systemd-boot is a

free and open-source Free and open-source software (FOSS) is a term used to refer to groups of software consisting of both free software and open-source software where anyone is freely licensed to use, copy, study, and change the software in any way, and the source ...

boot manager A bootloader, also spelled as boot loader or called boot manager and bootstrap loader, is a computer program that is responsible for booting a computer. When a computer is turned off, its softwareincluding operating systems, application code, an ...

created by obsoleting the gummiboot project and merging it into systemd in May 2015. gummiboot was developed by the Red Hat employees Kay Sievers and Harald Hoyer and designed as a minimal alternative to

GNU GRUB GNU GRUB (short for GNU GRand Unified Bootloader, commonly referred to as GRUB) is a boot loader package from the GNU Project. GRUB is the reference implementation of the Free Software Foundation's Multiboot Specification, which provides a us ...

for systems using the

Unified Extensible Firmware Interface UEFI (Unified Extensible Firmware Interface) is a set of specifications written by the UEFI Forum. They define the architecture of the platform firmware used for booting and its interface for interaction with the operating system. Examples ...

(UEFI). It automatically detected bootable images (including

operating system An operating system (OS) is system software that manages computer hardware, software resources, and provides common daemon (computing), services for computer programs. Time-sharing operating systems scheduler (computing), schedule tasks for ef ...

s and other boot loaders), did not require a configuration file, provided a basic menu-based interface, and could also integrate with systemd to provide performance data. As a

word play Word play or wordplay (also: play-on-words) is a literary technique and a form of wit in which words used become the main subject of the work, primarily for the purpose of intended effect or amusement. Examples of word play include puns, pho ...

, the name "gummiboot" means " rubber (inflatable) boat" in

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

, the native language of its initial developers. Despite being developed by two of its employees, Red Hat's

Fedora Project The Fedora Project is an independent project to co-ordinate the development of Fedora Linux, a Linux-based operating system, operating with the vision of "''a world where everyone benefits from free and open source software built by inclusive, w ...

did not use gummiboot for booting UEFI systems; instead, it used efilinux to

chainload Chain loading is a method used by computer programs to replace the currently executing program with a new program, using a common data area to pass information from the current program to the new program. It occurs in several areas of computing. ...

GRUB. gummiboot was licensed under LGPL-2.1-or-later, unlike GRUB which is licensed under the GPL-3.0-or-later. This distinction was intended to allow gummiboot to be suitable for use on UEFI systems implementing secure boot, due to concerns surrounding its requirement to distribute all authorization keys (

digital certificate In cryptography, a public key certificate, also known as a digital certificate or identity certificate, is an electronic document used to prove the validity of a public key. The certificate includes information about the key, information about th ...

s) needed to run GPL-v3-licensed software if

hardware restrictions A hardware restriction (sometimes called hardware DRM) is low-level protection enforced by electronic components. The hardware restriction scheme may protect against physical or malware attacks or complement a digital rights management system imp ...

such as secure boot are in effect.

References

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External links

systemd-boot(7)
- Manual page Free boot loaders Free software programmed in C Linux kernel-related software Linux-only free software

See also

References

External links