Re: When will the FreeBSD (u)EFI work?

On Fri, 27 Mar 2020 17:27:27 -0600 Warner Losh imp_at_bsdimp.com said

> On Fri, Mar 27, 2020 at 4:54 PM Chris <bsd-lists_at_bsdforge.com> wrote:
> 
> > On Sat, 28 Mar 2020 01:10:37 +0300 Andrey Fesenko f0andrey_at_gmail.com said
> >
> > > On Sat, Mar 28, 2020 at 12:53 AM Chris <bsd-lists_at_bsdforge.com> wrote:
> > > >
> > > > On an experiment of the FreeBSD EFI implementation. I installed
> > > > a copy of releng/12 from install media. Which left me with:
> > > > # gpart show ada0
> > > > =>       40  312581728  ada0  GPT  (149G)
> > > >          40     409600     1  efi  (200M)
> > > >      409640   31047680     2  freebsd-ufs  (15G)
> > > >    31457320    7680000     3  freebsd-swap  (3.7G)
> > > >    74788904  237792864        - free -  (141G)
> > > >
> > > > On this Intel based system, I can stab the F12 key to pick
> > > > my UEFI bootable OS, or let it boot according to the order
> > > > I setup in the BIOS. So far, so good.
> > > > I needed a copy of releng/13 to also work with. Installed a copy
> > > > from install media. Which left me with:
> > > > # gpart show ada0
> > > > =>       40  312581728  ada0  GPT  (149G)
> > > >          40     409600     1  efi  (200M)
> > > >      409640   31047680     2  freebsd-ufs  (15G)
> > > >    31457320    7680000     3  freebsd-swap  (3.7G)
> > > >    39137320     532480     4  efi  (260M)
> > > >    39669800   35119104     5  freebsd-ufs  (17G)
> > > >    74788904  237792864        - free -  (113G)
> > > > I *assumed* that the install would activate the new install, and I
> > > > would boot straight into it. But no. I am still on the previous
> > > > install, and worse, I can't get into the new install -- even if
> > > > picking it via stabbing the F12 key. I *still* end up in the previous
> > > > install. So looking at what might be causing it. I found the following:
> > > > # releng/12
> > > > # mount -t msdosfs /dev/ada0p1 /mnt/
> > > >
> > > > # ls /mnt/efi/boot/
> > > > BOOTx64.efi
> > > > startup.nsh
> > > >
> > > > # cat /mnt/efi/boot/startup.nsh
> > > > BOOTx64.efi
> > > >
> > > > # umount /mnt/
> > > >
> > > > releng/13
> > > > # mount -t msdosfs /dev/ada0p4 /mnt/
> > > >
> > > > # ls /mnt/EFI/freebsd/
> > > > loader.efi
> > > >
> > > > Why the difference? When will FreeBSD (u)EFI work as expected?
> > > >
> > > > Thanks in advance for any insights!
> > > >
> > >
> > > Require only single efi part
> > >
> > > See
> > >
> > https://forums.freebsd.org/threads/two-freebsd-installations-and-efi.73968/
> > Thanks for they reply, and link, Andrey!
> > Well that confirms it. FreeBSD, unlike other OS implementations, will not
> > permit booting your chosen "version" via EFI.
> 
> 
Firstly, *huge* thanks for your informative reply, Warner!
> It does today. If you use efibootmgr, you can boot exactly what you want. I
> do it all the time...  Though your BIOS may overwrite the EFI vars if you
> set too many (I'm looking at you supermicro). When you use the efi BootXXXX
> variables, it's possible to boot one of many different things on the
> system...  Though I've not done 11, just 12 and current.
Well. That's the thing. I *am* on 12 && 13. Well *trying* to get into 13.
When I started this whole thing, I had some 15 entries returned by efibootmgr(8) -v.
So I trimmed the list down to the 2 my BIOS presents as UEFI:
Boot0015  UEFI: WDC WD1600JS-98MHB0 PciRoot(0x0)/Pci(0x1f,0x2)/Sata(0x0,0xffff,0x0)/HD(4,GPT,6688c5af-6f93...
Boot0011* UEFI: WDC WD1600JS-98MHB0 PciRoot(0x0)/Pci(0x1f,0x2)/Sata(0x0,0xffff,0x0)/HD(1,GPT,260d2df2-6a10...
another entry created when I installed releng/13:
Boot0014  FreeBSD (ada0p4) HD(4,GPT,6688c5af-6f93-11ea-adbb-4c72b9f5e07f,0x2553028,0x82000)/File(\EFI\free...
and a Windows reference (currently not installed).
I activated *both* Boot0015 and Boot0011:
efibootmgr -a 0015 0011. Output confirmed success. Bounced box, choose Boot0015. Which booted
initial releng/12 install. Fail. OK Try something different;
efibootmgr -a 0014 -L FreeBSD-13. Output confirms the -L switch is broken, but 00114 is active.
Bounce box && choose 0014. Boots to initial releng/12 install.

Conclusion; FreeBSD EFI/ESP is not ready for prime time. :(

Thanks again for the reply, Warner! :)

--Chris
> 
> 
> > That is; not without dropping
> > to the loader prompt, or changing the status of slices, or boot entries
> > prior to
> > reboot. :(
> >
> 
> Not needed.
> 
> 
> > Looks like I'll need to install a third party OS, or bootmanager to use
> > FreeBSD.
> > Sigh...
> >
> 
> Again, not needed. Though there may be a few things that need to be MFC'd
> if you want 11 on that list...
> 
> 
> > There *may* be hope in the future (
> > https://bugs.freebsd.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=207940)
> >
> 
> This would require you to stop to select on the way up... Or am I not
> understanding what you want?
> 
> We should add that functionality to loader.efi, since boot1.efi is in the
> process of being deprecated... It should be a simple LUA script there...
> 
> 
> > Thanks again, Andrey. Greatly appreciated! :)
> >