Talk:REFInd

Example configuration file location
Using 0.10.4-r1,

I found the refind.conf-sample file in /usr/share/refind-0.10.4/refind/refind.conf-sample, not /usr/share/doc/refind-*/refind.conf-sample. — The preceding unsigned comment was added by Russk (talk • contribs) 12 November 2016‎


 * Hi, Feel free to fix the path! It's a publicly editable wiki. Also, don't forget to sign you comments! :) --Maffblaster (talk) 17:40, 14 November 2016 (UTC)

Remove "Manual installation" section
It seems to me that the command works so well that there no need any longer for the "Manual installation" section. So I opt for deleting it. Any objections? --Charles17 (talk) 12:37, 15 June 2017 (UTC)


 * I can't really contribute much since I don't use refined, but if you say it works I think it's okay to remove the section. It sounds like it's deprecated anyway now that this bootloader has an installation command. --Maffblaster (talk) 16:24, 15 June 2017 (UTC)


 * Done. Who ever wants it back may get it from the older revisions.--Charles17 (talk) 07:24, 16 June 2017 (UTC)

Kernel management simplification
Using rEFInd for kernel management can be so much simpler than what is presented here:


 * 1) Leave the kernels (and initrd images, if they exist) in /boot, which is where "make install" (or genkernel) is going to install them anyway, and don't bother adding ".efi" extensions to the kernel names. If the user has followed the handbook instructions, /boot is the root of the EFI system partition (ESP), so rEFInd doesn't need to install any filesystem drivers to read it.
 * 2) Edit /boot/refind_linux.conf to pass a "root=" command line argument to the kernel so that the kernel knows where to find the root partition as it boots. 'echo \"Default\"  \"root=PARTUUID=partitionUUID\" > /boot/refind_linux.conf' would suffice for most people.
 * 3) Tell the user to hit  at the rEFInd boot screen to see the complete list of kernels available, which should be any kernel that has been dropped into /boot.

Note that this scheme is even simpler than using GRUB, since new kernels dropped into /boot will show up automatically, without needing to run a separate command akin to "grub-mkconfig". Having the kernels in /boot gives up the nice Gentoo logo (at least without some additional refind.conf configuration), but that seems like a small price to pay....

--G2boojum (talk) 22:20, 11 September 2017 (UTC)


 * May I regard that proposal a dirty hack? I am using another one but for this wiki article I keep recommending kind of EFI_System_Partition. The article is meant to complement Handbook:AMD64/Installation/Bootloader in accordance with other articles like EFI stub kernel and EFI System Partition.  But feel free to add your proposal as an alternative for users who like editing the  file and using the kernel's  command. --Charles17 (talk) 05:50, 12 September 2017 (UTC)


 * I would argue that my proposal is not a dirty hack, but is, in fact, how rEFInd was intended to be used by its author (see http://www.rodsbooks.com/refind/linux.html, especially the "For Those With Foresight or Luck: The Easiest Method" section). [Also, do people do something other than use genkernel or the kernel's "make install" to put kernels in the proper spot? Perhaps I'm more out-of-date than I had thought.] I'm rather confused by the "dirty hack" that you're using, since I wouldn't think the EFI firmware would pick up those kernels automatically. Are you manually running efibootmgr to add the desired kernel images to the nvram boot list? That's the part of the process (running efibootmgr, or grub-mkconfig, or whatever) that I'm trying to avoid. All that said, I'm happy to bow to your opinion in these matters. --G2boojum (talk) 21:13, 12 September 2017 (UTC)


 * I fully agree, it is a question of personal preferences and what I said before is my very personal humble opinion. Let's see what's the difference.  In the one case, the user will maintain the EFI directory according to a certain standard layout without ever touching .  In the other case, the user will edit exactly this file and ignore the ESP's EFI directory.  Please regard a situation where users have several .efi applications, like EFI shell, grub, rEFInd, Microsoft Windows, other Linux distros.  Would you still recommend having them all at the root of the  directory?


 * Regarding your questions: I cannot say how many users like or dislike genkernel or the make install voodoo. For my own "dirty hack" I am using the laptop's built-in configuration tool allowing me to go without using efibootmgr.  That being said, I am keeping rEFInd installed only as a fallback in case there was trouble with EFI stub kernel.


 * Please feel free to edit the wiki articles directly. It is a user's wiki and helpful contributions are always welcome. --Charles17 (talk) 08:02, 13 September 2017 (UTC)

USE -flag descriptions in France (?) instead of English?
This seems to be the only page where I get USE -flag descriptions is some other language than English. Is this a bug in wiki? Do others have the same problem?


 * Zucca (talk) 10:46, 12 April 2018 (UTC)