EFI
Summary
(from uefi.org) UEFI stands for "Unified Extensible Firmware Interface". The UEFI specification defines a new model for the interface between personal-computer operating systems and platform firmware. The interface consists of data tables that contain platform-related information, plus boot and runtime service calls that are available to the operating system and its loader. Together, these provide a standard environment for booting an operating system and running pre-boot applications.
Owner
- Name: PeterJones
- Name: Denise Dumas -- ddumas@redhat.com
Current status
- Targeted release: Fedora 11
- Last updated: 2009-02-10
- Percentage of completion: 85%
| Sub-task | Percent Complete | Notes |
| x86_64 starting the installer | 90 | 'dd if=images/efidisk.img of=/dev/$USBSTICK' will get you a (somewhat malformed) usb stick that you can boot the installer from. Next will be support for additional devices (Network devices for PXE boot/CDs/DVD). Work is in progress. |
| i386 starting the installer | 90 | Working now, likely to need further debug for individual hardware platforms. |
| ia64 starting the installer | 0 | F11 - some grub work needed, plus a small amount of work in anaconda's scripts/mk-images |
| x86_64 efi able to detect and boot the i386 kernel | 0 | guestimated at a day or so of work. Needed this to install i386 on the Santa Rosa Macs. But low priority and unlikely to be supported because of buildinstall issues. |
| x86_64 installation | 99 | Install working now with minor bugs for Intel boxes. Not working on MACs, untested on any other hardware platforms and likely to need further debug. |
| i386 installation | 99 | Install working now with minor bugs, likely to need further debug for individual hardware platforms. |
| ia64 installation | 0 | F11 - Need to switch from elilo to grub - lower priority than completing X86_64 device support. |
| x86_64 booting (post install) | 99 | Working in Rawhide on Intel boxes, not working on MACs, not tested on Dell or any other hardware platforms. |
| i386 booting (post install) | 99 | Working in Rawhide |
| ia64 booting (post install) | 0 | F11 |
| efibootmanager wrangling | 99 | package committed to CVS, need to s/elilo/efibootmgr and grub/ in comps |
Detailed Description
EFI has long been available for ia64 systems. UEFI brings it to i386 (the Intel-based Apple Mac products have it, as do a few HP systems sold primarily in China), and it will be widely available in x86_64-capable systems in the next few years.
Several things need to happen (in no particular order):
- GRUB needs to learn to read an EFI GUID Partition Table. (done)
- GRUB needs to run as an EFI boot loader. (done)
- GRUB needs to be ported to build and run on ia64 so elilo can be dropped (not done)
- Kernel needs i386 and x86_64 CONFIG_EFI code (should be easier after the 2.6.24 merge into x86) (done)
- Kernel needs CONFI_FB_IMAC and CONFIG_FB_EFI merge upstream (done)
- Kernel needs CONFIG_FB_EFI and associated driver (efifb) (done)
- Kernel needs CONFIG_FB_IMAC (imacfb support) for Intel Macs (obviated; pjones merged this into efifb)
- GRUB needs to write out screen_info from UGA so we can use efifb instead of imacfb (done)
- Kernel needs CONFIG_EFI_VARS enabled on i386 and x86_64 (done)
- efibootmgr needs to be split out from the elilo package (done)
Benefit to Fedora
Hardware enablement.
Scope
Well-contained. grub, efibootmgr as described above, for 3 platforms.
Test Plan
UEFI-capable systems are available from a number of vendors under NDA. Those with access to such systems are actively solicited to perform testing. We have very limited hardware access, which hampers the debugging effort.
NOTE: A Fedora Test Day is planned for UEFI, we will send email announcements to hardware partners once it is scheduled.
Test plan is pretty straightforward. The new components (grub, kernel, efibootmgr) will need to be tested for UEFI functionality.
Architectures: X86 X86_64 IA64
Manufacturer's Platforms: TBD - whoever is interested in support for their hardware
Each platform should be able to install and boot from: - Internal disk - External disk connected by FC - USB CD - USB DVD - Other USB storage devices TBD - Network devices
Additional test cases: - Variable runtime services, in particular the ability to write to NVRAM - Able to list at least 10 devices as boot devices - Boot from disk > 2TB - More?
User Experience
Significantly similar to that of today. The EFI Boot Manager, which runs in the BIOS, is a new feature, which can be frobbed at runtime using efibootmgr.
Dependencies
Vendor support in hardware
Contingency Plan
Initial UEFI support appeared in Fedora 10. In Fedora 11 we will expand support, contingent upon hardware availability. UEFI-capable hardware platforms provide a BIOS-compatibility mode, so if they are not verified in time for Fedora 11 and bugs later are found, the hardware platforms can boot in BIOS compatibility mode.
Documentation
Release Notes
UEFI hardware support is not yet widely available and the user impact is negligible, so no release note is needed beyond "we support UEFI"