boot: separate BIOS from UEFI

boot/bios/ now holds the MBR, the El Torito stub and the real-mode stage
2; boot/uefi/ is empty and documented.

Separate directories rather than #ifdefs, because the two share almost
nothing. A BIOS loader lives in 16-bit real mode, reaches the firmware
through software interrupts, and walks itself up into long mode. A UEFI
loader is a 64-bit PE that the firmware has already placed in long mode
with paging on, calling services through a table of function pointers.
What they do share is the hand-off contract, which boot/README.md now
writes down: ELF segments placed, long mode, a 24-byte-entry memory map
at E820_MAP_ADDR, framebuffer geometry at VBE_INFO_ADDR.

That contract is the point of documenting it now. UEFI's GetMemoryMap
returns EFI_MEMORY_DESCRIPTORs, and the right move is to translate them
into the entries kernel/arch/x86_64/e820.c already parses rather than
teach the kernel a second format.

Build output paths under $(BUILD)/boot are unchanged; only sources moved.
This commit is contained in:
Nexoniarz 2026-08-09 16:00:03 +02:00
commit 08a1a9033a
19 changed files with 125 additions and 33 deletions

64
boot/README.md Normal file
View file

@ -0,0 +1,64 @@
<!-- SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0 -->
# Booting SchOS
Two firmware paths, kept apart on purpose:
```
boot/
bios/ legacy BIOS: MBR, El Torito CD stub, real-mode stage 2
uefi/ UEFI application (not written yet)
```
They are separate directories rather than `#ifdef`s in one because they share
almost nothing. A BIOS loader lives in 16-bit real mode, talks to the firmware
through software interrupts, and has to walk itself up into long mode. A UEFI
loader is a 64-bit PE executable that the firmware has *already* placed in long
mode with paging on, and it asks for services by calling through a table of
function pointers. The only things genuinely in common are the logo bitmap, the
menu's appearance, and the hand-off contract below.
## What the loader must hand the kernel
Whichever path runs, the kernel expects the same things. This is the contract;
a second loader is correct exactly when it satisfies it.
| | Where | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Kernel image | loaded per its ELF program headers | entry at `entry64` |
| CPU state | long mode, paging on, interrupts off | BIOS path builds this itself |
| Memory map | `E820_MAP_ADDR`, 24-byte entries, count at `E820_COUNT_ADDR` | `kernel/arch/x86_64/e820.c` reads it |
| Framebuffer | `VBE_INFO_ADDR` | address, pitch, width, height, depth |
| Verbose flag | `BOOT_VERBOSE_FLAG_ADDR` | set by the F8 menu |
The addresses are defined once, in `include/memlayout.h` and
`boot/bios/stage2main.c`. A UEFI loader must fill the same structures — the
kernel does not care which firmware produced them, and that is what keeps the
split cheap.
`e820.c` reads a *BIOS* memory map. UEFI hands out a different structure
(`EFI_MEMORY_DESCRIPTOR`, from `GetMemoryMap`), so the UEFI loader has to
translate it into the same 24-byte entries rather than inventing a second
format for the kernel to learn.
## The BIOS path today
1. **`bios/bootasm.S`** — the literal MBR sector. Signed to 512 bytes by
`tools/sign.pl`, loads stage 2 from LBA 1 and jumps.
2. **`bios/cdboot.S`** — the same job for optical media, as an El Torito
no-emulation image. Separate because the loader never uses INT 13h and so
needs a real ATAPI read.
3. **`bios/stage2.S`** — collects the E820 map, sets a VBE mode, enters
protected mode.
4. **`bios/stage2main.c`** — the boot menu and splash, then loads the kernel
and enters long mode.
`STAGE2_SECTORS` is defined **once**, in the Makefile, and passed to both the
assembler and the `dd` that writes the image. It used to be written out by hand
in five places and silently truncated the loader when they disagreed.
## Why UEFI is worth doing
Everything since roughly 2012 boots UEFI by default, and Secure Boot machines
will not run the BIOS path at all without firmware settings most people never
touch. The BIOS loader stays regardless: it is what QEMU's default machine and
older hardware use, and it costs nothing to keep once the two are separated.