Bug 1404858 - Fedora 26 should adopt a multi-arch x86_64/i386 installer like Debian Jessie for systems which have EFI-32 firmware
Summary: Fedora 26 should adopt a multi-arch x86_64/i386 installer like Debian Jessie ...
Keywords:
Status: CLOSED EOL
Alias: None
Product: Fedora
Classification: Fedora
Component: grub2
Version: 26
Hardware: x86_64
OS: Linux
unspecified
high
Target Milestone: ---
Assignee: Peter Jones
QA Contact: Fedora Extras Quality Assurance
URL:
Whiteboard:
Depends On:
Blocks:
TreeView+ depends on / blocked
 
Reported: 2016-12-14 21:07 UTC by Jack Howarth
Modified: 2018-05-29 12:34 UTC (History)
5 users (show)

Fixed In Version:
Doc Type: If docs needed, set a value
Doc Text:
Clone Of:
Environment:
Last Closed: 2018-05-29 12:34:02 UTC
Type: Bug
Embargoed:


Attachments (Terms of Use)

Description Jack Howarth 2016-12-14 21:07:07 UTC
Description of problem: Currently the existing Fedora 24 and 25 Live installers can't boot from a USB key on legacy Apple hardware like a MacBook Pro 2,1 which lacks EFI-64 firmware with only EFI-32 firmware. The next Fedora release should adopt the same mixed-mode multi-arch installer approach as taken by Debian in their Jessie 
https://cdimage.debian.org/debian-cd/current/multi-arch/iso-cd/debian-8.6.0-amd64-i386-netinst.iso installer.

Version-Release number of selected component (if applicable):


How reproducible:
Always

Steps to Reproduce:
1. Attempt to boot a USB drive or memory key with the Fedora 24 or 25 x86_64 Live installer on any of the following Apple hardware which lacks EFI-64 firmware and only has EFI-32 firmware...

MacBook2,x
MacBook3,x
MacBook4,x
MacBookPro2,x
MacBookAir1,1
MacMini1,x with C2D
MacMini2,x
iMac4,x with C2D
iMac5,x

MacPro1,x
MacPro2,x

2.You will find that the option key EFI boot selector shows no icon for the attached USB drive or key.

3.Prepare a USB drive or key with the debian-8.6.0-amd64-i386-netinst.iso installed on it.

Actual results:
The boot selector will show the boot EFI for the Debian Jessie multi-arch installer on a USB device mounted on an EFI-32 firmware Mac, but not for any of the available Fedora releases.

Expected results:
I expected the Fedora releases to be able to boot the x86_64 linux from a USB device.


Additional info:
Note that the Fedora 24 and 25 Live DVD installers will in fact boot (because they avoid the EFI boot mechanism) and install a usable copy of Fedora 24 or 25 on a Mac with EFI-32 firmware.

The Debian Mixed-Mode support is described on https://wiki.debian.org/UEFI as follows...

Support for mixed-mode systems: 64-bit system with 32-bit UEFI
Some systems have been released containing 64-bit Intel Atom CPUs (such as the Bay Trail), but unfortunately use 32-bit UEFI firmware with no BIOS compatibility mode. Using the 32-bit UEFI x86 support, an i386 installation should be possible on these machines but it won't make the most of the 64-bit hardware.

Debian Jessie (8.0) was the first Linux distribution to include full support for mixed-mode UEFI installation on these machines. The multi-arch installation media (available in netinst and DVD form) include the UEFI boot loaders necessary for both i386 and amd64 boot. By selecting "64-bit install" from the initial boot menu, debian-installer will install a 64-bit (amd64) version of Debian. The system will automatically detect that the underlying UEFI firmware is 32-bit and will install the appropriate version of grub-efi to work with it.

Note that a 64-bit Graphical install of x86_64 Debian Jessie Linux using the multi-arch iso installs...

/boot/efi/EFI/debian/boot.efi
/boot/efi/EFI/debian/bootia32.efi

to allow the x86_64 Linux kernel to boot on the EFI-32 motherboard.

Comment 1 Fedora End Of Life 2017-02-28 10:47:22 UTC
This bug appears to have been reported against 'rawhide' during the Fedora 26 development cycle.
Changing version to '26'.

Comment 2 alan 2017-06-05 20:34:13 UTC
Ditto for ASUS T100TA, and a whole pile of Baytrail-T based devices that ship with Windows 8 (Those that ship with Android are OK).

Works out of the box in Ubuntu.

Comment 3 Fedora End Of Life 2018-05-03 08:15:47 UTC
This message is a reminder that Fedora 26 is nearing its end of life.
Approximately 4 (four) weeks from now Fedora will stop maintaining
and issuing updates for Fedora 26. It is Fedora's policy to close all
bug reports from releases that are no longer maintained. At that time
this bug will be closed as EOL if it remains open with a Fedora  'version'
of '26'.

Package Maintainer: If you wish for this bug to remain open because you
plan to fix it in a currently maintained version, simply change the 'version'
to a later Fedora version.

Thank you for reporting this issue and we are sorry that we were not
able to fix it before Fedora 26 is end of life. If you would still like
to see this bug fixed and are able to reproduce it against a later version
of Fedora, you are encouraged  change the 'version' to a later Fedora
version prior this bug is closed as described in the policy above.

Although we aim to fix as many bugs as possible during every release's
lifetime, sometimes those efforts are overtaken by events. Often a
more recent Fedora release includes newer upstream software that fixes
bugs or makes them obsolete.

Comment 4 Fedora End Of Life 2018-05-29 12:34:02 UTC
Fedora 26 changed to end-of-life (EOL) status on 2018-05-29. Fedora 26
is no longer maintained, which means that it will not receive any
further security or bug fix updates. As a result we are closing this bug.

If you can reproduce this bug against a currently maintained version of
Fedora please feel free to reopen this bug against that version. If you
are unable to reopen this bug, please file a new report against the
current release. If you experience problems, please add a comment to this
bug.

Thank you for reporting this bug and we are sorry it could not be fixed.


Note You need to log in before you can comment on or make changes to this bug.