-From rEFIt to rEFInd
-====================
-
-rEFInd is derived from rEFIt (http://refit.sourceforge.net), but the two
-programs support different build environments. rEFIt was created with
-Intel's EFI Application Toolkit
-(http://www.intel.com/technology/efi/toolkit_overview.htm) or TianoCore's
-EFI Toolkit (https://efi-toolkit.tianocore.org), along with Microsoft's
-Visual C compiler.
-
-Compiling the source code provided on the rEFIt site under Linux never
-worked for me, although the documentation claimed it would. Apparently
-other Linux developers have run into the same problem; Debian provides a
-rEFIt package (http://packages.debian.org/sid/refit) that includes
-extensive patches to enable the program to compile under Linux using the
-GNU-EFI package (http://sourceforge.net/projects/gnu-efi/). Although
-GNU-EFI is less sophisticated than recent versions of TianoCore's toolkit,
-GNU-EFI is my preferred environment because versions of TianoCore that can
-build under Linux use a very different set of include files and support a
-somewhat different set of system calls than are used by rEFIt/rEFInd. Thus,
-converting to a new TianoCore toolkit would entail a lot of work. Using an
-older version would require building under Windows and using old versions
-of Microsoft's Visual C. I neither have this toolchain nor do I want to use
-it. For this reason, I used Debian's patched version of rEFIt as a starting
-point in forking rEFInd.
-
-I've dropped ancillary programs, such as the ext2fs driver module and
-gptsync program, from rEFInd. You can still use these tools with rEFInd,
-but you'll need to install them separately.
-
-The patched version of rEFIt that I used as a starting point disabled the
-program's ability to load EFI drivers because of limitations in the GNU-EFI
-library. A combination of improvements in recent versions of the library
-and implementing a (now apparently abandoned) EFI function directly in
-rEFInd has enabled me to add this support back to rEFInd 0.2.7 and later.
-
-
Requirements
============
EFI-based. It can be 32- or 64-bit, but unless you use a cross-compiler
(which I've not tested), it must be the appropriate bit width for your
EFI implementation. (Normally that means 64-bit.) If you don't normally
- run Linux, you can run it in a VirtualBox or similar virtual machine.
+ run Linux, you can run it in a VirtualBox or similar virtual machine. (I
+ describe some unsupported non-Linux build options shortly.)
* A standard set of Linux development tools, based on GCC.
-* The GNU-EFI package (http://sourceforge.net/projects/gnu-efi/). You
- can install this from a package called "gnu-efi"; however, rEFInd relies
- on features that were added somewhere between GNU-EFI 3.0i and 3.0p to
- provide driver-loading capabilities. As of 4/2012, most Linux
- distributions seem to deliver rather elderly versions of GNU-EFI, so you
- may need to download the latest source code, compile it, and install it
- locally. Since rEFInd version 0.2.7, the Makefiles assume this (see
- below).
-
-It's possible that you could use a non-Linux platform to compile rEFInd. To
-the best of my knowledge, the rEFInd code doesn't rely on anything
-Linux-specific in its build requirements, and GNU-EFI's Sourceforge page
-indicates that it works under Windows and OS X, too. Thus, you may be able
-to compile it on these platforms, but I've not tested it in this way. Under
-Windows, you would need to either create a project or Makefile for your
-non-GCC compiler or use a GCC port, such as MinGW (http://www.mingw.org).
-You'd probably need to adjust the Makefile in the latter case.
+* One of the following:
+
+ * The TianoCore EDK2 package
+ (http://sourceforge.net/projects/tianocore/). I initially used the
+ UDK2010 package and others in that series, but beginning with rEFInd
+ 0.8.2, I've been using UDK2014
+ (http://sourceforge.net/apps/mediawiki/tianocore/index.php?title=UDK2014).
+ All of the UDK release are "frozen," rather than the main EDK2
+ development branch, which is changing as the developers add features,
+ fix bugs, and so on. See below for TianoCore setup instructions.
