From owner-freebsd-hackers@FreeBSD.ORG Thu May 10 08:04:43 2012 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-hackers@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:4f8:fff6::34]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 11065106564A; Thu, 10 May 2012 08:04:43 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from ae@FreeBSD.org) Received: from mail.kirov.so-ups.ru (mail.kirov.so-ups.ru [178.74.170.1]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id A92A28FC12; Thu, 10 May 2012 08:04:42 +0000 (UTC) Received: from kas30pipe.localhost (localhost.kirov.so-ups.ru [127.0.0.1]) by mail.kirov.so-ups.ru (Postfix) with SMTP id 6A0BEB801B; Thu, 10 May 2012 12:04:39 +0400 (MSK) Received: from kirov.so-ups.ru (unknown [172.21.81.1]) by mail.kirov.so-ups.ru (Postfix) with ESMTP id 5FBE3B8008; Thu, 10 May 2012 12:04:39 +0400 (MSK) Received: by ns.kirov.so-ups.ru (Postfix, from userid 1010) id 55F11BA035; Thu, 10 May 2012 12:04:39 +0400 (MSK) Received: from [127.0.0.1] (unknown [10.118.3.52]) by ns.kirov.so-ups.ru (Postfix) with ESMTP id 1E366BA02C; Thu, 10 May 2012 12:04:39 +0400 (MSK) Message-ID: <4FAB7697.50706@FreeBSD.org> Date: Thu, 10 May 2012 12:04:39 +0400 From: "Andrey V. Elsukov" User-Agent: Mozilla Thunderbird 1.5 (FreeBSD/20051231) MIME-Version: 1.0 To: Eric McCorkle References: <4FA95960.7090908@shadowsun.net> In-Reply-To: <4FA95960.7090908@shadowsun.net> X-Enigmail-Version: 1.4.1 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=KOI8-R Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-SpamTest-Version: SMTP-Filter Version 3.0.0 [0284], KAS30/Release X-SpamTest-Info: Not protected Cc: freebsd-hackers@freebsd.org, Marcel Moolenaar , rpaulo@FreeBSD.org Subject: Re: GSoC Project: EFI on amd64/i386 X-BeenThere: freebsd-hackers@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: Technical Discussions relating to FreeBSD List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Thu, 10 May 2012 08:04:43 -0000 On 08.05.2012 21:35, Eric McCorkle wrote: > I'd also like to start a discussion on the matter, since it seems > there are several ways that this could be done. Also, I know Rui > Paulo was working on this a while back. If anyone knows the approach > he was taking, that would be helpful. The way IA-64 handles booting > might also be helpful. I hope Rui and Marcel can share their experience. > * An EFI boot service could potentially function similarly to > [zfs]loader. Alternatively, it could function like gpt[zfs]boot, > though this might require modifying loader(8) since EFI boot services > run in protected/long mode, and have different system information > table formats. > > * How much of what EFI provides do we want to use? There are > advantages and disadvantages both ways. My thoughts on how this should work: Our EFI loader should be placed to the EFI system partition. UEFI firmware executes it and loader works like non-UEFI loader does. I.e. it searches freebsd partitions via libefi and loads kernel. > * How much of the kernel needs to be changed to boot/run from an EFI boot? I think it is not needed. > * It seems possible to support booting from legacy BIOS as well as EFI > (install a protective MBR, and gpt[zfs]boot on a FreeBSD boot > partition, install the EFI boot loader in a way that the EFI firmware > will find it and load it, and the system itself on another partition). > Is it worth trying to do this? We already can boot via PMBR+gpt[zfs]boot, but EFI loader should not depend on that. -- WBR, Andrey V. Elsukov