GRUB 2.00 Boot-Loader Release Is Imminent

[phoronix]

Phoronix: GRUB 2.00 Boot-Loader Release Is Imminent

After being in development for many years, GRUB 2.00 will be released in the coming days...

http://www.phoronix.com/vr.php?view=MTEyODA

[uid313]

GRUB is licensed under the GNU GPL and includes basic ZFS file system support.
I understand that this is just basic ZFS support to initialize the file system and doesn't include advanced functionality.

But why isn't this code pushed into the Linux kernel to provide the kernel with some rudimentary ZFS support?

Some basic ZFS support in the Linux kernel would still be useful and be a nice addition. Also it could be a starting point for further development.

[uid313]

Now finally GRUB 2 is about to come. The long awaited release.

But GRUB 2 is under the GPLv3, and now with the new UEFI systems shipping with Secure Boot, the distributions are ditching GRUB since they cant ship GRUB 2 with their cryptographic key since the GPLv3 says they must make any such key available and if they do so, their certificate gets revoked.

[droidhacker]

Now finally GRUB 2 is about to come. The long awaited release.

But GRUB 2 is under the GPLv3, and now with the new UEFI systems shipping with Secure Boot, the distributions are ditching GRUB since they cant ship GRUB 2 with their cryptographic key since the GPLv3 says they must make any such key available and if they do so, their certificate gets revoked.

I think that douchebuntu is flipping out over nothing.
The part they're looking at is where it talks about keys that are required to make a modified version functional. It doesn't say that it has to function on ALL HARDWARE.

In theory, UEFI securecrap is supposed to be something that can be disabled, hence keys are a CONVENIENCE ONLY, NOT required. On those systems where it can't be disabled, this is simply broken hardware and not the responsibility of distro builders.

SECONDLY, the installation of this software will be BY THE USER, not from the factory, therefore distro can include disclaimer "not supported on hardware with broken UEFI implementation".


Naturally, hardware vendors shipping this software pre-installed will have to ensure that the UEFI securecrap can be disabled on that hardware.

[mark45]

GRUB2 gets released, UEFI-enabled motherboards show up soon, GRUB2 jumps from final release to maintenance mode, end of GRUB2's story.

[Teho]

GRUB2 gets released, UEFI-enabled motherboards show up soon, GRUB2 jumps from final release to maintenance mode, end of GRUB2's story.

GRUB 2 has excellent UEFI support even if it can't handle Secure Boot. I would assume that most distributions will work out of the box only if you disable Secure Boot anyway.

[uid313]

GRUB 2:
Platform: IA-32, x86-64, PowerPC

Too bad no support for ARM, SPARC, MIPS.

[mark45]

GRUB 2 has excellent UEFI support even if it can't handle Secure Boot. I would assume that most distributions will work out of the box only if you disable Secure Boot anyway.

Sure, except THE LINUX DISTRO (and probably others will follow) won't use it by default on UEFI boxes:

So, the bad news first: at this point, we are not planning to use GRUB 2
by default on systems with secure boot enabled. As a search through its
ChangeLog will show, we've put a considerable amount of upstream
development effort into GRUB 2 and we hope to carry on doing so, so this
wasn't an easy decision.

[Kano]

I would really like to see grub 2.00 shipped in debian as soon as possible. 1.99 even with lots of patches does not support raid systems well. also chainloading efi binaries does not work somehow. Forget that secure boot crap, all you need to do is to enter setup and disable it. The way Ubuntu wants to implement it you gain absolutely nothing and the Fedora way is only for oss only systems. When i use a boot loader like GRUB2 then i want to be able boot other systems as well - that means win 7/8 in uefi mode. Otherwise i can directly add kernel as well with efibootmgr. Then i at least skip one bootloader.

[GreatEmerald]

Sure, except THE LINUX DISTRO (and probably others will follow) won't use it by default on UEFI boxes:

Except that they still use it by default once you disable secure boot. And it's not UEFI, it's Secure Boot. There are plenty of UEFI boards right now, too.