[Bug 1221780] New: how to identify firmware types, UEFI vs BIOS

[Red Hat Bugzilla]

https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1221780

Bug ID: 1221780
           Summary: how to identify firmware types, UEFI vs BIOS
           Product: Fedora Documentation
           Version: devel
         Component: system-administrator's-guide
          Assignee: [e-mail]
          Reporter: [e-mail]
        QA Contact: [e-mail]
                CC: [e-mail]

I'm not finding advice in documentation to identify firmware type. Should we,
and if so where should it go?

Identifying firmware type comes in handy e.g. reinstalling grub, see bug
1220066.

The problem is, users overwhelmingly equate UEFI and BIOS, often referring to
it as UEFI BIOS, mainly because OEM's still call firmware updates "BIOS
updates".

Two possible ways to reliably identify UEFI vs BIOS firmware.

On an EFI system:
# ls /sys/firmware/efi
config_table  efivars  fw_platform_size  fw_vendor  runtime  runtime-map 
systab  vars

On a BIOS system:
# ls /sys/firmware/efi
ls: cannot access /sys/firmware/efi: No such file or directory

----

On an EFI system:
# efibootmgr
BootCurrent: 0000
Timeout: 5 seconds
BootOrder: 0000,0080
Boot0000* Fedora
Boot0080* Mac OS X
Boot0082* 
BootD1A6* AST
BootFFFF*

On a BIOS system:
# efibootmgr
efibootmgr: EFI variables are not supported on this system.

Unknowns:

The first method always works since ls is for sure installed no matter what. I
need to test if efibootmgr is always installed, e.g. netinstall (?), it
definitely is always installed from lives. But if it's not installed, then it's
not a UEFI system.

How does coreboot firmware manifest? I think it's mainly a "better BIOS" and
should behave as such.

ARM firmware?

[Bug 1221780] how to identify firmware types, UEFI vs BIOS

[Red Hat Bugzilla]

https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1221780

Pete Travis  changed:

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--- Comment #1 from Pete Travis  ---
Hey Chris,

I've written
https://fedorapeople.org/groups/docs/multiboot-guide/#BOOT-BIOS_or_UEFI .
Trying to keep it simple there, and it's mostly pre-installation context
(keeping in mind that it is possible to boot a UEFI system in legacy mode.)

We're hoping to publish this with F22 GA. Does this fit what you're looking
for?

[Bug 1221780] how to identify firmware types, UEFI vs BIOS

[Red Hat Bugzilla]

https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1221780

--- Comment #2 from Chris Murphy  ---
Yes! Obviously I didn't look very thoroughly. It's almost perfect, here are
some comments:

- "Your computer originally shipped with Windows Vista or XP." Could be:
"Your computer originally shipped with Windows XP, Windows Vista, or Windows
7."

- Under "Identifying a UEFI system"
"Any Apple Mac with an Intel CPU is considered to have UEFI firmware."

There's a class of hardware floating around now that doesn't initialize USB in
the pre-boot environment, so there's no way to get to a firmware setup or boot
menu. That in and of itself suggests it's UEFI. But I guess we can see if
there's much user confusion on this point before extending the section to
account for it.

[Bug 1221780] how to identify firmware types, UEFI vs BIOS

[Red Hat Bugzilla]

https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1221780

Stephen Wadeley  changed:

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--- Comment #3 from Stephen Wadeley  ---
Hello

Do I need to do anything in the Sysadmin Guide? or can I close?

I see Multiboot Guide is now here:

https://docs.fedoraproject.org/en-US/Fedora/23/html/Multiboot_Guide/BOOT-BIO...

Thank you

[Bug 1221780] how to identify firmware types, UEFI vs BIOS

[Red Hat Bugzilla]

https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1221780

Chris Murphy  changed:

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--- Comment #4 from Chris Murphy  ---
"Your computer shipped with Windows 8" could be

"Your computer shipped with Windows 8 or newer"

Otherwise I think it can be closed.

[Bug 1221780] how to identify firmware types, UEFI vs BIOS

[Red Hat Bugzilla]

https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1221780

Stephen Wadeley  changed:

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--- Comment #5 from Stephen Wadeley  ---
Thank you Chris

Hello Pete

Please ACK etc., then close.

Thank you