Hello NetBSD developers,
My name is Vignesh T, a Computer Science undergraduate from St. Joseph’s Institute of Technology. I’m interested in contributing to NetBSD through GSoC 2025 and would like to work on the project “Add UEFI Boot Options.” I’ve been exploring NetBSD internals and bootloader behavior on UEFI systems using QEMU, and this project aligns well with my interests in systems programming and OS internals.
Currently, NetBSD boots via UEFI using a generic loader setup. This results in unclear or default labels like "UEFI OS" in the firmware boot menu, making NetBSD indistinguishable from other installed systems in a multi-boot setup. There's also no userland tool to utilize the UEFI SetVariable() interface, and integrating such configuration into the installation process (e.g., via sysinst) remains unaddressed.
Develop a userland tool that interacts with UEFI runtime services (e.g., SetVariable()) to create proper boot entries.
Integrate boot entry creation during installation—ideally within sysinst, or via a post-install hook that sets the boot option.
Resolve path mapping between NetBSD's GPT partitions and UEFI device paths to properly populate boot entries.
Test across x86 UEFI systems, using virtualized and physical environments.
I’d appreciate your thoughts on whether sysinst is the ideal place for setting the variables or if a different integration strategy would be better. I’m happy to begin contributing with preliminary work and early feedback from the community.
Looking forward to your guidance!
Best regards,
Vignesh T
📧 vignesh.muga%gmail.com@localhost
🔗 GitHub: https://github.com/vignesh-0512