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 I prefer working in Linux and
-because TianoCore's toolkit relies on obsolete versions of Microsoft's
-Visual C++, and I had trouble tracking that down. For this reason, I used
-Debian's patched version of rEFIt as a starting point in forking rEFInd.
-The main down side to doing this is that a few rEFIt features got lost.
-Most notable among these is the ability to load filesystem drivers. I've
-also 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; and in the case of filesystem
-drivers, you'll need to configure your EFI to load them before you launch
-rEFInd.
+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.
+
+Note that the drivers, added with rEFInd 0.4.0, require use of the
+TianoCore tool kit. Driver compilation is described in more detail later.
+
+I've dropped ancillary programs, such as the 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
* A standard set of Linux development tools, based on GCC.
-* The GNU-EFI package (http://sourceforge.net/projects/gnu-efi/). You
- can usually install this from a package called "gnu-efi".
+* 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 in (I think) 3.0l to provide driver-loading
+ capabilities. The versions I've used and that work are 3.0p and 3.0q. As
+ of 5/2012, 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
"refind", "libeg", and "include".
4) Type "make". With any luck, rEFInd will compile without error, leaving
- the "refind.efi" file in the "refind" subdirectory.
+ the "refind_ia32.efi" or "refind_x64.efi" file, depending on your
+ platform, in the "refind" 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. For instance, on
-Fedora, you must change the following variables in Make.common as shown:
+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
-GNUEFILIB = /usr/lib64
-EFILIB = /usr/lib64
-EFICRT0 = /usr/lib64/gnuefi
+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 5/2012, 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 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.o: In function `ScanVolumeBootcode.part.3':
+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 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 install.sh script, which works on both Linux and Mac OS X.
+Alternatively, you can type "make install" to install using this script.
+Note that this installation 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 install.sh 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 install.sh 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, copy the
+files to a directory somewhere (/usr/share/refind or whatever) and then
+call install.sh as part of the binary package installation process.
+Placing the files in /boot/efi/EFI/{distname}/refind and then having a
+post-install script call efibootmgr is probably the better way to go,
+though.
+
+Compiling the EFI Filesystem Drivers
+====================================
+
+The EFI filesystem drivers in the filesystems subdirectory require the
+TianoCore UDK2010.SR1 toolkit. The drivers might compile with another
+version of the TianoCore toolkit, but I've not tested them with anything
+else. My attempts to use GNU-EFI have failed; at best, I've gotten drivers
+that load but then hang the computer.
+
+An important caveat: I suspect the TianoCore toolkit is responsible for an
+inability to use the resulting drivers on a 32-bit Mac Mini. My suspicion
+is that it produces binaries that work on UEFI 2.x systems but not on the
+EFI 1.x that the Mac uses. If this suspicion is correct, you may be unable
+to use the rEFInd binaries on at least some Macs, as well as on other older
+EFI 1.x-based computers.
+
+Unfortunately, the TianoCore toolkit is bulky and weird by Linux
+programming standards. I don't know of any Linux distribution packages for
+it in RPM, Debian package file, or other format; 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 UDK2010.SR1 from
+ https://sourceforge.net/apps/mediawiki/tianocore/index.php?title=UDK2010.
+
+2) Type "mkdir /usr/local/UDK2010". 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.common file if you install somewhere
+ else.
+
+3) Type "cd /usr/local/UDK2010".
+
+3) Unzip the downloaded file (UDK2010.SR1.Complete.MyWorkSpace.zip) in the
+ current directory (/usr/local/UDK2010). This creates a handful of files,
+ including a tarball and a couple of .zip files.
+
+4) Type "unzip UDK2010.SR1.MyWorkSpace.zip". This extracts the
+ platform-neutral portion of the development kit.
+
+5) Type "cd MyWorkSpace".
+
+6) Type "tar xvf ../BaseTools\(Unix\)_UDK2010.SR1.tar". This extracts the
+ Linux/Unix-specific portions of the toolkit.
+
+7) 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....
+
+8) Type ". edksetup.sh BaseTools" (note the leading dot). 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.
+
+9) Edit Conf/target.txt and change the following:
+ - ACTIVE_PLATFORM = MdeModulePkg/MdeModulePkg.dsc
+ - TARGET = RELEASE (DEBUG might work, but I've not tested it).
+ - TARGET_ARCH = X64 (on x86-64; leave this as IA32 on x86)
+ - TOOL_CHAIN_TAG = GCC45 (or other value depending on your GCC version;
+ type "gcc -v" to learn your GCC version number). Note that GCC 4.7
+ doesn't have its own entry, so use GCC46 for GCC 4.7.
+ The Makefile for the drivers reads some of these variables from this
+ file and uses them when accessing directories, so be sure to type these
+ entries in the case specified.
+
+10) 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
+
+11) Type "make -C /usr/local/UDK2010/MyWorkSpace/BaseTools/Source/C".
+ (This step is not documented on the EDK Web page.)
+
+10) Type "build" to build the main set of EDK2 files. This process is
+ likely to take a few minutes.
+
+Once the toolkit is installed, you can build the filesystem drivers. If you
+installed in a location other than the one I've specified, you must edit
+the EDK2BASE variable in the filesystems/Make.common file in the rEFInd
+source package. You can then type "make" in the "filesystems" directory,
+or "make fs" in the main source directory, to build all the drivers. If you
+want to build just one driver, you can change into the "filesystems"
+directory and type "make {fsname}", where {fsname} is a filesystem name --
+"ext2", "reiserfs", "iso9660", or "hfs". The drivers will appear in the
+"filesystems" directory, and also be copied to the "drivers" directory.
+
+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.
+
+*CAUTION:* Install drivers for your system's architecture *ONLY*.
+Installing drivers for the wrong architecture causes some systems to hang
+at boot time.
+
+The drivers all rely on filesystem wrapper code created by rEFIt's author,
+Christoph Phisterer. 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.