code.delx.au - refind/blob - docs/refind/getting.html

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   7   <title>The rEFInd Boot Manager: Getting rEFInd</title>
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  14   <h1>The rEFInd Boot Manager:<br />Getting rEFInd</h1>
  15
  16   <p class="subhead">by Roderick W. Smith, <a
  17 href="mailto:rodsmith@rodsbooks.com">rodsmith@rodsbooks.com</a></p>
  18
  19 <p>Originally written: 3/14/2012; last Web page update:
  20 7/26/2015, referencing rEFInd 0.9.0</p>
  21
  22 <p>This Web page is provided free of charge and with no annoying outside ads; however, I did take time to prepare it, and Web hosting does cost money. If you find this Web page useful, please consider making a small donation to help keep this site up and running. Thanks!</p>
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 102 <input type="hidden" name="currency_code" value="USD">
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 112 <form action="https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr" method="post">
 113 <input type="hidden" name="cmd" value="_donations">
 114 <input type="hidden" name="business" value="rodsmith@rodsbooks.com">
 115 <input type="hidden" name="lc" value="US">
 116 <input type="hidden" name="no_note" value="0">
 117 <input type="hidden" name="currency_code" value="USD">
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 124 </table>
 125
 126 <hr />
 127
 128 <p>This page is part of the documentation for the rEFInd boot manager. If a Web search has brought you here, you may want to start at the <a href="index.html">main page.</a></p>
 129
 130 <hr />
 131
 132 <p><b>Note:</b> I consider rEFInd to be <i>beta-quality software!</i> I'm discovering bugs (old and new) and fixing them every few days. That said, rEFInd is a usable program in its current form on many systems. If you have problems, feel free to drop me a line.</p>
 133
 134 <h2>Getting rEFInd from Sourceforge</h2>
 135
 136 <p>You can find the rEFInd source code and binary packages at <a href="http://www.sourceforge.net/projects/refind/">its SourceForge page.</a> Note that rEFInd is OS-independent&mdash;it runs before the OS, so you download the same binary package for any OS. You can obtain rEFInd in several different forms:</p>
 137
 138 <ul>
 139
 140 <li><b><a
 141     href="http://sourceforge.net/projects/refind/files/0.9.0/refind-bin-0.9.0.zip/download">A
 142     binary zip file</a></b>&mdash;Download this if you want to install
 143     rEFInd and/or its filesystem drivers on an <i>x</i>86 or <i>x</i>86-64
 144     computer and have no need to test rEFInd first by booting it on an
 145     optical disc. This zip file package includes both <i>x</i>86 (aka IA32)
 146     and <i>x</i>86-64 (aka <i>x</i>64, AMD64, or EM64T) versions of rEFInd.
 147     Which you install depends on your architecture, as described on the <a
 148     href="installing.html">Installing rEFInd</a> page. Some users of Arch
 149     Linux have reported problems booting some specific Arch Linux kernels
 150     with rEFInd and some other tools. For them, a <a
 151     href="http://sourceforge.net/projects/refind/files/0.9.0/refind-bin-gnuefi-0.9.0.zip/download">variant
 152     package</a> exists in which the <i>x</i>86-64 binary was compiled with
 153     GNU-EFI rather than the usual TianoCore EDK2. This change helps some
 154     users with this problem.</li>
 155
 156 <li><b><a
 157     href="http://sourceforge.net/projects/refind/files/0.9.0/refind-0.9.0-1.x86_64.rpm/download">A
 158     binary RPM file</a></b>&mdash;If you use an RPM-based <i>x</i>86-64
 159     Linux system such as Fedora or openSUSE, you can install the binary RPM
 160     package rather than use the binary zip file. (I don't provide an
 161     equivalent 32-bit package.) This package runs the <tt>install.sh</tt>
 162     script (described on the <a href="installing.html">Installing
 163     rEFInd</a> page) as part of the installation process. Distribution
 164     maintainers can examine the <tt>refind.spec</tt> file in the source
 165     package and tweak it to their needs. The <a
 166     href="http://sourceforge.net/projects/refind/files/0.9.0/refind-0.9.0-1.src.rpm/download">source
 167     RPM file</a> might or might not build on your system as-is; it relies
 168     on assumptions about the locations of the GNU-EFI development
 169     files.</li>
 170
 171 <li><b><a
 172     href="http://sourceforge.net/projects/refind/files/0.9.0/refind_0.9.0-1_amd64.deb/download">A
 173     binary Debian package</a></b>&mdash;If you use an <i>x</i>86-64 version
 174     of Debian, Ubuntu, Mint, or another Debian-based distribution, you can
 175     install from this package, which was converted from the binary RPM