+
+ * The GNU-EFI package (http://sourceforge.net/projects/gnu-efi/). You can
+ install this from a package called "gnu-efi"; however, rEFInd relies on
+ features that were added sometime between version 3.0s and 3.0u, so I
+ recommend using 3.0u (or conceivably later). You should check your
+ GNU-EFI version number; you may need to download the latest source
+ code, compile it, and install it locally. The Makefiles assume a
+ GNU-EFI package installed via a package manager. If you install from
+ source code, you may need to adjust those Makefiles' paths.
+
+Of the two toolkits, I prefer to use TianoCore because it produces binaries
+that are about 20-30KiB smaller than those made by GNU-EFI, and I can
+easily build 32-bit binaries on my 64-bit Linux installations. Also, I've
+had problems on a 32-bit Mac Mini with the drivers produced by GNU-EFI
+hanging the system if I try to load more than one of them. (I haven't
+encountered this problem on UEFI-based PCs.) That said, the TianoCore EDK2
+package is much harder to install, so you may prefer to use GNU-EFI unless
+you have a specific need for the TianoCore toolkit. Automated build tools
+like the OpenSUSE Build Service (OBS) and the Ubuntu Personal Package
+Archive (PPA) mechanism don't yet support TianoCore.
+
+It's possible to use a non-Linux platform to compile rEFInd. To the best of
+my knowledge, the rEFInd code doesn't rely on anything Linux-specific in
+its build requirements, and GNU-EFI's Sourceforge page indicates that it
+works under Windows and OS X, too; however, my one attempt to compile
+GNU-EFI under OS X failed. I've received one report that rEFInd compiles
+successfully with Clang and the TianoCore toolkit under OS X by adding the
+refind.inf file to a .dsc file that you use for your own projects. You can
+find brief instructions here (note that this is not my documentation):
+
+https://github.com/snarez/refind-edk2
+
+Under Windows, you would need to either create a project or Makefile for
+your non-GCC compiler or use a GCC port, such as MinGW
+(http://www.mingw.org). You'd probably need to adjust the Makefiles in the
+latter case. A procedure similar to that used under OS X might work using
+GCC or Microsoft's C compiler, but I haven't tested this.
+
+
+Preparing Your Development Kit
+==============================
+
+If you're using Linux, GNU-EFI is the easiest way to compile rEFInd. I
+don't describe GNU-EFI's setup here because it's likely to be fairly easy.
+If your distribution provides a recent enough version, you should be able
+to install a package called gnu-efi and be done with it. If not, you'll
+need to download the source code tarball, build it, and install it. This
+process is fairly typical of Linux packages. Read the GNU-EFI documentation
+if you need help. If you're using GNU-EFI, you can skip the rest of this
+section.
+
+You might also want to use the TianoCore toolkit if you have problems with
+GNU-EFI or if you want to build rEFInd on a non-Linux platform.
+Unfortunately, the TianoCore toolkit is weird by Linux programming
+standards. It's also quite large -- it's intended as a means to develop a
+complete EFI firmware implementation, so it contains much more code than is
+needed to develop standalone EFI applications. I don't know of any Linux
+distribution packages for it in RPM, Debian package file, or other formats;
+you MUST install the kit from source code using its own unusual compilation
+procedure. The installation documentation also omits at least one step and
+is a bit unclear about others. Here's how I installed the toolkit:
+
+1) Download UDK2014.SR1.UP1.P1 from
+ https://sourceforge.net/apps/mediawiki/tianocore/index.php?title=UDK2014.
+
+2) Type "mkdir /usr/local/UDK2014". You can use another directory, but the
+ Makefile for rEFInd's EFI drivers assumes this location. You'll need to
+ edit the EDK2BASE line in the Make.tiano file if you install somewhere
+ else.
+
+3) Type "cd /usr/local/UDK2014".
+
+4) Unzip the downloaded file (UDK2014.SR1.UP1.P1.Complete.MyWorkSpace.zip)
+ in the current directory (/usr/local/UDK2014). This creates a handful of
+ files, including a tarball and a couple of .zip files.
+
+5) Type "unzip UDK2014.SR1.UP1.MyWorkSpace.zip". This extracts the
+ platform-neutral portion of the development kit.
