Linux 4.2 To Support The EFI System Resource Table

The Linux 4.2 kernel cycle that will soon officially commence will be adding support for the EFI System Resource Table (ESRT) in order to allow the updating of UEFI/BIOS on modern systems from the Linux desktop.

The EFI subsystem update for Linux 4.2 will introduce support for the EFI System Resource Table, which was added to the new UEFI 2.5 specification. The ESRT support is needed for the UEFI 2.5 feature of allowing UEFI updates via standardized mechanisms.

The changes in UEFI 2.5 will make UEFI/BIOS updating under Linux much easier and Red Hat has already been working on the new fwupdate tool for performing such firmware updates on systems supporting UEFI 2.5+. They've been working a lot to ensure smooth and easy UEFI updates under Linux. With Linux 4.2, the necessary kernel change will be in place.

The ESRT is responsible for providing a list of system components that accept firmware upgrades via the UEFI Capsule Update specification. Microsoft has also been looking forward to UEFI 2.5 for sending down these UEFI Capsule Updates via Windows Updates.

The EFI System Resource Table on Linux 4.2+ will be exposed to user-space via sysfs. The ESRT support was lined up today for sending in for the next kernel merge window that will be opening up in the weeks ahead.