 176     package using <tt>alien</tt>. Note that an <a href="#ppa">Ubuntu
 177     PPA</a> is available, which may install more smoothly and will cause
 178     rEFInd to automatically update with other packages.</li>
 179
 180 <!--
 181 <li><b><a
 182     href="http://sourceforge.net/projects/refind/files/0.4.7/refind-bin-gnuefi-0.4.7.zip/download">A
 183     binary zip file (built with GNU-EFI)</a></b>&mdash;This package is just
 184     like the preceding one, except that it was built using the GNU-EFI
 185     development kit rather than the TianoCore EFI Development Kit 2 (EDK2)
 186     that was used to build the other binary. I originally used GNU-EFI to
 187     develop rEFInd, but the GNU-EFI toolkit doesn't support the legacy
 188     (BIOS-mode) boot calls on UEFI-based PCs, so I now consider the
 189     TianoCore build to be the primary one. (Macs can boot legacy OSes using
 190     either build.)</li>
 191 -->
 192
 193 <p class="sidebar"><b>Note:</b> At the moment, neither the bootable CD-R image file nor the bootable USB flash drive image file supports booting with Secure Boot active. The x86-64 version of the <a href="http://en.altlinux.org/Rescue">ALT Linux Rescue disc</a> uses a Secure Boot-enabled rEFInd, though, so you may find that useful in some situations.</p>
 194
 195 <li><b><a
 196     href="http://sourceforge.net/projects/refind/files/0.9.0/refind-cd-0.9.0.zip/download">A
 197     CD-R image file</a></b>&mdash;This download contains the same files as
 198     the binary zip file, but you can burn it to a CD-R to test rEFInd
 199     (and its filesystem drivers) without installing it first. (It boots on
 200     UEFI PCs, but fails on some older Macs.) If you like it, you can then
 201     copy the files from the CD-R to your hard disk. The files are named in
 202     such a way that the disc should boot on either 64-bit (<i>x</i>86-64)
 203     or 32-bit (<i>x</i>86) EFI computers. I've included an open source EFI
 204     shell program on this disc that's not included in the binary zip file,
 205     so that you can access an EFI shell from a bootable disc even if you
 206     don't have an EFI shell available from your regular hard disk. This can
 207     be an extremely valuable diagnostic tool if you know how to use an EFI
 208     shell.</li>
 209
 210 <p class="sidebar"><b>Tip:</b> If you want to make your own bootable USB
 211 flash drive, download the binary zip file or CD-R image file, prepare a USB
 212 flash drive with a FAT32 partition, and then use the <tt>install.sh</tt>
 213 program's <tt>--usedefault</tt> option, and perhaps the
 214 <tt>--alldrivers</tt> option, as in <tt class="userinput">bash install.sh
 215 --usedefault /dev/sdd1 --alldrivers</tt> to install to the first partition
 216 on <tt>/dev/sdd</tt>. This procedure should work even on a BIOS-booted
 217 computer.</p>
 218
 219 <li><b><a
 220     href="http://sourceforge.net/projects/refind/files/0.9.0/refind-flashdrive-0.9.0.zip/download">A
 221     USB flash drive image file</a></b>&mdash;Although you     can create
 222     your own rEFInd USB flash drive, you may find it easier to download
 223     this version and copy it to your USB drive with <tt>dd</tt> or some
 224     other low-level disk copying utility.</li>
 225
 226 <li><b><a
 227     href="http://sourceforge.net/projects/refind/files/0.9.0/refind-src-0.9.0.zip/download">A
 228     source code zip file</a></b>&mdash;This is useful if you want to compile
 229     the software locally. Note that I use Linux with the <a
 230     href="https://sourceforge.net/projects/tianocore/">TianoCore EFI
 231     Development Kit 2 (EDK2)</a> to build my binary packages (above),
 232     although the <a href="http://sourceforge.net/projects/gnu-efi">GNU-EFI</a>
 233     development tools are also supported.</li>
 234
 235 <li><b><a href="https://sourceforge.net/p/refind/code">Source code via
 236     git</a></b>&mdash;If you want to peruse the source code in your Web
 237     browser or get the very latest version (including pre-release bug fixes
 238     and updates), you can use the Sourceforge git repository. This access
 239     method is most useful to programmers, or at least to those who are
 240     familiar with programming tools. Note that if you need to ask "what's
 241     git?", this is probably not the best way for you to obtain rEFInd.</li>
 242
 243 </ul>
 244
 245 <p>If you're using a platform other than <i>x</i>86 or <i>x</i>86-64, you can give rEFInd a try; however, you'll need to build it from source code yourself or track down a binary from another source. (Perhaps by the time you read this it will be included in Linux distributions built for unusual CPUs.)</p>
 246
