Who would like Grubless booting on their UEFI systems?!

[Maurice]

If you look in https://bugs.mageia.org/show_bug.cgi?id=15153
you will see an approach to booting on UEFI systems that would avoid the
use
of Grub (to the extent that Grub can be uninstalled).

I've been trying this out on a HP Probook 450 (UEFI/GPT) with Mageia-5
installed, and have got to the stage where - after switching on the
laptop -
I can go put the kettle on and return to find the Mageia-5 login awaiting
my
password, having been booted via the easily-installed (free) rEFInd boot
manager.

Furthermore, the fact that rEFInd boots straight into the /boot partition
of
an installed Linux distro (Grub not involved) means that, after a new
install - whatever happens during the installation - on 1st reboot any
pre-existing installs can still be booted.

[rEFInd automatically scans for any distro .efi boot files (including
Windows) and dynamically constructs a boot menu with entries for
all of them.

All one has to do is persuade the UEFI BIOS to boot rEFInd first!
(That should be straightforward, but not with the HP 450!)

My reason for posting this is that there is one requirement for rEFInd
Grubless booting which some help from the Installer would facilitate
(though
in my case I found rEFInd had automatically generated a default version).

In an install's /boot, you need to create a small text file that
specifies
the boot command line parameters needed (similar to what you would find
in a
grub.conf file). For example:

# cat /boot/refind_linux.conf
"linux" "root=UUID=dce17b8c-5313-4793-b329-2a3ee80d0cf0 splash quiet
noiswmd"
"failsafe" "root=UUID=dce17b8c-5313-4793-b329-2a3ee80d0cf0 failsafe
noiswmd"

If you don't have this file, rEFInd will attempt to guess suitable
parameters, but it can't always get this right (e.g. if you need an
option like nokmsboot).

Some patches to allow drakboot to create this file for you have been
designed
(see https://bugs.mageia.org/show_bug.cgi?id=15153 ).
Note that the latest patches in that bug report are for Mageia 6 -
older
versions are for Mageia 5, but as demand is difficult to measure, it
probably
won't happen any time soon unless some support for the facility is shown.

So, the reason for this posting is simply to show what is possible, and
hopefully stir up enough support for the Installer enhancement in 15153
by
adding comments to it.

[Doug Laidlaw]

Post by Maurice
If you look in https://bugs.mageia.org/show_bug.cgi?id=15153
you will see an approach to booting on UEFI systems that would avoid the
use
of Grub (to the extent that Grub can be uninstalled).
I've been trying this out on a HP Probook 450 (UEFI/GPT) with Mageia-5
installed, and have got to the stage where - after switching on the
laptop -
I can go put the kettle on and return to find the Mageia-5 login awaiting
my
password, having been booted via the easily-installed (free) rEFInd boot
manager.

I can do that with grub2.
rEFInd is in the repos. I installed it and had it working, but the only
bootup option I could find was a graphical choice of icons. No default
distro etc.

Post by Maurice
Furthermore, the fact that rEFInd boots straight into the /boot partition
of
an installed Linux distro (Grub not involved) means that, after a new
install - whatever happens during the installation - on 1st reboot any
pre-existing installs can still be booted.

That is one of my pet gripes. Any other installation normally requires
me to reinstall Mageia from scratch. I used to comment affected entries
out of fstab first, but these days, I keep forgetting. I suspect that
the culprit is not grub2, but systemd and dracut, which add extra
tests to pass. Often the error message comes from dracut.

Post by Maurice
[rEFInd automatically scans for any distro .efi boot files (including
Windows) and dynamically constructs a boot menu with entries for
all of them.
All one has to do is persuade the UEFI BIOS to boot rEFInd first!
(That should be straightforward, but not with the HP 450!)

(Sounds like HP again. I bought a Netgear router, and my wife's
HP laptop is the only device that claims it doesn't exist.)
That might be done for you by the distro package. On my eForce mobo,
there are separate configs for each bootloader, and all I would need to
do is move the one I want to the top of the list.

Post by Maurice
My reason for posting this is that there is one requirement for rEFInd
Grubless booting which some help from the Installer would facilitate
(though
in my case I found rEFInd had automatically generated a default version).
In an install's /boot, you need to create a small text file that
specifies
the boot command line parameters needed (similar to what you would find
in a
# cat /boot/refind_linux.conf
"linux" "root=UUID=dce17b8c-5313-4793-b329-2a3ee80d0cf0 splash quiet
noiswmd"
"failsafe" "root=UUID=dce17b8c-5313-4793-b329-2a3ee80d0cf0 failsafe
noiswmd"

Once again, the RPM should do that for you. As you say, it is a copy of
the parameters in grub.cfg, so it is easy enough for the RPM to find it,
or to create a new identical file.

