Hi Martin-Éric, On Sun, 2025-01-19 at 17:04 +0200, Martin-Éric Racine wrote: > > Here is what I see on this 32-bit host: > > $ uname -a > Linux u1400 6.1.0-30-686-pae #1 SMP PREEMPT_DYNAMIC Debian 6.1.124-1 > (2025-01-12) i686 GNU/Linux > > $ dir -1 /boot/ > config-6.1.0-29-686-pae > config-6.1.0-30-686-pae > grub > initrd.img-6.1.0-29-686-pae > initrd.img-6.1.0-30-686-pae > ipxe-arm64.efi > ipxe.efi > ipxe.lkrn > memtest86+ia32.bin > memtest86+ia32.efi > memtest86+x64.bin > memtest86+x64.efi > System.map-6.1.0-29-686-pae > System.map-6.1.0-30-686-pae > vmlinuz-6.1.0-29-686-pae > vmlinuz-6.1.0-30-686-pae > > As seen above, iPXE clearly installs 3 binaries, regardless of the > target architecture.
Yeah, that's how it has been for quiet a while at Ubuntu, and my first goal, when adopting the package, was to catch up with what Ubuntu delivers. There is probably room for improvements. > $ sudo update-grub > Generating grub configuration file ... > Found background image: /usr/share/images/desktop-base/desktop-grub.png > Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-6.1.0-30-686-pae > Found initrd image: /boot/initrd.img-6.1.0-30-686-pae > Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-6.1.0-29-686-pae > Found initrd image: /boot/initrd.img-6.1.0-29-686-pae > Found iPXE image: /boot/ipxe.lkrn > Found memtest86+ 64bit EFI image: /boot/memtest86+x64.efi > Found memtest86+ 32bit EFI image: /boot/memtest86+ia32.efi > Found memtest86+ 64bit image: /boot/memtest86+x64.bin > Found memtest86+ 32bit image: /boot/memtest86+ia32.bin > Warning: os-prober will not be executed to detect other bootable partitions. > Systems on them will not be added to the GRUB boot configuration. > Check GRUB_DISABLE_OS_PROBER documentation entry. > Adding boot menu entry for UEFI Firmware Settings ... > done > > As seen above, none of the EFI iPXE binaries are found by update-grub. > Since you wrote that it's for x86-64, it kinda makes sense not to find > it on an x86-32 host, Looking at the code in /etc/grub.d/20_ipxe carefully reveals that the script _aways_ prints "Found iPXE image: /boot/ipxe.lkrn" [1] but inserts code which chooses ipxe.lkrn or ipxe.efi at run-time depending on the plattform [2]. > but it nonetheless ships in the package, along > with the arm64 EFI binary. That's inevitable for picking the binary at run-time (except for the arm64 binary). It might even be a feature as the same volume can boot up connected to a BIOS host as well as to a UEFI host. > > Meanwhile, memtest86+ installs both BIOS and EFI images, and comes > with GRUB scripts to produce menu entries for every memtest86+ variant > it finds. The only minor hickup here here is that it also ships 64-bit > images on i386. While an amd64 host can indeed be launched in 32-bit > mode, the reverse is not true. In a similar way you can consider it a hickup to present EFI images on a BIOS system and vice versa. Conclusions: - The only real flaw I currently see is the misleading static output "Found iPXE image: /boot/ipxe.lkrn". - I doubt it's vital to support 32 bit EFI nowadays, however this can be added. - The grub config code definitely needs improvement. Sven [1] https://sources.debian.org/src/ipxe/1.21.1%2Bgit20220113.fbbdc3926%2Bdfsg-2/debian/ipxe.grub/#L20 [2] https://sources.debian.org/src/ipxe/1.21.1%2Bgit20220113.fbbdc3926%2Bdfsg-2/debian/ipxe.grub/#L27 -- GPG Fingerprint 3DF5 E8AA 43FC 9FDF D086 F195 ADF5 0EDA F8AD D585
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