+
+6) Type "cd MyWorkSpace".
+
+7) Type "tar xvf ../BaseTools\(Unix\).tar". This extracts the
+ Linux/Unix-specific portions of the toolkit.
+
+8) Follow the build instructions at
+ https://sourceforge.net/apps/mediawiki/tianocore/index.php?title=Using_EDK_II_with_Native_GCC_4.4;
+ however, a few changes are required, as detailed below....
+
+9) Type "source edksetup.sh BaseTools". This sets up some environment
+ variables, so subsequent steps (NOT including compiling the rEFInd EFI
+ drivers) must be typed in the shell you use for this step.
+
+10) Edit Conf/target.txt and change the following:
+ - ACTIVE_PLATFORM = MdePkg/MdePkg.dsc
+ - TARGET = RELEASE (DEBUG might work, but I've not tested it).
+ - TARGET_ARCH = X64 (on x86-64; leave this as IA32 on x86). If you plan
+ to build both architectures on an x86-64 system, you can set this to
+ "IA32 X64".
+ - TOOL_CHAIN_TAG = GCC46 (or other value depending on your GCC version;
+ type "gcc -v" to learn your GCC version number). Note that GCC 4.7
+ and 4.8 don't have their own entries, so use GCC46 for them.
+ The TianoCore Makefiles read some of these variables from this file
+ and use them when accessing directories, so be sure to type these
+ entries in the case specified.
+
+11) The documentation refers to editing Conf/tools_def.txt in addition to
+ Conf/target.txt, but doesn't specify what to change in
+ Conf/tools_def.txt. I haven't found it necessary to make any changes in
+ Conf/tools_def.txt EXCEPT when using GCC 4.7 on a Fedora 17 system.
+ (I haven't used GCC 4.7 on other platforms, so this may well be
+ necessary on other systems, too.) With that setup, I found it
+ necessary to change the following line:
+ *_GCC46_X64_ASM_FLAGS = DEF(GCC46_ASM_FLAGS) -m64 -melf_x86_64
+ to:
+ *_GCC46_X64_ASM_FLAGS = DEF(GCC46_ASM_FLAGS) -m64
+
+12) Type "make -C /usr/local/UDK2014/MyWorkSpace/BaseTools/Source/C".
+ (This step is not documented on the EDK Web page.) Note that this
+ requires the g++ compiler and UUID development libraries.
+
+13) Type "build" to build the main set of EDK2 files. This process is
+ likely to take a few minutes. This step requires Python 2; if you have
+ Python 3 installed, you may need to adjust the default python for this
+ build (for instance, by typing "eselect python set python2.7" in
+ Gentoo).
+
+If you installed in a location other than the one I've specified, you must
+edit the EDK2BASE variable in the Make.tiano and filesystems/Make.tiano
+files in the rEFInd source package. Once the toolkit is installed, you can
+build the filesystem drivers or rEFInd, as described below.
Compiling rEFInd
3) Change into the archive's main directory. You should see several files
including this BUILDING.txt file and several subdirectories such as
- "refind", "libeg", and "include".
+ "refind", "libeg", "mok", "filesystems", and "include".
+
+4) Type "make gnuefi" to build with GNU-EFI, or either "make" alone or
+ "make tiano" to build with TianoCore EDK2. With any luck, rEFInd will
+ compile without error, leaving the "refind_ia32.efi" or "refind_x64.efi"
+ file, depending on your platform, in the "refind" subdirectory. This same
+ step builds the "gptsync_x64.efi" or "gptsync_ia32.efi" program file, in
+ the "gptsync" subdirectory. If you want to build IA32 binaries on an
+ x86-64 (X64) system, type "ARCH=ia32 make". This works only if you're
+ using the TianoCore build kit, and only if you set TARGET_ARCH to either
+ "IA32" or "IA32 X64" in target.txt when you set up the TianoCore toolkit.
+ If you plan to build both architectures, be sure to copy the .efi file
+ for the first build out of the refind subdirectory before building the
+ second architecture.
