Once this task is done, updates to your kernel will automatically be stored in the root directory of your ESP, where rEFInd will automatically detect them. Thus, the boot configuration becomes maintenance-free. The procedure as just described has some drawbacks, though. By placing your kernels in the root directory of your ESP, you render them vulnerable to any other OS with which you might be dual-booting. Your ESP must also be large enough to hold all your kernels. If you dual-boot with multiple Linux distributions, they might conceivably overwrite each others' kernels, and distinguishing one from another becomes more difficult.
-For these reasons, a variant of this procedure is desirable on some systems. Most of the steps are similar, but in this variant, you create a separate /boot partition that's independent of the ESP. This partition can use FAT, HFS+, ReiserFS, ext2fs, or ext3fs; but if you use any of the last four filesystems (three on Macs), you must install the matching EFI filesystem driver that ships with rEFInd. Creating the filesystem will normally require you to shrink an existing partition by a suitable amount (200–500MiB). Mount your new /boot partition at a temporary location, copy or move the current /boot files into it, unmount it, and add it to /etc/fstab as /boot.
- +For these reasons, a variant of this procedure is desirable on some systems. Most of the steps are similar, but in this variant, you create a separate /boot partition that's independent of the ESP. This partition can use FAT, HFS+, ReiserFS, ext2fs, ext3fs, or ext4fs; but if you use any of the last five filesystems (four on Macs), you must install the matching EFI filesystem driver that ships with rEFInd. Creating the filesystem will normally require you to shrink an existing partition by a suitable amount (200–500MiB). Mount your new /boot partition at a temporary location, copy or move the current /boot files into it, unmount it, and add it to /etc/fstab as /boot.
-If your distribution already uses a separate /boot partition (as Fedora 17 does by default), but if it uses ext4fs or some other unsuitable filesystem, you can back it up, create a fresh FAT, HFS+, ReiserFS, ext2, or ext3 filesystem on it, and restore the original files. You'll probably need to adjust the UUID value in /etc/fstab to ensure that the computer mounts the new filesystem when you boot. If you use a separate non-ESP /boot partition, you'll probably want to continue mounting the ESP at /boot/efi.
+If your distribution already uses a separate /boot partition, but if it uses XFS or some other unsuitable filesystem, you can back it up, create a fresh FAT, HFS+, ReiserFS, ext2, ext3, or ext4 filesystem on it, and restore the original files. You'll probably need to adjust the UUID value in /etc/fstab to ensure that the computer mounts the new filesystem when you boot. If you use a separate non-ESP /boot partition, you'll probably want to continue mounting the ESP at /boot/efi.
EFI Stub Loader Support Technical Details
@@ -306,10 +359,10 @@ total 17943-"Boot with defaults" "root=/dev/sda3 ro quiet splash vt.handoff=7" -"Boot into single-user mode" "root=UUID=1cd95082-bce0-494c-a290-d2e642dd82b7 ro single" -"Boot without graphics" "root=UUID=1cd95082-bce0-494c-a290-d2e642dd82b7 ro" -# "Boot alternate install" "root=/dev/sdb9 ro quiet splash vt.handoff=7" +"Boot with standard options" "root=/dev/sda3 ro quiet splash vt.handoff=7" +"Boot to single-user mode" "root=UUID=1cd95082-bce0-494c-a290-d2e642dd82b7 ro single" +"Boot with minimal options" "root=UUID=1cd95082-bce0-494c-a290-d2e642dd82b7 ro" +# "Boot alternate install" "root=/dev/sdb9 ro quiet splash vt.handoff=7"@@ -318,13 +371,11 @@ total 17943
In the preceding example, the first line sets the options that rEFInd passes to the kernel by default (along with the name of the initrd.img-3.3.0 file, since its version string matches that of the kernel). The next two lines set options that you can obtain by pressing Insert, F2, or + on the main menu, as shown here:
-
Note that the first entry shown here takes a name that's set in rEFInd rather than the one specified in the refind_linux.conf file. The remaining names match those specified in the file, though.
- -To assist in initial configuration, rEFInd's install.sh script creates a sample refind_linux.conf file in /boot. This sample file defines two entries that use the default GRUB options defined in /etc/default/grub. The first entry boots normally and the second boots into single-user mode. If you want to create a new file, you can use the mkrlconf.sh script that comes with rEFInd. If you pass it the --force option, it will overwrite the existing /boot/refind_linux.conf file; otherwise it will create the file only if one doesn't already exist.
+To assist in initial configuration, rEFInd's install.sh script creates a sample refind_linux.conf file in /boot. This sample file defines three entries, the first two of which use the default GRUB options defined in /etc/default/grub and the last of which uses minimal options. The first entry boots normally and the second boots into single-user mode. If you want to create a new file, you can use the mkrlconf.sh script that comes with rEFInd. If you pass it the --force option, it will overwrite the existing /boot/refind_linux.conf file; otherwise it will create the file only if one doesn't already exist.
From a user's perspective, the submenus defined in this way work just like submenus defined via the submenuentry options in refind.conf, or like the submenus that rEFInd creates automatically for Mac OS X or ELILO. There are, however, limitations in what you can accomplish with this method:
@@ -357,7 +408,7 @@ total 17943Ordinarily, a kernel booted in this way must reside on the ESP, or at least on another FAT partition. On a Macintosh, though, you can use HFS+ to house your kernel files. In fact, that may be necessary; my Mac Mini hangs when I try to boot a Linux kernel via an EFI stub loader from the computer's ESP, but it works fine when booting from an HFS+ partition. If you use EFI drivers, though, you can place your kernel on any filesystem for which an EFI driver exists. This list is currently rather limited (ext2fs/ext3fs, ReiserFS, ISO-9660, and HFS+), but even just one or two options might help a lot if you've got an undersized ESP or if copying your kernel file to the ESP is a hassle you'd rather avoid.
-Beginning with version 0.3.1, rEFInd sorts boot loader entries within each directory by time stamp, so that the most recent entry comes first. Thus, if you specify a directory name (or a volume label, for loaders stored in a volume's root directory) as the default_selection, rEFInd will make the most recent loader in the directory the default. This can obviate the need to adjust this configuration parameter when you add a new kernel; chances are you want the most recently-added kernel to be the default, and rEFInd makes it so when you set the default_selection in this way. If you don't want the latest kernel to become the default, you can use touch to give the desired kernel (or other boot loader) in the directory a more recent time stamp, or you can set default_selection to a value that uniquely identifies your desired default loader. One caveat you should keep in mind is that the EFI and Windows interpret the hardware clock as local time, whereas Mac OS X uses Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). Linux can work either way. Thus, time stamps for boot loaders can be skewed by several hours depending on the environment in which they were created or last modified.
+rEFInd sorts boot loader entries within each directory by time stamp, so that the most recent entry comes first. Thus, if you specify a directory name (or a volume label, for loaders stored in a volume's root directory) as the default_selection, rEFInd will make the most recent loader in the directory the default. This can obviate the need to adjust this configuration parameter when you add a new kernel; chances are you want the most recently-added kernel to be the default, and rEFInd makes it so when you set the default_selection in this way. If you don't want the latest kernel to become the default, you can use touch to give the desired kernel (or other boot loader) in the directory a more recent time stamp, or you can set default_selection to a value that uniquely identifies your desired default loader. One caveat you should keep in mind is that the EFI and Windows interpret the hardware clock as local time, whereas Mac OS X uses Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). Linux can work either way. Thus, time stamps for boot loaders can be skewed by several hours depending on the environment in which they were created or last modified.