[Xen-users] Is xen planning to support hvm guests booting under UEFI?

[jim burns <jim_burn@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Pls cc: me as I am not subscribed.

>From http://www.itworld.com/it-managementstrategy/205255/windows-8-oem-specs-
may-block-linux-booting :

Quote:

Red Hat's Matthew Garrett was one of the first to notice that according to the 
new logo rules, all Windows 8 machines will need to be have the Unified 
Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI) instead of the venerable BIOS firmware 
layer. BIOS has been pretty much the sole firmware interface for PCs for a 
long time.

The EFI system has slowly been making headway in recent years, and right now 
EFI firmware is compatible with Windows supporting the GUID Partition Table 
(GPT), OS X/Intel, and Linux 2.6 and beyond machines. EFI is seen as a better 
hardware/software interface than BIOS, since it is platform-agnostic, runs in 
32- or 64-bit mode, and GPT machines can handle boot partitions of up to 9.4 
zettabytes. (That's 9.5 billion terabytes to you and me.)

EFI, and the later UEFI specification, is not the problem for Linux. The 
problem is Microsoft's other requirement for any Windows 8-certified client: 
the system must support secure booting. This hardened boot means that "all 
firmware and software in the boot process must be signed by a trusted 
Certificate Authority (CA)," according to slides from a recent presentation on 
the UEFI boot process made by Arie van der Hoeven, Microsoft Principal Lead 
Program Manager.

:End Quote

Putting aside the signing problem for now, the immediate problem is qemu-dm as 
the emulator for hvm guests, since it provides an emulated *bios*. I've always 
been curious about this, as I've wanted to look forward to the day when I can 
boot an Apple OS/X hvm guest.

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