).

and doesn't require me to edit a config file to not be 480p (seriously its 2024.. MS figured this out in Vista).

[Danny3]

Fuck TPM2!
Where is LUKS2 support???

[elatllat]

LOL, It's been 20 years and LUKS1 support in grub is still garbage.

[Sonadow]

What stops you from using systemd bootloader, or any other alternatives really, and use grub instead?

update-grub2

[Artim]

Back in my arch phase, I used systemd bootloader because arch wiki doesn't take side, and systemd bootloader just happened to be on top. I know it's minimal, but what stops you -fellow phoronix useres- from using systemd bootloader, or any other alternatives really, and use grub instead?

I would if I could, I tried to use rEFInd and systemd-boot, but somehow Debian refused to install them correctly, so I ended up with either just sitting before Grub. And since neither the Debian mailing list nor their reddit could help me, I just went with Grub 2.12 and called it a day.