From 2c127d7c9989d2b86627484e33f70ce3d0043954 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: srs5694 Date: Fri, 9 May 2014 12:29:17 -0400 Subject: [PATCH] Documentation changes for legacy support from GNU-EFI builds. --- BUILDING.txt | 36 ++++++++++++++++-------------------- NEWS.txt | 9 +++++++++ docs/refind/features.html | 3 +-- docs/refind/getting.html | 23 ++++++++++------------- 4 files changed, 36 insertions(+), 35 deletions(-) diff --git a/BUILDING.txt b/BUILDING.txt index b35ed4e..0ef9fae 100644 --- a/BUILDING.txt +++ b/BUILDING.txt @@ -38,19 +38,16 @@ To compile rEFInd, you'll need the following: compile it, and install it locally. Between rEFInd version 0.2.7 and 0.6.1, the Makefiles assumed a locally-compiled GNU-EFI package, but older and more recent versions assume GNU-EFI installation in typical - locations for distribution-provided packages. The legacy BIOS boot - support on UEFI-based PCs doesn't work when rEFInd is compiled under - GNU-EFI, so as of rEFInd 0.4.6, GNU-EFI is no longer the primary build - environment, although it's easier to set up on a Linux system. + locations for distribution-provided packages. Of the two toolkits, I prefer to use TianoCore because it produces binaries -that can boot BIOS/legacy-mode OSes and because the TianoCore-produced -binaries are about 20-30KiB smaller than those made by GNU-EFI. Also, I've +that are about 20-30KiB smaller than those made by GNU-EFI, and I can +easily build 32-bit binaries on my 64-bit Linux installations. Also, I've had problems on a 32-bit Mac Mini with the drivers produced by GNU-EFI hanging the system if I try to load more than one of them. (I haven't encountered this problem on UEFI-based PCs.) That said, the TianoCore EDK2 -package is much harder to install, so if you don't need the ability to boot -BIOS/legacy OSes from rEFInd, GNU-EFI can work as well. +package is much harder to install, so you may prefer to use GNU-EFI unless +you have a specific need for the TianoCore toolkit. It's possible to use a non-Linux platform to compile rEFInd. To the best of my knowledge, the rEFInd code doesn't rely on anything Linux-specific in @@ -73,18 +70,17 @@ GCC or Microsoft's C compiler, but I haven't tested this. Preparing Your Development Kit ============================== -If you don't care about booting BIOS-based OSes on UEFI PCs and if you're -using Linux, GNU-EFI is the easiest way to compile rEFInd. I don't describe -GNU-EFI's setup here because it's likely to be fairly easy. If your -distribution provides a recent enough version, you should be able to -install a package called gnu-efi and be done with it. If not, you'll need -to download the source code tarball, build it, and install it. This process -is fairly typical of Linux packages. Read the GNU-EFI documentation if you -need help. If you're using GNU-EFI, you can skip the rest of this section. - -If you need support for booting BIOS-based OSes on UEFI PCs, the TianoCore -toolkit is required. You might also want to use it if you have problems -with GNU-EFI or if you want to build rEFInd on a non-Linux platform. +If you're using Linux, GNU-EFI is the easiest way to compile rEFInd. I +don't describe GNU-EFI's setup here because it's likely to be fairly easy. +If your distribution provides a recent enough version, you should be able +to install a package called gnu-efi and be done with it. If not, you'll +need to download the source code tarball, build it, and install it. This +process is fairly typical of Linux packages. Read the GNU-EFI documentation +if you need help. If you're using GNU-EFI, you can skip the rest of this +section. + +You might also want to use the TianoCore toolkit if you have problems with +GNU-EFI or if you want to build rEFInd on a non-Linux platform. Unfortunately, the TianoCore toolkit is weird by Linux programming standards. It's also quite large -- it's intended as a means to develop a complete EFI firmware implementation, so it contains much more code than is diff --git a/NEWS.txt b/NEWS.txt index 53c8398..49c680d 100644 --- a/NEWS.txt +++ b/NEWS.txt @@ -1,6 +1,15 @@ 0.8.1 (5/??/2014): ------------------ +- Changed icons from ICNS to PNG form. There are several reasons to do + this, all of them minor; but together they're enough to warrant a change. + PNG is more common, and therefore more accessible to most users -- + particularly those who don't use OS X. The PNG files are smaller than + their ICNS equivalents. PNG supports a wider range of sizes (although I'm + not now using anything that ICNS doesn't support, I might in the future). + The icon-scaling support added a few versions ago makes ICNS's support + for multiple icon sizes relatively unimportant. + - Reversed order of search for icons by extension: rEFInd now searches for PNG files before ICNS files, rather than the other way around. This makes it possible to override a volume icon for rEFInd by giving it the diff --git a/docs/refind/features.html b/docs/refind/features.html index cc23f2e..552baaf 100644 --- a/docs/refind/features.html +++ b/docs/refind/features.html @@ -177,8 +177,7 @@ href="mailto:rodsmith@rodsbooks.com">rodsmith@rodsbooks.com

  • Support for launching legacy BIOS boot loaders on UEFI PCs with suitable CSM support (as of version 0.4.6, with significant improvements in -version 0.8.0). This feature requires building rEFInd with the TianoCore -EDK2 toolkit, which I do for my main binary build. Note that some UEFI PCs, +version 0.8.0). Note that some UEFI PCs, such as those with Gigabyte's Hybrid EFI, lack a usable CSM.
  • Improved flexibility in setting the default OS to boot. rEFInd enables specifying the default by any substring in the description. You can also specify multiple defaults, so that if the first isn't available, another will take its place (which is useful when using removable disks). You can also add time specifications to set a default to be used only during certain hours of the day.
    • diff --git a/docs/refind/getting.html b/docs/refind/getting.html index a41acd2..5d844a9 100644 --- a/docs/refind/getting.html +++ b/docs/refind/getting.html @@ -149,8 +149,7 @@ href="mailto:rodsmith@rodsbooks.com">rodsmith@rodsbooks.com

    href="http://sourceforge.net/projects/refind/files/0.8.0/refind-bin-gnuefi-0.8.0.zip/download">variant package exists in which the x86-64 binary was compiled with GNU-EFI rather than the usual TianoCore EDK2. This change helps some - users with this problem; but using GNU-EFI also means that this version - can't launch BIOS-mode OSes. + users with this problem.
  • A @@ -257,17 +256,15 @@ computer.

    rEFInd's git repository in the Arch User Repository (AUR), under the name refind-efi-git. The git release is likely to include pre-release bug fixes and new features, but those features may be - poorly tested or undocumented. The last I checked, both builds used the - Tianocore toolkit, and so support booting BIOS/legacy boot loaders on - UEFI-based PCs.
    • - -
  • ALT Linux—This RPM-based distribution is experimenting with - using rEFInd on EFI-based computers. As I write, the ALT developers haven't - yet nailed down booting from an optical disc (it's a tricky and delicate - task, especially when preparing a "hybrid" image), but they're working on - the problem. They have an RPM of rEFInd; see this page - for details.
    • + poorly tested or undocumented. + +
  • ALT Linux—This RPM-based distribution is experimenting + with using rEFInd on EFI-based computers. As I write, the ALT + developers haven't yet nailed down booting from an optical disc (it's a + tricky and delicate task, especially when preparing a "hybrid" image), + but they're working on the problem. They have an RPM of rEFInd; see this + page for details.
  • Fat Dog—This variant of Puppy Linux uses a combination of -- 2.39.2