* 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).
+* 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
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
+"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out-of-date GNU-EFI implementations that will not work with rEFInd 0.2.7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, I got errors like this:
+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 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.
-
-You may have noticed an install.sh script in the source package. This
-script is intended for distribution with my own binary packages of rEFInd,
-and it copies files from the "refind" subdirectory (relative to the
-script's location) -- namely refind_x64.efi or refind_ia32.efi,
-refind.conf-sample, and an icons subdirectory. You can rearrange your files
-to provide this layout, but it's no more work to copy the files as just
-described.
+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.