Recommended way to boot EFI computers?
I've just done a slackpkg upgrade-all. At the end it asks whether I want to run lilo. But because of EFI (and using ext4) I have to say "no" and do a bunch of stuff (creating initrd.gz and copying files etc).
I'm using a DELL XPS13 (9343). Now, I *think* I can get it to boot in "legacy mode" and I'm tempted to try it; I used to use lilo and was very happy with it. Then I used a Macbook Pro for a long time and was *forced* to use EFI. Apart from Slackware I have a (mostly unused) Arch installation on this laptop. Is there any reason I should use EFI instead of MBR? |
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Well, eventually systems will likely stop supporting "legacy" mode for UEFI, so there will be no choice but to use EFI. However, we aren't there yet, and if you have the option, you're certainly welcome to use it.
On top of what Didier wrote, it is also not recommended by Pat to use slackpkg to upgrade kernels (even though it's enabled by default). If you check /etc/slackpkg/blacklist, it will show the following statement. Quote:
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Patrick Volkerding provides instructions in an email to the slackware-security mailing list whenever he makes a kernel upgrade for security reasons (which has been always the case for kernel upgrades of Slackware stable, as far as I remember), that can safely be followed in all cases, I think. For instance see the most recent email of this kind.
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That is what I am doing, I haven't even tried to boot EFI yet. I just use the "legacy" mode. When I install Slackware I load lilo into the root partition then boot to my Windows 10 partition and use EasyBCD to add Slackware the the windows boot loader and chainload lilo that way. Probably not the most elegant way of doing things but it works and I don't feel like messing with something that isn't broken. |
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... oh. I just checked. I only have a complete /lib/modules/4.4.38/ directory (and a mangled old 4.4.14). |
Didier,
it's not so much the work, it's more that I'm inclined to agree with Gerard. UEFI is a horrible mess: [rant deleted] |
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As for your mangled /lib/modules/4.4.14/ directory, my first guess is that you compiled some custom kernel modules that were installed there. pkgtool will remove all the original files in the package, but it won't remove newly added ones. If there are new files in a directory, it would prevent that directory from being removed when the package is removed. |
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It's mostly a matter of understanding where to put things. The one thing I dislike about EFI is that it uses the FAT filesystem, which makes it prone to damage. That said, it works fine with filesystems created with GNU tools. As with everything else, Slackware's implementation of EFI support is probably the most sane available. |
To those who despise UEFI... Please read the current specification, then come back. See you next month. Or maybe, next year?
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My disk is not exceptionally large, and I have no need for so many partitions. I am going to postpone UEFI until I really need it.
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The UEFI specification does not require the use of a GUID Partition Table anyway. It allows to continue using a Legacy Master Boot Record. On the other hand if you use LiLo you are in good hands: we know who is the official maintainer :cool:
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