Official Gentoo iso still have no UEFI support. Why?

Message

Perfect Gentleman · Post by **Perfect Gentleman** » Wed Aug 27, 2014 5:48 pm

xaviermiller · Post by **xaviermiller** » Wed Aug 27, 2014 6:22 pm

Use SystemRescueCD/USB

Perfect Gentleman · Post by **Perfect Gentleman** » Wed Aug 27, 2014 6:36 pm

As I remember SystemRescueCD/USB has no F2FS support, but I try it.

The Doctor · Post by **The Doctor** » Wed Aug 27, 2014 6:47 pm

The official ISO lacks support for a large number of things. I kind of think that the System Rescue CD should become the 'official' install media.

Also, note that you can create a custom System Rescue CD if you need a tool that is not included on the default one.

Logicien · Post by **Logicien** » Wed Aug 27, 2014 7:08 pm

Because you build your Gentoo in chroot using any media, it is not mandatory to have EFI support for the host. Most EFI firmwares support BIOS mode boot. You just have to build stuff, partition, kernel, Grub, etc, with EFI support and it should work in EFI mode when you're gone boot Gentoo as a host.

That say, it can be good to have a Gentoo ISO9660 hybrid with EFI support.

Ant P. · Post by **Ant P.** » Wed Aug 27, 2014 10:08 pm

But it's still somewhat hard to change the EFI boot order from the liveCD in order to actually boot that Gentoo install in EFI mode for the first time.

I'm sure not all of us enjoy having to hunt down the correct version of Shell.efi for a system/CPU combination, find a USB drive to put that on, reboot into that and then manually navigate a MSDOS-clone interface with trial and error rebooting just to get a fully working Gentoo.

Perfect Gentleman · Post by **Perfect Gentleman** » Thu Aug 28, 2014 4:14 am

Logicien wrote: it is not mandatory to have EFI support for the host..

I'm used to EFISTUB. but without booting info EFI mode, it's impossible to modprobe efivars, and so use efibootmgr.

Logicien · Post by **Logicien** » Thu Aug 28, 2014 5:30 am

If you can put an EFI stub kernel and/or a EFI boot loader in the EFI partition, the EFI firmware should allow you to boot them in his menu.

I am just speculating because I have always been in EFI boot mode with the host when I have install Gentoo in chroot as a guest. But, I think it is possible to boot Gentoo in EFI boot mode when it have been install in BIOS boot mode.

Perfect Gentleman · Post by **Perfect Gentleman** » Thu Aug 28, 2014 5:59 am

@Logicien, but you still need efivars-module to be loaded to use efibootmanager. Of course, it is possible to install base system, then use iso-image with EFI support, for example Arch, chroot into and run efibootmgr. I think it will possible to install Gentoo from Arch. I will try later, as now I need working system.

AaronPPC · Post by **AaronPPC** » Fri Aug 29, 2014 4:06 am

The Doctor wrote:The official ISO lacks support for a large number of things. I kind of think that the System Rescue CD should become the 'official' install media.

I agree. The last time I did a Gentoo install I used the System Rescue CD and there was no functional difference.