Post by Maurice
If you don't have this file, rEFInd will attempt to guess suitable
parameters, but it can't always get this right (e.g. if you need an
option like nokmsboot).

The moral is, use the Mageia RPM in preference, whenever you can.

Doug.

[Doug Laidlaw]

Post by Doug Laidlaw
rEFInd is in the repos. I installed it and had it working, but the only
bootup option I could find was a graphical choice of icons. No default
distro etc.

It isn't in Mga6 (Cauldron.) There is a generic RPM in SourceForge.
That installed without any trouble, but isn't in my UEFI menu. It needs
to be configured manually. There is an SRPM, but without using Mageia's
own .spec file, it would probably be no better.

Doug.

[dlbendigo]

Post by Doug Laidlaw

Post by Doug Laidlaw
rEFInd is in the repos. I installed it and had it working, but the only
bootup option I could find was a graphical choice of icons. No default
distro etc.

It isn't in Mga6 (Cauldron.) There is a generic RPM in SourceForge.
That installed without any trouble, but isn't in my UEFI menu. It needs
to be configured manually. There is an SRPM, but without using Mageia's
own .spec file, it would probably be no better.
Doug.

I was right. Mageia puts files where the RPM doesn't expect them
to be.

--

[Maurice]

Post by Doug Laidlaw
isn't in my UEFI menu

I got UEFI to boot straight to rEFInd via:

bcdedit /set {bootmgr} path \EFI\refind\refind_x64.efi

- in Windows10*.

(* Executed in a 'Command (Admin)' session.
Not sufficient to have Administrator setting in User account).

[efibootmgr should have been able to do that, but doesn't seem to be
as successful at such things...]

[dlbendigo]

Post by Maurice

Post by Doug Laidlaw
isn't in my UEFI menu

bcdedit /set {bootmgr} path \EFI\refind\refind_x64.efi
- in Windows10*.
(* Executed in a 'Command (Admin)' session.
Not sufficient to have Administrator setting in User account).
[efibootmgr should have been able to do that, but doesn't seem to be
as successful at such things...]
--
/\/\aurice
(Replace "nomail.afraid" by "bcs" to reply by email)

Yes, i could do that. My experience of efibootmgr is the same.
It is good at shuffling Linux boots around, but is no match for
Windows. Anything that drastic needs to be done in Windows.

I have been hunting for your thread.

Doug.
--

[dlbendigo]

Post by dlbendigo

Post by Maurice

Post by Doug Laidlaw
isn't in my UEFI menu

bcdedit /set {bootmgr} path \EFI\refind\refind_x64.efi
- in Windows10*.
(* Executed in a 'Command (Admin)' session.
Not sufficient to have Administrator setting in User account).
[efibootmgr should have been able to do that, but doesn't seem to be
as successful at such things...]
--
/\/\aurice
(Replace "nomail.afraid" by "bcs" to reply by email)

Yes, i could do that. My experience of efibootmgr is the same.
It is good at shuffling Linux boots around, but is no match for
Windows. Anything that drastic needs to be done in Windows.
I have been hunting for your thread.
Doug.
--

I installed refind-0.10.4-1. The boot options file was created
automatically.

Doug.
--

[dlbendigo]

Post by dlbendigo

Post by dlbendigo

Post by Maurice

Post by Doug Laidlaw
isn't in my UEFI menu

bcdedit /set {bootmgr} path \EFI\refind\refind_x64.efi
- in Windows10*.
(* Executed in a 'Command (Admin)' session.
Not sufficient to have Administrator setting in User account).
[efibootmgr should have been able to do that, but doesn't seem to be
as successful at such things...]
--
/\/\aurice
(Replace "nomail.afraid" by "bcs" to reply by email)

Yes, i could do that. My experience of efibootmgr is the same.
It is good at shuffling Linux boots around, but is no match for
Windows. Anything that drastic needs to be done in Windows.
I have been hunting for your thread.
Doug.
--

I installed refind-0.10.4-1. The boot options file was created
automatically.
Doug.
--
The refind choice is still hidden. The forum for EasyUEFI

says that the hidden status means that the entry isn't needed,
and there is no way to "unhide" it except by making it useful.

Doug.


--

[Maurice]

Post by Maurice
[rEFInd automatically scans for any distro .efi boot files (including
Windows) and dynamically constructs a boot menu with entries for all of
them.

Furthermore (I've just learned):

If you are booting a DVD or flash drive with an EFI boot file (e.g. the
Mageia classic installer or Live media), you should find it automatically
appears in the rEFInd boot menu (without needing to enable CSM (or
Legacy,
in the case of my HP 450 Probook)).