5 ms·

macOS Big Sur 11.2 beta 2 adds full custom kernel support

155 points by tsujp 6y ago

Tectorial 6y ago
How that will actually work? Google does not give more details.
- tsujp 6y ago
  As far as I'm aware the tool (probably Disk Utility I think?) on macOS that allows you to replace the bootloader etc now supports non-macOS replacements.
- my123 6y ago
  $ kmutil configure-boot -c loader.macho loader being a Mach-O executable that iBoot will jump to. After that everything is for you. Note: the command should be executed from macOS 1 True Recovery (hold the power button for the first few seconds at boot up) to downgrade the security policy.
  - ytch 6y ago
    Thanks for the command. I found this by searching " kmutil configure-boot": https://twitter.com/never_released/status/1339753170629746690 https://twitter.com/never_released/status/133975317062974669... the MBA of @marcan42 seems l̵i̵k̵e̵ ̵I̵n̵t̵e̵l̵ ̵b̵a̵s̵e̵d̵,̵ ̵i̵f̵ ̵M̵1̵ ̵i̵s̵ ̵a̵v̵a̵i̵l̵a̵b̵l̵e̵ ̵t̵o̵o̵ (it's M1 acturally) it means we can boot other OS on M1?
    - marcan_42 6y ago
      The MBA in the video is an M1 Mac.
      - ytch 6y ago
        oops, thanks
nicolas-siplis 6y ago
I'm curious as to Apple's angle here. They have always had a closed ecosystem, so I'm wondering what made them change their approach so drastically.
- saagarjha 6y ago
  Mac.
- asddubs 6y ago
  AFAIK this was always planned for the m1 macs
- rsynnott 6y ago
  I'm not sure there's ever been a Mac where you couldn't boot your own OS. Maybe the very, very early ones, but Linux for the later M68k and PPC Macs was definitely a thing.
- pharmakom 6y ago
  Personally, I will only consider a mac if there is the option to run Linux.
- alwillis 6y ago
  I used to support a lab of triple-bootable Macs—macOS/Windows/Linux. Current macOS is more locked down due to privacy and security threats primarily, not because Apple doesn’t want you to boot a non-Apple OS.
weikju 6y ago
What does this mean exactly? EDIT: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25773611 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25773611 answers this As far as I'm aware the tool (probably Disk Utility I think?) on macOS that allows you to replace the bootloader etc now supports non-macOS replacements.
GeekyBear 6y ago
Their wiki has some interesting information on how the M1 boot process works in comparison to a UEFI PC. https://github.com/AsahiLinux/docs/wiki/M1-vs.-PC-Boot https://github.com/AsahiLinux/docs/wiki/M1-vs.-PC-Boot
marcan_42 6y ago
I am streaming the M1 bring-up process right now: https://youtu.be/d5s9fYfvzmY https://youtu.be/d5s9fYfvzmY Currently working on the bootloader/research tool.
- dgellow 6y ago
  Splendid, thanks for this :)
- _joel 6y ago
  This is fascinating, thanks. Very good for soaking up low level concepts
jhoechtl 6y ago
Does this practically mean I will be able to replace macOS on Apple hardware with Linux with Apples blessing?
- pilif 6y ago
  yes. However that Linux will not be very useful because there are no drivers for the machine and Apple is not documenting any of their hardware to the point that people could easily write drivers. This will be a huge reverse-engineering effort.
  - DoomHotel 6y ago
    We went through that last time with their sad attempts at UEFI compliance. So long as they allow the possibility it will happen. In other news, they allow firewalls to work as designed in this release. So some kind of sanity may be taking hold.
    - pilif 6y ago
      >So long as they allow the possibility it will happen. AFAIK there is still no support for the T2 disk controller even though T2 macs are a thing for 4 years now. I'm sure it will eventually happen, but don't hold your breath.
      - my123 6y ago
        AFAIK it got merged a while back: https://github.com/torvalds/linux/commit/66341331ba0d2de4ff421cdc401a1e34de50502a https://github.com/torvalds/linux/commit/66341331ba0d2de4ff4... (for Linux 5.4) It isn't even a big patch.
      - marcan_42 6y ago
        This myth keeps coming up. The T2 disk controller is just a normal NVMe controller with a couple nonstandard quirks. There is upstream support now. It took a while to work out because nobody sat down and got it done on day 1. This could've been worked out within 24 hours of the T2 macs' release, working at the pace at which I expect to be working on M1 bring-up.

