From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Return-Path: Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org via listexpand id S1752811Ab3ABN0j (ORCPT ); Wed, 2 Jan 2013 08:26:39 -0500 Received: from caibbdcaaaaf.dreamhost.com ([208.113.200.5]:59441 "EHLO homiemail-a79.g.dreamhost.com" rhost-flags-OK-OK-OK-FAIL) by vger.kernel.org with ESMTP id S1752649Ab3ABN0d convert rfc822-to-8bit (ORCPT ); Wed, 2 Jan 2013 08:26:33 -0500 References: <50E306FB.6080607@shealevy.com> <50E31BB4.7040702@zytor.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 (1.0) In-Reply-To: <50E31BB4.7040702@zytor.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8BIT Message-Id: <710F73BE-9F65-48C9-8739-BFCF097F4B07@shealevy.com> Cc: "linux-efi@vger.kernel.org" , Linux Kernel Mailing List X-Mailer: iPhone Mail (10A551) From: Shea Levy Subject: Re: Revisiting EFI boot stub config file support Date: Wed, 2 Jan 2013 08:26:29 -0500 To: "H. Peter Anvin" Sender: linux-kernel-owner@vger.kernel.org List-ID: X-Mailing-List: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org On Jan 1, 2013, at 12:24, "H. Peter Anvin" wrote: > On 01/01/2013 07:55 AM, Shea Levy wrote: >> Hi all, >> >> In March last year, I submitted a patch to enable the EFI boot stub to >> read its config arguments from a file on the ESP, both to help with >> booting from livecds and to avoid having to use efibootmgr every time >> you change your boottime arguments. I ended up dropping the submission >> because I ended up coming to the conclusion that tools like rEFInd and >> gummiboot were better suited to the task of boot managing than the >> kernel itself. >> >> Since then, however, I've received enough emails asking about the status >> of the patch that I think there is room for a simpler entrant into the >> field of linux EFI boot management. This could be in-kernel, as per my >> original patch, or a very simple out-of-kernel (but maybe distributed >> in-tree?) efi image that simply reads linux.conf and boots linux with >> those parameters. My personal bias is still toward handling this >> functionality outside of the kernel itself, but before I started the >> work I thought I'd ask here if anyone thought I should instead bring my >> old patch up-to-date. > > I am willing to accept this (but I am not the first-line maintainer, > Matt is) in the kernel EFI stub as long as there are no hard-coded > filenames involved, no automatic behavior, and no "scanning". Those are > showstoppers, as is adding to the boot time for nonusers. Hm, ok. Does the boot stub have access to CONFIG_CMDLINE? Or could another compile-time setting be added so that distros can ship livecds that automatically use a config file found at a hard-coded location? > > -hpa > >