Manual Page Search Parameters
GPTBOOT.EFI(8) System Manager's Manual GPTBOOT.EFI(8)

gptboot.efi — GPT bootcode for UFS on UEFI computers

gptboot.efi is used on UEFI computers to boot from a UFS partition on a GPT-partitioned disk. gptboot.efi is installed in the EFI System Partition (ESP). For BIOS-based computers, see gptboot(8) for details. While conceptually similar, the details differ. gptboot.efi works only with UFS root file systems. Users with ZFS partitions should use loader.efi(8) with bectl(8) to control what dataset is used for root.

What UEFI computers boot is usually controlled via the mechanisms explained in efibootmgr(8) using loader.efi(8) or boot1.efi(8). However, some setups cannot use those mechanisms. When the users cannot rely on host-supplied UEFI variables or they want the contents of the media alone to decide root, gptboot.efi accomplishes these goals.

When it starts, gptboot.efi first reads the GPT and determines which drive and partition to boot from, as described under BOOTING, below. If it does not find an eligible partition, it returns to the UEFI firmware. The firmware will then try the next bootable item in the UEFI Boot Manager's list, if any, usually a different disk.

The GPT standard allows a variable number of partitions, but gptboot.efi only boots from tables with 128 partitions or less.

gptboot.efi checks and manages several attributes of GPT UFS partitions. These flags are FreeBSD specific and non-standard.

Attempt to boot from this partition. If more than one partition has the bootme attribute set, gptboot.efi will attempt to boot each one until successful.
Attempt to boot from this partition only one time. Setting this attribute with gpart(8) automatically also sets the bootme attribute. Multiple partitions may have the bootonce and bootme attributes set.
The bootfailed attribute marks partitions that had the bootonce attribute set, but failed to boot. This attribute is managed by the system. See BOOTING and POST-BOOT ACTIONS below for details.

For normal usage, the user does not have to set or manage any of the partition attributes. gptboot.efi will boot from the first UFS partition found on the device.

The bootonce attribute can be used for testing an upgraded operating system on an already-working computer. The existing system partition is left untouched, and the new version of the operating system to be tested is installed on another partition. The bootonce attribute is set on that new test partition. The next boot is attempted from the test partition. Success or failure will be shown in the system log files. After a successful boot of the test partition, a user script can check the logs and change the bootme attributes so the test partition becomes the new system partition. Because the bootonce attribute is cleared after an attempted boot, a failed boot will not leave the system attempting to boot from a partition that will never succeed. Instead, the system will boot from the older, known-working operating system that has not been modified. If the bootme attribute is set on any partitions, booting will be attempted from them first. If no partitions with bootme attributes are found, booting will be attempted from the first UFS partition found.

gptboot.efi first reads the partition table. All freebsd-ufs partitions with only the bootonce attribute set, indicating a failed boot, are set to bootfailed. gptboot.efi then scans through all of the freebsd-ufs partitions. Boot behavior depends on the combination of bootme and bootonce attributes set on those partitions.

bootme
Highest priority: booting is attempted from each of the freebsd-ufs partitions with both of these attributes. On each partition, the bootme attribute is removed and the boot attempted.
Middle priority: booting is attempted from each of the freebsd-ufs partitions with the bootme attribute.

If neither bootonce nor bootme attributes are found on any partitions, booting is attempted from the first freebsd-ufs partition on the disk.

The startup script /etc/rc.d/gptboot checks the attributes of freebsd-ufs partitions on all GPT disks. Partitions with the bootfailed attribute generate a “boot from X failed” system log message. Partitions with only the bootonce attribute, indicating a partition that successfully booted, generate a “boot from X succeeded” system log message. The bootfailed attributes are cleared from all the partitions. The bootonce attribute is cleared from the partition that successfully booted. There is normally only one of these.

/boot/gptboot.efi
bootcode binary
/boot/efi/efi/boot/bootx64.efi
Default boot loader for amd64 systems.
/boot/efi/efi/boot/bootaa64.efi
Default boot loader for arm64 systems.
/boot/efi/efi/boot/bootarm.efi
Default boot loader for arm systems.
/boot/efi/efi/boot/bootriscv64.efi
Default boot loader for riscv systems.

gptboot.efi is installed in the ESP with cp(1).

Install gptboot.efi into the ESP for the system. This assumes the ESP is mounted in the standard /boot/efi directory. For amd64, use the following

cp /boot/gptboot.efi /boot/efi/efi/boot/bootx64.efi
For other systems, use the file listed in the FILES section.

Set the bootme attribute for partition 2:

gpart set -a bootme -i 2 ada0

Set the bootonce attribute for partition 2, automatically also setting the bootme attribute:

gpart set -a bootonce -i 2 ada0

rc.conf(5), boot(8), efibootmgr(8), gpart(8), gptboot(8), loader.efi(8)

gptboot.efi appeared in FreeBSD 13.0

This manual page was written by Warner Losh ⟨imp@FreeBSD.org⟩. It is based heavily on the gptboot(8) man page by
Warren Block ⟨wblock@FreeBSD.org⟩.

April 13, 2023 dev