[RFC 2/8] boot: BOOTMETH_DISTRO should select BOOTMETH_EFI_BOOTMGR

[Simon Glass]

Hi,

On Fri, 2 May 2025 at 03:28, Ilias Apalodimas
<ilias.apalodimas at linaro.org> wrote:
>
> Hi Heinrich
>
> On Wed Apr 23, 2025 at 3:53 PM EEST, Heinrich Schuchardt wrote:
> > On 23.04.25 14:28, Simon Glass wrote:
> >> Hi Heinrich,
> >>
> >> On Mon, 21 Apr 2025 at 10:26, 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 BOOTMETH_EFILOADER is obsolete.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..71ddb37f6bb 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 +         This bootmeth is obsolete.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 not boot option matches.
> >>> +
> >>
> >> I don't agree with marking this as obsolete and your commit message
> >> doesn't explain why it should be.
> >
> > 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.
> >
> > We should delete this method.
>
> +1. Do you plan to propose a patch to remove it and only leave the bootmanager?
> Or you prefer marking it as obsolete for a while?

No, neither.

The work-around that Heinrich and I discussed was to insert bootmgr
later in the bootdev sequence, not to disable this bootmeth.

Regards,
Simon