fixing Zesty to use Apple boot selector

[Jack Howarth]

On Sat, Apr 1, 2017 at 9:04 AM, Daniel Llewellyn <daniel at bowlhat.net> wrote:
>
>
> On 1 April 2017 at 01:10, Jack Howarth <howarth.mailing.lists at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>>
>> sudo mkdir -p /boot/efi/System/Library/CoreServices
>> sudo install -m 644 /usr/share/mactel-boot/SystemVersion.plist
>> /boot/efi/System/Library/CoreServices
>> sudo install -m 644 /usr/share/mactel-boot-logo/ubuntu.icns
>> /boot/efi/.VolumeIcon.icns
>> sudo echo "This file is required for booting" > /boot/efi/mach_kernel
>> sudo install -m 700 /boot/efi/EFI/ubuntu/grubx64.efi
>> /boot/efi/System/Library/CoreServices/boot.efi
>
>
> What is the interaction of these files when dual-booting with macOS? i.e. is
> macOS still bootable? are macOS and Ubuntu listed in the boot selector as
> separate items or does Ubuntu become the only option? I really don't want to
> see a situation where Ubuntu behaves in a manner that it believes "it is the
> only true OS and damn anyone else who wants to be installed at the same
> time".
>
> --
> Daniel Llewellyn
> Bowl Hat

Daniel,
       I suspect it shouldn't cause a problem as Fedora has been using
this approach for two full releases now. I'm currently not configured
to test that as my mac0S volume is an AppleRAID volume consisting for
two dedicated drives.
       In any case, the current installation is fragile for both
installations on separate drives and dual boot on a single drive
configurations. If the user ever accidentally opens the Startup Disk
system preference panel in macOS and sets the macOS volume as the
startup, there is no obvious way to reset the startup volume back to
Ubuntu. However, by using the Fedora approach of creating the required
files in /boot/efi for the Apple EFI firmware to recognize the Ubuntu
volume, the StartupDisk and boot selector will both show it for
selection.
                   Jack
ps Again, the real problem here is puzzling out how Fedora handles
keeping the grubx64.efi and boot.efi copy in sync when the former is
regenerated. I am believe Fedora is using a vfat partition for the
/boot/efi directory just like Ubuntu which prevents the use of a
symlink for boot.efi pointing at grubx64.efi (which would be possible
if /boot/efi were a HFSplus volume but the linux support for that file
system is too glitchy to trust).

pps. How exactly do you get to the grub boot selector on your machine?
The default Ubuntu 16.10 and 17.04 installations default to 'splash'
and holding the 'shift' key down when booting doesn't seem to expose
the grub boot selector.