Speakers
Description
Given the present discussions around UKI and nmbl, Linux appears to be headed towards a future where it most commonly boots directly rather than via a separate bootloader. The IBM Linux on Power team agrees that this is a laudable direction: work need not be duplicated between the kernel and bootloaders and the entire class of bootloader-specific bugs - including vulnerabilities - would become simply Linux bugs. Currently, community efforts appears to be focused on UEFI-based platforms but other platforms like OF are omitted. Security is an important factor to consider across platforms because it will be affected by changes in the boot sequence. This brief talk outlines some points for consideration when directly booting Linux on OF-based Power systems and calls for the inclusion of non-UEFI platforms in next generation boot designs.