Bug#1146562: Please return efi_uga.mod to x86_64-efi grub

[Mikhail Ryazanov]

Regarding the tone: in my initial report, I was trying to provide as 
much relevant information as I could gather at that time. However, 
instead of any help or suggestions how to solve or diagnose the problem, 
I've got a dismissive one-line reply from you, implying that nobody 
cares (not even cares to explain).

I did not mean that you are a reckless destroyer, but GRUB is a critical 
part of the system, and thus suddenly finding out that some change, 
which was not announced or even publicly discussed, broke its 
functionality was very frustrating. I am not a professional software 
developer, but I do contribute to and even maintain some open-source 
software myself, so I know how important it is to interact with bug 
reporters to get more information, at least if you feel responsibility 
for your project.

To be clear: I am not familiar with EFI and GRUB internals, so my 
initial report was off in identifying the cause of the observed problem. 
My last tests show that UGA is apparently unrelated to it (so this bug 
probably should be renamed, or I can open another one once we identify 
the real cause). I am willing to do the necessary tests to find out what 
exactly is broken, but due to my unfamiliarity with the details, I need 
guidance and assistance from GRUB developers/maintainers.

I do have "GRUB_TERMINAL=console" in my /etc/default/grub. I've used 
this on all my computers since CRT times because it avoided the flicker 
from switching display modes (between POST, GRUB and Linux). On that 
MacBook, it was still used as an obvious solution to the tiny font. This 
worked perfectly fine until the last update (I've skipped 2.14-2, so 
cannot tell anything about it). As far as I can tell, grub.cfg is still 
generated as expected, but now "terminal_output console" started putting 
GRUB in an unusable state.

As I've mentioned previously, efitextmode still shows the available text 
modes and allows selecting between them (but "terminal_output console" 
apparently does not switch to them). Also, UEFI 2.10 section 
"12. Protocols — Console Support" says that text modes are still 
supported. So please explain what exactly was dropped, and what I can do 
to find why exactly "terminal_output console" is broken in my case.

The affected machine is "MacBookPro11,1" with 2019 firmware (that is, 
not super ancient). I can also do tests on a recent (2025 firmware) 
non-Apple PC. Preferably, booting only GRUB itself from an USB stick 
instead of reinstalling it on the working system.