rEFInd instructions clarification

[peteruithoven]

I'm trying to follow your instructions and comparing them with:

1. https://elementary.io/nl/docs/installation
2. www.elementarynow.com/dual-booting-elementary-os-and-osx/

The second tutorial rEFInd isn't installed with all drivers, rEFInd even gives a warning that that's only meant for creating USB flash drives:

The --alldrivers option is meant for creating USB flash drives with (near-)
universal boot support. Using it on a hard disk partition runs the risk of
creating serious problems, up to and including rendering your computer
unbootable. Are you SURE you want to proceed (Y/N)? 

Both don't mention step 5 through 8.
Could someone explain the difference? What are we trying to accomplish at step 4 through 8?

[sdaitzman]

I'll defer to @aroman on the --alldrivers flag, as I'm not sure what exactly it results in.

As for steps 5 through 8, they eliminate an issue on certain Macs that can cause rEFInd to hang for upwards of 20 seconds on start.

[aroman]

Info about --alldrivers from Rod himself:

I'm rEFInd's developer, and I strongly advise against using the --alldrivers option to install.sh (called refind-install in 0.10.0 and later). That option installs all of the filesystem drivers, but most computers need just zero or one driver. Using all of them runs a serious risk of creating problems, up to and including hanging the computer. The option exists to help build recovery USB flash drives. Recent versions, when run from OS X, install the ext4fs driver if a Linux partition is detected. Chances are it was re-installing per se, not --alldrivers, that fixed your problem

I think it's not necessary anymore now that rEFInd 0.10 is out.

Also, Cody recently mentioned to me that due to some changes in the ISOs for Loki (and maybe Freya 0.3.2), the 30-second white hang screen may be resolved. @codygarver can you confirm?

[peteruithoven]

You mean the rEFInd would freeze for 20 seconds? I've just installed 0.10.1 and have not seen that problem.

[sdaitzman]

It would freeze for around 30 seconds before displaying anything, but very unpredictably. It's likely a bug in Apple's EFI implementation, since it only shows up sometimes. Other users have reported it happens after updating or reinstalling rEFInd. I had this issue for a while and renaming the binary fixed it, but it looks like rEFInd might put the binary in the right place now anyway. If it does, steps 5-7 are no longer needed.

[peteruithoven]

So... should we remove those steps? It could always be restored if people report the issue?

[sdaitzman]

Most likely, people won't report the issue. I don't think we should remove the info, but we could list the steps as optional or "if you have issues."