[Bug 1107312] Re: UEFI is a barrier to installation

[Ubuntu Foundations Team Bug Bot]

** Tags added: precise

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https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1107312

Title:
  UEFI is a barrier to installation

Status in “ubiquity” package in Ubuntu:
  New

Bug description:
  With Windows 8, it seems like Microsoft is just trying to get the
  antitrust lawyers riled up... not to mention being SO anticompetitive
  that they would have no compunctions about blocking ANY GPLed OS from
  running on a Windows 8 PC. Even Apple isn't that anticompetitive!
  However, there may be hope. The problem? We might have to take a clue
  from "man in the hypervisor" keylogger/Trojan writers.

  So, I'm proposing a once-and-for-all way around this:

  * Back up the ENTIRE UEFI volume to a raw disk image file (i.e. "os.system('dd if=/dev/sda of=uefi.img')" or the like)
  * Erase the MBR with a brand-new GPT partition table
  * Shrink the "uefi.img" file to fit the new partition size
  * Create a new partition on the brand-new table that matches the size of the resized backup image
  * Flash the resized image to the new partition, with GRUB and a more open EFI above it, such that the more open EFI acts as a hypervisor for the UEFI partition
  * Create a new partition in the remaining space on the more open EFI image, and install Ubuntu on it

  That way, we're the boss. By essentially "capturing" the whole UEFI OS
  by using a thin open source EFI hypervisor, the UEFI image would boot
  AFTER the open source EFI image, with obviously an open source boot
  manager to manage them. That would most certainly give Microsoft a run
  for its money.

  ProblemType: Feature
  DistroRelease: Ubuntu 12.10
  TargetRelease: Ubuntu 13.10
  Package: ubiquity (not installed)
  Uname: Linux 3.4.0 x86_64
  ApportVersion: 2.6.1-0ubuntu9
  Architecture: amd64
  Date: Sun Jan 27 16:08:21 2013
  InstallCmdLine: file=/cdrom/preseed/ubuntu.seed boot=casper only-ubiquity initrd=/casper/initrd.lz quiet splash --
  InstallationDate: Installed on 2012-04-26 (276 days ago)
  InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 12.04 LTS "Precise Pangolin" - Release amd64 (20120425)
  MarkForUpload: True
  ProcEnviron:
   PATH=(custom, no user)
   XDG_RUNTIME_DIR=<set>
   LANG=en_US.UTF-8
   SHELL=/bin/bash
  SourcePackage: ubiquity
  UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to quantal on 2013-01-17 (10 days ago)

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