-4) Type "make". With any luck, rEFInd will compile without error, leaving
- the "refind.efi" file in the "refind" subdirectory.
+5) The default build process does NOT build the filesystem drivers. If you
+ want to build them, you must type "make fs" in the main rEFInd source
+ directory to build with the TianoCore EDK2, or "make fs_gnuefi" to build
+ with GNU-EFI. (Typing "ARCH=ia32 make fs" builds IA32 filesystem drivers
+ on an x86-64 system, provided TianoCore is properly configured, as
+ described earlier.) The result is filesystem drivers in the filesystems
+ subdirectory, and also copies placed in the drivers_{arch} subdirectory.
If rEFInd doesn't compile correctly, you'll need to track down the source
of the problem. Double-check that you've got all the necessary development
-tools installed, including GCC, make, and GNU-EFI. You may also need to
-adjust the Makefile or Make.common file for your system. The most likely
-thing you'll need to change is the path to the various GNU-EFI include
-files and libraries. Since rEFInd 0.2.7, the default Make.common file
-includes the following definitions:
-
-EFIINC = /usr/local/include/efi
-GNUEFILIB = /usr/local/lib
-EFILIB = /usr/local/lib
-EFICRT0 = /usr/local/lib
-
-If you've installed GNU-EFI from a distribution's package, you may need to
-remove "local" from those paths, and perhaps change references to "lib" to
-"lib64". As noted earlier, though, as of 4/2012, most distributions provide
-out-of-date GNU-EFI implementations that will not work with rEFInd 0.2.7
-and later.
-
-When I tried to compile rEFInd under Ubuntu 12.04 (i386), even with a
-locally-compiled GNU-EFI 3.0p, I got errors like this:
+tools installed, including GCC, make, and either GNU-EFI or TianoCore EDK2.
+You may also need to adjust the Makefile, Make.common file, or Make.tiano
+file for your system. (The main Makefile controls the process for both
+toolkits, while Make.common holds GNU-EFI options and Make.tiano holds
+TianoCore options.) The most likely thing you'll need to change is the path
+to the various GNU-EFI include files and libraries. Since rEFInd 0.6.2, the
+default Make.common file includes the following definitions:
+
+EFIINC = /usr/include/efi
+GNUEFILIB = /usr/lib
+EFILIB = /usr/lib
+EFICRT0 = /usr/lib
+
+If you've installed GNU-EFI from source code, you may need to add "local"
+to those paths, as in "/usr/local/include/efi". You might need to change
+references to "lib" to "lib32" or "lib64" on some systems. Recall that you
+need at least GNU-EFI version 3.0l to build rEFInd, and until very
+recently, most distributions provided out-of-date versions of this package.
+
+If you're using TianoCore's EDK2, as noted earlier, you may need to adjust
+the EDK2BASE variable in Make.tiano and filesystems/Make.tiano.
+
+When I tried to compile rEFInd under Ubuntu 12.04 (i386) using GNU-EFI,
+even with a locally-compiled GNU-EFI 3.0p or 3.0q, I got errors like this:
main.o: In function `StartLegacy.isra.0':
main.c:(.text+0x8b1): undefined reference to `__stack_chk_fail_local'
lib.c:(.text+0xf2f): undefined reference to `__stack_chk_fail_local'
lib.o: In function `ScanExtendedPartition.isra.4':
-The solution was to recompile GNU-EFI 3.0p with the -fno-stack-protector
-GCC flag. In GNU-EFI, this can be added to the CFLAGS line in Make.common.
+The solution was to recompile GNU-EFI with the -fno-stack-protector GCC
+flag. In GNU-EFI, this can be added to the CFLAGS line in Make.defaults.
+
Installing rEFInd
=================
-With rEFInd compiled, you can install it. On a UEFI-based system, you'll
-want to copy files on the ESP as follows:
+With rEFInd compiled, you can install it. The easiest way to do this is
+with the refind-install script, which works on both Linux and Mac OS X.
+Alternatively, you can type "make install" to install using this script.
