On 4/5/22 22:52, Ben Cotton wrote:
https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Changes/DeprecateLegacyBIOS
== Summary ==
Make UEFI a hardware requirement for new Fedora installations on
platforms that support it (x86_64). Legacy BIOS support is not
removed, but new non-UEFI installation is not supported on those
platforms. This is a first step toward eventually removing legacy
BIOS support entirely.
== Owner ==
* Name: [[User:rharwood| Robbie Harwood]], [[User:jkonecny| Jiří
Konečný]], [[User:bcl| Brian C. Lane]]
* Email: rharwood@xxxxxxxxxx
== Detailed Description ==
UEFI is defined by a versioned standard that can be tested and
certified against. By contrast, every legacy BIOS is unique. Legacy
BIOS is widely considered deprecated (Intel, AMD, Microsoft, Apple)
and on its way out. As it ages, maintainability has decreased, and
Probably it isn't a problem for some users, but I'm still having bad
experience with UEFI on x86_64 now. Out of my 3 machines I only have 1
system that works fine with UEFI. And my parents' laptop was purchased 2
years ago and the UEFI firmware does not allow to boot anything other
than Windows on UEFI mode (regardless of turning secure boot on or off)
and I have to switch to BIOS mode to make Fedora work there. So in this
situation, I think it's way too aggressive to accept the change - this
will probably drive away some potential new users with decent laptop
like my parents'.
the status quo of maintaining both stacks in perpetuity is not viable
for those currently doing that work.
It is inevitable that legacy BIOS will be removed in a future release.
To ease this transition as best we can, there will be a period (of at
least one Fedora release) where it will be possible to boot using the
legacy BIOS codepaths, but new installations will not be possible.
While it would be easier for us to cut support off today, our hope is
that this compromise position will make for a smoother transition.
Additional support with issues during the transition would be
appreciated.
While this will eventually reduce workload for boot/installation
components (grub2 reduces surface area, syslinux goes away entirely,
anaconda reduces surface area), the reduction in support burden
extends much further into the stack - for instance, VESA support can
be removed from the distro.
Fedora already requires a 2GHz dual core CPU at minimum (and therefore
mandates that machines must have been made after 2006). Like the
already accepted Fedora 37 change to retire ARMv7 support, the
I know ARMv7 is irrelevant here, but I feel ARMv7 never use BIOS in Fedora.
The dropping of ARMv7 support already renders most of my ARM devices
unable to use new Fedora, which is a great pain and I have to switch to
something else if I need to reinstall in the future. Similarly, if we
drive BIOS users out of fresh installation, we have even more
possibility of attracting less new users, which I feel isn't what
Fedoraproject want to see.
hardware targeted tends to be rather underpowered by today’s
standards, and the world has moved on from it. Intel stopped shipping
the last vestiges of BIOS support in 2020 (as have other vendors, and
Apple and Microsoft), so this is clearly the way things are heading -
and therefore aligns with Fedora’s “First” objective.
== Feedback ==
Dropping legacy BIOS was previously discussed (but not proposed) in 2020:
https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/devel%40lists.fedoraproject.org/thread/QBANCA2UAJ5ZSMDVVARLIYAJE66TYTCD/
Important, relevant points from that thread (yes, I reread the entire
thread) that have informed this change:
* Some machines are BIOS-only. This change does not prevent their use
yet, but they are effectively deprecated. grub2 (our default
bootloader) is already capable of both BIOS and UEFI booting.
* Drawing a clear year cutoff, let alone a detailed list of hardware
this change affects, is basically impossible. This is unfortunate but
unlikely to ever change.
* There is no migration story from Legacy BIOS to UEFI -
repartitioning effectively mandates a reinstall. As a result, we
don’t drop support for existing Legacy BIOS systems yet, just new
installations.
* There is no way to deprecate hardware without causing some amount of friction.
* While at the time AWS did not support UEFI booting, that is no
longer the case and they support UEFI today.
== Benefit to Fedora ==
UEFI is required for many desirable features, including applying
firmware updates (fwupd) and supporting SecureBoot. As a standalone
change, it reduces support burden on everything involved in installing
Fedora, since there becomes only one way to do it per platform.
Finally, it simplifies our install/live media, since it too only has
to boot one way per arch. Freedom Friends Features First - this is
that last one.
== Scope ==
* Proposal owners:
** bootloaders: No change (existing Legacy BIOS installations still supported).
** anaconda: No change (there could be only optional cleanups in the
code). However, it needs to be verified.
** Lorax: Code has already been written:
https://github.com/weldr/lorax/pull/1205
* Other developers:
** libvirt: UEFI works today, but is not the default. UEFI-only
installation is needed for Windows 11, and per conversations, libvirt
is prepared for this change.
** Virtualbox: UEFI Fedora installs are working and per virtualbox
team, UEFI will be/is the default in 7.0+.
** The Hardware Overview page should be updated to mention the UEFI
requirement: https://docs.fedoraproject.org/en-US/fedora/rawhide/release-notes/welcome/Hardware_Overview/
* Release engineering: [https://pagure.io/releng/issue/10738 #Releng
issue 10738]
* Policies and guidelines: N/A (not needed for this Change)
* Trademark approval: N/A (not needed for this Change)
* Alignment with Objectives: N/A
== Upgrade/compatibility impact ==
Systems currently using Legacy BIOS for booting on x86_64 will
continue to do so.
However, this modifies the baseline Fedora requirements and some
hardware will no longer be supported for new installations.
== How To Test ==
UEFI installation has been supported for quite a while already, so
additional testing there should not be required.
== User Experience ==
Installs will continue to work on UEFI, and will not work on Legacy
BIOS. Our install media is already UEFI-capable.
== Dependencies ==
None
== Contingency Plan ==
Leave things as they are. Code continues to rot. Community
assistance is required to continue the status quo. Current owners
plan to orphan some packages regardless of whether the proposal is
accepted.
Another fallback option could be, if a Legacy BIOS SIG organizes, to
donate the relevant packages there and provide some initial mentoring.
Longer term, packages that cannot be wholly donated could be split,
though it is unclear whether the synchronization thereby required
would reduce the work for anyone.
* Contingency mechanism: Delay until next release.
* Contingency deadline: Beta freeze
* Blocks release? No
== Documentation ==
See release notes.
== Release Notes ==
Fedora 37 marks legacy BIOS installation as deprecated on x86_64 in
favor of UEFI. While systems already using Legacy BIOS to boot are
still supported, new legacy BIOS installations on these architectures
are no longer possible. Legacy BIOS support will be removed entirely
in a future Fedora.
(Additionally, the Hardware Overview page should be updated to mention
the UEFI requirement.)
--
Zamir SUN
GPG : 1D86 6D4A 49CE 4BBD 72CF FCF5 D856 6E11 F2A0 525E
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