[PATCH 1/1] boot: BOOTMETH_DISTRO should select BOOTMETH_EFI_BOOTMGR

[Heinrich Schuchardt]

On 23.04.25 14:28, Simon Glass wrote:
> Hi Heinrich,
> 
> On Mon, 21 Apr 2025 at 03:43, Heinrich Schuchardt
> <heinrich.schuchardt at canonical.com> wrote:
>>
>> Distros expect the EFI boot manager to run. It falls back to launching
>> EFI\BOOT\BOOT<ARCH>.EFI from the ESP.
>>
>> BOOTMETH_EFILOADER is obsolete.
>>
>> Signed-off-by: Heinrich Schuchardt <heinrich.schuchardt at canonical.com>
>> ---
>>   boot/Kconfig | 5 ++++-
>>   1 file changed, 4 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-)
>>
>> diff --git a/boot/Kconfig b/boot/Kconfig
>> index fb37d912bc9..89076220adb 100644
>> --- a/boot/Kconfig
>> +++ b/boot/Kconfig
>> @@ -597,6 +597,9 @@ config BOOTMETH_EFILOADER
>>          imply CMD_TFTPBOOT if CMD_NET
>>          default y
>>          help
>> +         This bootmeth is obsolete. BOOTMETH_EFI_BOOTMGR takes care of
>> +         launching EFI\BOOT\BOOT<ARCH>.EFI if no boot option matches.
>> +
>>            Enables support for EFI boot using bootdevs. This makes the
>>            bootdevs look for a 'boot<arch>.efi' on each filesystem
>>            they scan. The resulting file is booted after enabling U-Boot's
>> @@ -648,7 +651,7 @@ config BOOTMETH_DISTRO
>>          select BOOTMETH_SCRIPT if CMDLINE # E.g. Armbian uses scripts
>>          select BOOTMETH_EXTLINUX  # E.g. Debian uses these
>>          select BOOTMETH_EXTLINUX_PXE if CMD_PXE && CMD_NET && DM_ETH
>> -       select BOOTMETH_EFILOADER if EFI_BINARY_EXEC # E.g. Ubuntu uses this
>> +       select BOOTMETH_EFI_BOOTMGR if EFI_BINARY_EXEC # E.g. Ubuntu uses this
>>
>>   config SPL_BOOTMETH_VBE
>>          bool "Bootdev support for Verified Boot for Embedded (SPL)"
>> --
>> 2.48.1
>>
> 
> I don't want to make this bootmeth obsolete. What is the motivation for that?

This method was written in a way that per se violates the UEFI 
specification as it does not set up required UEFI variables.

You must never run this before the boot manager as booting 
EFI/BOOT/BOOT<ARCH>.EFI if there is a boot option violates the UEFI 
specification-

The boot manager covers the functionality of this bootmeth.

Best regards

Heinrich