155 points by tsujp 6y ago

Tectorial 6y ago

How that will actually work? Google does not give more details.

tsujp 6y ago
As far as I'm aware the tool (probably Disk Utility I think?) on macOS that allows you to replace the bootloader etc now supports non-macOS replacements.
my123 6y ago
$ kmutil configure-boot -c loader.macho loader being a Mach-O executable that iBoot will jump to. After that everything is for you. Note: the command should be executed from macOS 1 True Recovery (hold the power button for the first few seconds at boot up) to downgrade the security policy.
- ytch 6y ago
  Thanks for the command. I found this by searching " kmutil configure-boot": https://twitter.com/never_released/status/1339753170629746690 https://twitter.com/never_released/status/133975317062974669... the MBA of @marcan42 seems l̵i̵k̵e̵ ̵I̵n̵t̵e̵l̵ ̵b̵a̵s̵e̵d̵,̵ ̵i̵f̵ ̵M̵1̵ ̵i̵s̵ ̵a̵v̵a̵i̵l̵a̵b̵l̵e̵ ̵t̵o̵o̵ (it's M1 acturally) it means we can boot other OS on M1?
  - marcan_42 6y ago
    The MBA in the video is an M1 Mac.
    - ytch 6y ago
      oops, thanks

nicolas-siplis 6y ago

I'm curious as to Apple's angle here. They have always had a closed ecosystem, so I'm wondering what made them change their approach so drastically.

saagarjha 6y ago
Mac.
asddubs 6y ago
AFAIK this was always planned for the m1 macs
rsynnott 6y ago
I'm not sure there's ever been a Mac where you couldn't boot your own OS. Maybe the very, very early ones, but Linux for the later M68k and PPC Macs was definitely a thing.
pharmakom 6y ago
Personally, I will only consider a mac if there is the option to run Linux.
alwillis 6y ago
I used to support a lab of triple-bootable Macs—macOS/Windows/Linux. Current macOS is more locked down due to privacy and security threats primarily, not because Apple doesn’t want you to boot a non-Apple OS.

weikju 6y ago

What does this mean exactly? EDIT: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25773611 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25773611 answers this As far as I'm aware the tool (probably Disk Utility I think?) on macOS that allows you to replace the bootloader etc now supports non-macOS replacements.

GeekyBear 6y ago

Their wiki has some interesting information on how the M1 boot process works in comparison to a UEFI PC. https://github.com/AsahiLinux/docs/wiki/M1-vs.-PC-Boot https://github.com/AsahiLinux/docs/wiki/M1-vs.-PC-Boot

marcan_42 6y ago

I am streaming the M1 bring-up process right now: https://youtu.be/d5s9fYfvzmY https://youtu.be/d5s9fYfvzmY Currently working on the bootloader/research tool.

dgellow 6y ago
Splendid, thanks for this :)
_joel 6y ago
This is fascinating, thanks. Very good for soaking up low level concepts

jhoechtl 6y ago

Does this practically mean I will be able to replace macOS on Apple hardware with Linux with Apples blessing?

pilif 6y ago
yes. However that Linux will not be very useful because there are no drivers for the machine and Apple is not documenting any of their hardware to the point that people could easily write drivers. This will be a huge reverse-engineering effort.
- DoomHotel 6y ago
  We went through that last time with their sad attempts at UEFI compliance. So long as they allow the possibility it will happen. In other news, they allow firewalls to work as designed in this release. So some kind of sanity may be taking hold.
  - pilif 6y ago
    >So long as they allow the possibility it will happen. AFAIK there is still no support for the T2 disk controller even though T2 macs are a thing for 4 years now. I'm sure it will eventually happen, but don't hold your breath.
    - my123 6y ago
      AFAIK it got merged a while back: https://github.com/torvalds/linux/commit/66341331ba0d2de4ff421cdc401a1e34de50502a https://github.com/torvalds/linux/commit/66341331ba0d2de4ff4... (for Linux 5.4) It isn't even a big patch.
    - marcan_42 6y ago
      This myth keeps coming up. The T2 disk controller is just a normal NVMe controller with a couple nonstandard quirks. There is upstream support now. It took a while to work out because nobody sat down and got it done on day 1. This could've been worked out within 24 hours of the T2 macs' release, working at the pace at which I expect to be working on M1 bring-up.