Bug#427492: grub-efi: bless equivalent for Linux

[Felix Zielcke]

Am Dienstag, den 12.05.2009, 19:47 +0200 schrieb Michal Suchanek :
> Package: grub-efi
> Version: 1.96+20080724-16
> Followup-For: Bug #427492
> 
> 
> I can confirm that this is a problem. Just installing grub is not
> sufficient to boot.
> 
> I am using this method: 
> 
> 1) load GRUB from the OSX partition
> 2) load GRUB from the Linux partition using the grub installed on the
> hfsplus partition.
> 
> Perhaps in 2) I could just load the Debian configuration file. Since the
> Debian grub is broken after some upgrade it might be a good idea to set
> up booting this way to avoid future problems.
> 
> It must be possible to "bless" a disk without modifications to the
> NVRAM because bootable CDs and disks can be swapped between systems,
> connected to different buses (IDE/USB/FireWire), etc.
> 
> Unfortunately I cannot point to a piece of documentation describing how
> this is done. In fact I was even unable to bless grub installed in the
> EFI partition.
> 
> On the other hand, this does not really require reverse-engeneering as
> the OS X system base is Darwin which is opensource.
> 
> Thanks
> 
> Michal
> 

I just found now the upstream homepage of efibootmgr and there [0] it
says:
This is efibootmgr, a Linux user-space application to modify the Intel
Extensible Firmware Interface (EFI) Boot Manager.  This application
can create and destroy boot entries, change the boot order, change
the next running boot option, and more.

So I think grub-efi-{amd64,ia32} should Suggests/Recommends it.

Could anyone try if efibootmgr actually works with the Intel Macs?

Ah I just read now the backlog of the bug and it would only work when
booted through EFI, so not a complete solution probable.

[0] http://linux.dell.com/efibootmgr/efibootmgr.txt

-- 
Felix Zielcke