+Note that this script copies files to the ESP and uses "efibootmgr" (on
+Linux) or "bless" (on OS X) to add rEFInd to the firmware's boot loader
+list. The docs/refind/installing.html file provides more details on this
+script and its use.
+
+If refind-install doesn't work for you or if you prefer to do the job
+manually, you may. On a UEFI-based system, you'll want to copy files on the
+ESP as follows:
* Create a directory for rEFInd, such as EFI/refind.
-* Copy refind/refind.efi to the ESP's EFI/refind directory.
+* Copy refind/refind_ia32.efi or refind_x64.efi to the ESP's EFI/refind
+ directory.
* Copy refind.conf-sample to the EFI/refind directory as refind.conf.
* Copy the icons subdirectory, including all its files, to EFI/refind.
You'll then need to activate rEFInd in your EFI. This can be done with
tools such as "efibootmgr" under Linux or "bless" under OS X. See the
-docs/installing.html file for details.
+docs/refind/installing.html file for details.
+
+
+Note to Distribution Maintainers
+================================
+
+The refind-install script, and therefore the "install" target in the
+Makefile, installs the program directly to the ESP and it modifies the
+*CURRENT COMPUTER's* NVRAM. Thus, you should *NOT* use this target as part
+of the build process for your binary packages (RPMs, Debian packages,
+etc.). (Gentoo could use it in an ebuild, though....) You COULD, however,
+install the files to a directory somewhere (/usr/share/refind or whatever)
+and then call refind-install as part of the binary package installation
+process. Placing the files directly in /boot/efi/EFI/{distname}/refind and
+then having a post-install script call efibootmgr is probably the better
+way to go, but this assumes that the ESP is mounted at /boot/efi.
+
+
+Compiling the EFI Filesystem Drivers
+====================================
+
+To build all the drivers, you can type "make fs" or "make fs_gnuefi" from
+the main directory, which builds the drivers and places copies in both the
+filesystems and drivers_{arch} subdirectories. If you want to build just
+one driver, you can change into the "filesystems" directory and type "make
+{fsname}" or "make {fsname}_gnuefi", where {fsname} is a filesystem name --
+"ext2", "ext4", "reiserfs", "iso9660", or "hfs". In all cases, the build
+target that appends "_gnuefi" builds with GNU-EFI and the one that doesn't
+builds with TianoCore.
+
+To install drivers, you can type "make install" in the "filesystems"
+directory. This copies all the drivers to the
+"/boot/efi/EFI/refind/drivers" directory. Alternatively, you can copy the
+files you want manually. The refind-install script includes an optional
+"--drivers" option that will install the drivers along with the main rEFInd
+program, but to the drivers_{arch} subdirectory of the main rEFInd
+installation directory.
+
+*CAUTION:* Install drivers for your system's architecture *ONLY*.
+Installing drivers for the wrong architecture causes some systems to hang
+at boot time. This risk can be minimized by including the architecture code
+in the drivers subdirectory name (drivers_x64 or drivers_ia32).
+
+The drivers all rely on filesystem wrapper code created by rEFIt's author,
+Christoph Pfisterer. Most of the drivers seem to have passed through
+Oracle's VirtualBox project (https://www.virtualbox.org) and the Clover
+boot loader project (https://sourceforge.net/projects/cloverefiboot/),
+which I used as the source for this build.
+
+Adding Support for Network Boot
+===============================
+
+rEFInd provides EXPERIMENTAL support for booting over the network using
+iPXE (http://ipxe.org) as a means to receive the payload. In order to
+enable this feature you'll want to follow these instructions:
+
+* cd net/
+* make source
+* make netboot
+* copy bin/ipxe.efi and bin/ipxe_discover.efi to the EFI volume at EFI/tools/
+
+Note that you may need to install additional development packages, such as
+libiberty-dev and binutils-dev, in addition to those needed to build rEFInd
+itself.
+
+My own tests show this support to work under optimal conditions; however,
+architecture (EFI vs. BIOS) detection may not work, and some computers will
+hang or won't retrieve boot files from the network. For these reasons, this
+support is disabled by default in rEFInd, and I do not provide iPXE
+binaries.