 247 <p>To extract the files from the zip file images I've provided, you'll need a tool such as <tt>unzip</tt>, which is included with Linux and Mac OS X. Numerous Windows utilities also support this format, such as <a href="http://www.pkware.com/software/pkzip/">PKZIP</a> and <a href="http://www.7-zip.org/">7-Zip.</a></p>
 248
 249 <p>You should be able to create a bootable USB flash drive from either the binary zip file or the CD-R image file; just treat the flash drive as if it were a hard disk and install rEFInd as described on the <a href="installing.html">installation page.</a> Using the fallback boot loader name of <tt>EFI/boot/bootx64.efi</tt> is likely to be the most useful way to install rEFInd to a removable medium.</p>
 250
 251 <h2>Getting rEFInd from Your OS's Repositories</h2>
 252
 253 <p>I know of a small number of pre-packaged versions of rEFInd, either in official OS repositories or in ancillary repositories:</p>
 254
 255 <ul>
 256
 257 <li><a name="ppa"><b>Ubuntu</b></a>&mdash;Although an official Ubuntu
 258     package isn't available, I've created a <a
 259     href="https://launchpad.net/~rodsmith/+archive/refind">rEFInd PPA</a>
 260     for Ubuntu. To use it, open a Terminal window and type <tt
 261     class="userinput">sudo apt-add-repository ppa:rodsmith/refind</tt>,
 262     then <tt class="userinput">sudo apt-get update</tt>. You can then type
 263     <tt class="userinput">sudo apt-get install refind</tt> to install the
 264     package. Thereafter, the rEFInd version will update along with your
 265     other software. This package is built with GNU-EFI and is not signed
 266     with a Secure Boot key; however, the install script (which launches
 267     automatically when you install the package) should sign the binary with
 268     a locally-generated key if it detects that your system uses Secure
 269     Boot. Thus, if you've previously installed one of my binaries on a
 270     Secure Boot system and added its key as a MOK, you'll have to add your
 271     local key when you reboot.</li>
 272
 273 <li><b>Arch Linux</b>&mdash;You can obtain rEFInd from the Arch
 274     repositories, in both a stable version (the <tt>refind-efi</tt> package
 275     installable via <tt>pacman</tt>) and an experimental release built from
 276     rEFInd's git repository in the Arch User Repository (AUR), under the
 277     name <tt>refind-efi-git</tt>. The git release is likely to include
 278     pre-release bug fixes and new features, but those features may be
 279     poorly tested or undocumented.</li>
 280
 281 <li><b>ALT Linux</b>&mdash;This RPM-based distribution is experimenting
 282     with using rEFInd on EFI-based computers. As I write, the ALT
 283     developers haven't yet nailed down booting from an optical disc (it's a
 284     tricky and delicate task, especially when preparing a "hybrid" image),
 285     but they're working on the problem. They have an RPM of rEFInd; see <a
 286     href="http://packages.altlinux.org/en/Sisyphus/srpms/refind">this
 287     page</a> for details.</li>
 288
 289 <li><b>Slackware</b>&mdash;As far as I know, an official rEFInd package is
 290     not available as part of Slackware; however, a <a
 291     href="http://slackbuilds.org/repository/14.1/system/refind/?search=refind">Slackware
 292     package from SlackBuilds</a> is available.</li>
 293
 294 <li><b><a href="http://distro.ibiblio.org/fatdog/web/">Fat
 295     Dog</a></b>&mdash;This variant of Puppy Linux uses a combination of
 296     rEFInd and GRUB 2 to boot its installation medium in EFI mode and
 297     provides a rEFInd package in its repository set.</li>
 298
 299 <li><b>The <a href="http://nixos.org/nixpkgs/">Nix Packages
 300     collection</a></b>&mdash;This site creates packages for a number of
 301     OSes using its own packaging system.</li>
 302
 303 </ul>
 304
 305 <p>To the best of my knowledge, no other Linux distribution yet includes rEFInd in its repositories. That's likely to change in time. If you hear of rEFInd being included in an OS's official package set, feel free to <a href="mailto:rodsmith@rodsbooks.com">drop me a line.</a></p>
 306
 307 <hr />
 308
 309 <p>copyright &copy; 2012&ndash;2015 by Roderick W. Smith</p>
 310
 311 <p>This document is licensed under the terms of the <a href="FDL-1.3.txt">GNU Free Documentation License (FDL), version 1.3.</a></p>
 312
 313 <p>If you have problems with or comments about this Web page, please e-mail me at <a href="mailto:rodsmith@rodsbooks.com">rodsmith@rodsbooks.com.</a> Thanks.</p>
 314
 315 <p><a href="index.html">Go to the main rEFInd page</a></p>
 316
 317 <p><a href="installing.html">Learn how to install rEFInd</a></p>
 318
 319   <p><a href="http://www.rodsbooks.com/">Return</a> to my main Web page.</p>
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