Re: [PATCH] x86/EFI: define and use EFI_DIR make variable, defaulting to /usr/lib64/efi

[Matt Wilson <msw@amazon.com>]

On Tue, Jul 24, 2012 at 01:57:57AM -0700, Ian Campbell wrote:
> On Mon, 2012-07-23 at 11:03 +0100, Jan Beulich wrote:
> > > I noticed that (at least on Debian) grub uses /usr/lib/grub/<arch>-efi
> > > and elilo uses /usr/lib/elilo.
> > 
> > It's definitely /usr/lib64/efi/elilo.efi on SLE11, so I'm afraid this
> > really ins't well standardized (and hence an EFI_DIR override is
> > warranted, yet settling on a proper default may be problematic).
> > 
> > > Does that mean we should be using /usr/lib/xen/efi rather than /usr/lib/efi?
> > > 
> > > What is the policy for EFI install location on RPM/LSB based systems?
> > 
> > Don't know.
> > 
> > >> > We already have EFI_MOUNTPOINT under xen/*, I think EFI_DIR under there
> > >> > (or in config/*) is fine also.
> > >> 
> > >> That part wasn't controversial (if generally useful), but imo it
> > >> shouldn't expand to an open-coded path (unless put into
> > >> config/x86_64.mk).
> > > 
> > > I could live with that. Unlike LIBDIR, where getting it wrong can mean
> > > things don't work, getting EFI_DIR wrong is merely ugly.
> > 
> > Not exactly - it might still mean that boot loader installation (and
> > update) doesn't work anymore. But getting things consistent
> > would be a one-time per-distro task, so ought to be manageable.
> 
> So is the upshot that the original patch is basically OK, subject to
> settling on a reasonable default for EFI_DIR? With the proviso that
> there's basically no standardisation of this stuff and every distro
> seems to be choosing a different path?

My Apologies for a late reply - I've been traveling over the past few
days.

That was my conclusion as well. For one more data point, it seems that
the GRUB2 efi binaries are deployed directly to
/boot/efi/EFI/redhat/grub.efi on Fedora/RHEL systems.

> /usr/lib64/efi seems as good as anything. Suitable alternatives might
> be /usr/{lib,lib64}/xen/efi/...

I think that /boot/xen.efi could also be suitable, but it is farther
from the pattern that we see in elilo and GRUB2 EFI binary locations
on SUSE and Debian systems. But I figure that /usr/lib64/efi is as
good as any other default choice.

Matt