When will the FreeBSD (u)EFI work?

[Chris]

On Sat, 28 Mar 2020 01:10:37 +0300 Andrey Fesenko f0andrey at gmail.com said

> On Sat, Mar 28, 2020 at 12:53 AM Chris <bsd-lists at bsdforge.com> wrote:
> >
> > On an experiment of the FreeBSD EFI implementation. I installed
> > a copy of releng/12 from install media. Which left me with:
> > # gpart show ada0
> > =>       40  312581728  ada0  GPT  (149G)
> >          40     409600     1  efi  (200M)
> >      409640   31047680     2  freebsd-ufs  (15G)
> >    31457320    7680000     3  freebsd-swap  (3.7G)
> >    74788904  237792864        - free -  (141G)
> >
> > On this Intel based system, I can stab the F12 key to pick
> > my UEFI bootable OS, or let it boot according to the order
> > I setup in the BIOS. So far, so good.
> > I needed a copy of releng/13 to also work with. Installed a copy
> > from install media. Which left me with:
> > # gpart show ada0
> > =>       40  312581728  ada0  GPT  (149G)
> >          40     409600     1  efi  (200M)
> >      409640   31047680     2  freebsd-ufs  (15G)
> >    31457320    7680000     3  freebsd-swap  (3.7G)
> >    39137320     532480     4  efi  (260M)
> >    39669800   35119104     5  freebsd-ufs  (17G)
> >    74788904  237792864        - free -  (113G)
> > I *assumed* that the install would activate the new install, and I
> > would boot straight into it. But no. I am still on the previous
> > install, and worse, I can't get into the new install -- even if
> > picking it via stabbing the F12 key. I *still* end up in the previous
> > install. So looking at what might be causing it. I found the following:
> > # releng/12
> > # mount -t msdosfs /dev/ada0p1 /mnt/
> >
> > # ls /mnt/efi/boot/
> > BOOTx64.efi
> > startup.nsh
> >
> > # cat /mnt/efi/boot/startup.nsh
> > BOOTx64.efi
> >
> > # umount /mnt/
> >
> > releng/13
> > # mount -t msdosfs /dev/ada0p4 /mnt/
> >
> > # ls /mnt/EFI/freebsd/
> > loader.efi
> >
> > Why the difference? When will FreeBSD (u)EFI work as expected?
> >
> > Thanks in advance for any insights!
> >
> 
> Require only single efi part
> 
> See
> https://forums.freebsd.org/threads/two-freebsd-installations-and-efi.73968/
Thanks for they reply, and link, Andrey!
Well that confirms it. FreeBSD, unlike other OS implementations, will not
permit booting your chosen "version" via EFI. That is; not without dropping
to the loader prompt, or changing the status of slices, or boot entries prior to
reboot. :(
Looks like I'll need to install a third party OS, or bootmanager to use FreeBSD.
Sigh...

There *may* be hope in the future (https://bugs.freebsd.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=207940)

Thanks again, Andrey. Greatly appreciated! :)

--Chris