User:Pointone/Overviews

Implemented

Access control

The main article for this category is Security.

Related categories

• Category:Internet applications
• Category:Networking

Boot process

In order to boot Arch Linux, you must install a Linux-capable boot loader to the Master Boot Record or the GUID Partition Table. The boot loader is the first piece of software started by the BIOS or UEFI. It is responsible for loading the kernel with the wanted kernel parameters, and initial RAM disk before initiating the boot process. See below for boot loaders available.

Note: Loading Microcode updates requires adjustments in boot loader configuration. [1]

Feature comparison

Note:

• Boot loaders only need to support the file system on which kernel and initramfs reside (the file system on which /boot is located).
• As GPT is part of the UEFI specification, all UEFI boot loaders support GPT disks. GPT on BIOS systems is possible, using either "hybrid booting", or the new GPT-only protocol. This protocol may however cause issues with certain BIOS implementations; see rodsbooks for details.
• Encryption mentioned in file system support is filesystem-level encryption, it has no bearing on block-level encryption.

Name	Firmware		Multi-boot	File systems					Notes
	BIOS	UEFI		Btrfs	ext4	ReiserFS v3	VFAT	XFS
GRUB	Yes	Yes	Yes	without zstd compression	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	On BIOS/GPT configuration requires a BIOS boot partition.
systemd-boot	No	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	ESP only	No	Cannot launch binaries from partitions other than ESP.
Syslinux	Yes	Partial	Partial	without: multi-device volumes, compression, encryption	without encryption	No	Yes	v4 on MBR only	No support for certain file system features [2]
EFISTUB	No	Yes	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
rEFInd	No	Yes	Yes	without: encryption, zstd compression	without encryption	without tail-packing feature	Yes	No	Supports auto-detecting kernel parameters without explicit configuration.
Clover	emulates UEFI	Yes	Yes	No	Unknown	No	Yes	No	Main target audience is Hackintosh users.
LILO	Yes	No	Unknown	Unknown	Unknown	Unknown	Unknown	MBR only [3]	Deprecated. Does not support GUID Partition Table.
GRUB Legacy	Yes	No	Yes	No	No	Yes	Yes	v4 only	Deprecated. Does not support GUID Partition Table.
NeoGRUB	Yes	No	Yes	Unknown	Unknown	Unknown	Unknown	Unknown

See also

• Rod Smith - Managing EFI Boot Loaders for Linux
• Rod Smith - rEFInd, a fork or rEFIt
• Linux Kernel Documentation on EFISTUB
• Linux Kernel EFISTUB Git Commit
• Rod Smith's page on EFISTUB
• rEFInd Documentation for booting EFISTUB Kernels

Ideas

Common applications

• LAMP
• CUPS
• Web Browsers (idea)
• Multimedia in Arch Linux (could do without "in Arch Linux")
• OpenOffice
• VirtualBox, QEMU, VMware (or a separate "virtualization" overview?)

System recovery

• Backup Programs
• Downgrading Packages
• Full System Backup with tar
• Full System Backup with rsync

Sound

• ALSA
• OSS
• PulseAudio
• JACK
• Allowing Multiple Programs to Play Sound (needs mucho-cleanupo)