fixing Zesty to use Apple boot selector

[Jack Howarth]

On Sat, Apr 1, 2017 at 11:31 AM, Jack Howarth
<howarth.mailing.lists at gmail.com> wrote:
> On Sat, Apr 1, 2017 at 11:25 AM, Jack Howarth
> <howarth.mailing.lists at gmail.com> wrote:
>> 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.
>
> Daniel,
>      If I am reading...
>
> http://askubuntu.com/questions/111085/how-do-i-hide-the-grub-menu-showing-up-in-the-beginning-of-boot
>
> correctly, the default installation of Ubuntu seems to prohibit
> accessing the grub boot selector due to the use of
>
> GRUB_DEFAULT=0
> GRUB_HIDDEN_TIMEOUT=0
> GRUB_HIDDEN_TIMEOUT_QUIET=true
> GRUB_TIMEOUT=10
> GRUB_DISTRIBUTOR=`lsb_release -i -s 2> /dev/null || echo Debian`
> GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash"
> GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX="
>
> so dual boot users have to change GRUB_HIDDEN_TIMEOUT and update-grub
> to allow the 'shift' key to make the grub selector menu available, no?
> Even more of an argument to adopt the Fedora approach for supporting
> the EFI boot selector on Macs.
>                      Jack

Daniel.
    From reading...

https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/grub2/+bug/1258597

it is really unclear what exact permutation of settings is required to
default Ubuntu to display the grub selector menu these days.
                   Jack