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Bug#746662: add install-time option to place grub-efi in removable media path



On Sun, Oct 19, 2014 at 06:43:24PM +0200, Cyril Brulebois wrote:
>Robert Lange <rcl24@drexel.edu> (2014-10-19):
>> I agree with the original poster and argue for increasing the
>> priority of this bug, because under certain circumstances it may
>> make a Debian system appear to be unbootable.
>> 
>> As it stands, if something causes the computer's EFI NVRAM to get
>> wiped (e.g., user error, firmware bug, firmware upgrade), many
>> computers will appear to be unbootable because their EFI
>> implementations provide no way to scan for non-default bootloaders
>> in the EFI System Partition. For a technically-oriented user, a boot
>> disc such as rEFInd can be used to fix this, but less-savvy users
>> will simply think that Debian broke.
>> 
>> For reference, the default bootloader exists in the EFI System
>> Partition at \EFI\BOOT\bootx64.efi (/boot/efi/EFI/BOOT/bootx64.efi
>> as mounted in Debian) on a x86-64 architecture machine [UEFI
>> Specification Version 2.4 (Errata B) Section 3.4.1]. If no NVRAM
>> bootloader entries are applicable on a computer, the system will
>> boot from the first default bootloader it finds on the first ESP
>> partition it finds.
>> 
>> To increase robustness of installations against firmware issues, the
>> Debian installer should prompt the user to install a copy of the
>> bootloader into the default bootloader location of the ESP. I would
>> recommend that the default value of this prompt be Yes if no default
>> bootloader currently exists, and No if one currently exists (along
>> with the requisite warning about overwriting).
>
>Steve,
>
>what's your take on this topic?

That's exactly te kind of thing I think we should do, yes.

-- 
Steve McIntyre, Cambridge, UK.                                steve@einval.com
"Because heaters aren't purple!" -- Catherine Pitt


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