configure issue with gnu-efi-4.x

[Andreas Tobler]

Hello all,

The configury resolves the gnu-efi 4.0.0 to version 400. While the
gnu-efi 3.0.16 resolves to version 3016. This leads to a none working
bootaa64.efi for arm64. The cause is the version check in the code
(main, and watchdog driver) where it checks for version < 3016.

To fix this situation I locally decreased the version check to 400. But
I do not know what the right solution should be. Is gnu-efi reporting
correctly?

Any ideas?

TIA,
Andreas

[Jan Kiszka]

https://github.com/siemens/efibootguard/blob/469cabb97d36ebc868b1dac0aa2acaa8274a31a7/configure.ac#L237

We basically take the version string of A.B.C and make it ABC - not good
for giving A and B the required significance... Better math would be
welcome ;)

Jan

--
Siemens AG, Foundational Technologies
Linux Expert Center

[Storm, Christian]

Hi,

>> The configury resolves the gnu-efi 4.0.0 to version 400. While the gnu-
>> efi 3.0.16 resolves to version 3016. This leads to a none working
>> bootaa64.efi for arm64. The cause is the version check in the code
>> (main, and watchdog driver) where it checks for version < 3016.
>>
>> To fix this situation I locally decreased the version check to 400. But
>> I do not know what the right solution should be. Is gnu-efi reporting
>> correctly?
>>
>> Any ideas?
>
> https://github.com/siemens/efibootguard/blob/469cabb97d36ebc868b1dac0aa2acaa8274a31a7/configure.ac#L237
>
> We basically take the version string of A.B.C and make it ABC - not good
> for giving A and B the required significance... Better math would be
> welcome ;)

Something like this?:

AC_SUBST([GNU_EFI_VERSION], [$( ($PKG_CONFIG --modversion "gnu-efi" 2>/dev/null || echo 0) | $AWK -F. '{print $1*1000000 + $2*1000 + $3}' )])

I could prepare a patch....


Kind regards,
Christian

--
Dr. Christian Storm
Siemens AG, FT RPD CED
Friedrich-Ludwig-Bauer-Str. 3, 85748 Garching, Germany

[Jan Kiszka]

On 17.11.25 13:46, 'Storm, Christian' via EFI Boot Guard wrote:
> Hi,
>
>>> The configury resolves the gnu-efi 4.0.0 to version 400. While the gnu-
>>> efi 3.0.16 resolves to version 3016. This leads to a none working
>>> bootaa64.efi for arm64. The cause is the version check in the code
>>> (main, and watchdog driver) where it checks for version < 3016.
>>>
>>> To fix this situation I locally decreased the version check to 400. But
>>> I do not know what the right solution should be. Is gnu-efi reporting
>>> correctly?
>>>
>>> Any ideas?
>>
>> https://github.com/siemens/efibootguard/blob/469cabb97d36ebc868b1dac0aa2acaa8274a31a7/configure.ac#L237
>>
>> We basically take the version string of A.B.C and make it ABC - not good
>> for giving A and B the required significance... Better math would be
>> welcome ;)
>
> Something like this?:
>
> AC_SUBST([GNU_EFI_VERSION], [$( ($PKG_CONFIG --modversion "gnu-efi" 2>/dev/null || echo 0) | $AWK -F. '{print $1*1000000 + $2*1000 + $3}' )])
>
> I could prepare a patch....
>

...would be become. Just make sure to update all users of this new
version value.

BTW, are we otherwise fine with gnu-efi 4.0.0? Due to licensing issues
(IIRC), distros were and possibly are still reluctant to pick that up.

[Storm, Christian]

Hi,

> BTW, are we otherwise fine with gnu-efi 4.0.0? Due to licensing issues
> (IIRC), distros were and possibly are still reluctant to pick that up.

I did some quick compile tests on aarch64 and it seems fine on this architecture.
It boots as well but that isn't too telling since watchdogs are handled by U-Boot.
So please test with all the hardware you have :)

BTW: Arch Linux picked up 4.0.2 two days ago while in Debian it seems to have stalled.

[Andreas Tobler]

Regarding tests, I have tested the suggestion as well and it works fine.
Done on a Marvell Armada CN9131 with secure boot.

Thanks for the input!

Best regards,
Andreas