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[Michael Titke <michael.tiedtke@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Regarding the EFI variables (default boot entry & chime volume) I found
the following situation:

- the kernel from live / installation dvd / iso does really contain the
screwed up efi module configuration: there doesn't seem to be any way to
access the firmware from within the live system

- the installed kernel (by that same installation) does have efi support
built-in: thus the configuration file in "/boot" doesn't seem to match
the installed kernel 3.19.0-15-generic.

 Snooping around in the variables this way gives me the following image:

 - I can't find or see the variables "SystemAudioVolume" and
"SystemAudioVolumeDB" and thus I cannot change the volume of the
infamous startup chime with my current setup

- regarding the boot sequence I see MS and Apple entries with mid level
cryptographic information and some megabyte of data associated: probably
the signed boot loaders of the default boot sequence. I know that it is
possible to determine the default boot volume from within Mac OS X but I
have no idea how to do this here.

- I am not able to see the hardware keys for signing my own kernel and I
am not sure if this would allow unrestricted access to the firmware. Bot
grub-XXX-signed and linux-XXX-signed seem to be crippled packages where
Grub can't load any configuration file and Linux doesn't find initrd and
can't even reboot.

Right now my system faithfully boots off the external hard drive but it takes time:
- first a pleasant gray screen while the Mac Firmware searches for one of Apple's cats
- at some point the gray screen time outs and decides to take the only option available: the grub esp on the external drive
- Grubs are known not be too fast: first a black screen blinking cursur. Than a menu that sometimes appears only at the end of its time out. Then some message about a blind boot because it couldn't find right video mode. Than finally the penguin lurks out of this box. But LSB-Waits one and a half minute for an cable ethernet connection that just won't be there. Then suddenly: the login screen.

I do understand that the hardware vendor is free to prefer certain
operating system vendors and boot methods over others and I do
understand that the distinction between hardware and software is not
that clear when you buy a Mac. But some things just didn't show up in
the manual of my Mac ....

-- 
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https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1464831

Title:
  Ubuntu should default to an EFI compatible install

Status in linux package in Ubuntu:
  Confirmed

Bug description:
  Please make Ubuntu Install default to using sane EFI compatible
  partitioning scheme and boot loader installation.

  Full Install

  Partition Table: GPT

  First Partition: Boot / ESP Label: EFI (VFAT/FAT32 with GPT boot flag enabled - see Mange Flags in gparted)
   On my Mac which has never seen BIOS and never will I need a EFI compliant boot setup for the firmware to recognize for example an external hard drive as a boot option: put the corresponding boot image (probably grub.efi) into the root of this boot partition with the name "boot.efi" or it won't show up on startup (using the alt key on a Mac)

  Swap: I still prefer to use two times the size of the RAM for this.
  Root: I prefer to limit this to 150GB and leave some 300GB for further experimenting but it really should be as big as possible.

  
  Please check the grub setup: the current configuration file as created by the installation is too complicated / Debian's handling of the Grub configuration is not user friendly because this. My simple counter example:

  grub.cfg

  # Boot automatically after 30 secs.
  set timeout=3

  # By default, boot the GNU/Linux
  set default=ubuntu

  # Fallback to GNU/Hurd.
  #set fallback=gnuhurd

  # For booting GNU/Linux
  menuentry "Ubuntu (EFI)" --id ubuntu {
          set root=(hd0,gpt3)
          linux /vmlinuz root=/dev/sda3 splash quiet
          initrd /initrd.img
  }

  ...


  (The next one is just a guess as I yet have to recompile the kernel myself to check it myself)
  Please check the EFI kernel support configuration (with correctly configured EFI support it might even be possible to distinguish EFI and non-EFI systems during install)

  efivars is built-in to the kernel image but it depends on efi-pstore
  which is to be built as a module??? That misconfiguration of the
  kernel sources might be the reason for the missing EFI support.
  Someone "over at Debian" made that change a long time ago for no good
  reason.

  Perhaps I will add additional information regarding this issue in a
  comment.

  With working EFI support you could as well add a new boot entry in the
  firmware for the Ubuntu Installation during install.

  Thank you!

  ProblemType: Bug
  DistroRelease: Ubuntu 15.04
  Package: linux-image-3.19.0-15-generic 3.19.0-15.15 [modified: boot/vmlinuz-3.19.0-15-generic]
  ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.19.0-15.15-generic 3.19.3
  Uname: Linux 3.19.0-15-generic x86_64
  NonfreeKernelModules: wl
  ApportVersion: 2.17.2-0ubuntu1
  Architecture: amd64
  AudioDevicesInUse:
   USER        PID ACCESS COMMAND
   /dev/snd/controlC0:  mt         1448 F.... pulseaudio
  CurrentDesktop: Unity
  Date: Sat Jun 13 07:53:30 2015
  HibernationDevice: RESUME=UUID=df8c609c-a8cf-4e53-ae6d-c754aa1ead9b
  InstallationDate: Installed on 2015-06-08 (4 days ago)
  InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 15.04 "Vivid Vervet" - Release amd64 (20150422)
  MachineType: Apple Inc. MacBook4,1
  ProcFB: 0 inteldrmfb
  ProcKernelCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/vmlinuz root=/dev/sda3 splash quiet
  RelatedPackageVersions:
   linux-restricted-modules-3.19.0-15-generic N/A
   linux-backports-modules-3.19.0-15-generic  N/A
   linux-firmware                             1.143
  SourcePackage: linux
  UdevLog: Error: [Errno 2] No such file or directory: '/var/log/udev'
  UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)
  dmi.bios.date: 02/09/08
  dmi.bios.vendor: Apple Inc.
  dmi.bios.version: MB41.88Z.00C1.B00.0802091535
  dmi.board.asset.tag: Base Board Asset Tag
  dmi.board.name: Mac-F22788A9
  dmi.board.vendor: Apple Inc.
  dmi.board.version: PVT
  dmi.chassis.asset.tag: Asset Tag#
  dmi.chassis.type: 2
  dmi.chassis.vendor: Apple Inc.
  dmi.chassis.version: Mac-F22788A9
  dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnAppleInc.:bvrMB41.88Z.00C1.B00.0802091535:bd02/09/08:svnAppleInc.:pnMacBook4,1:pvr1.0:rvnAppleInc.:rnMac-F22788A9:rvrPVT:cvnAppleInc.:ct2:cvrMac-F22788A9:
  dmi.product.name: MacBook4,1
  dmi.product.version: 1.0
  dmi.sys.vendor: Apple Inc.

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