[Feature] Support non-EFI ARM and RISC-V booting via U-Boot (extlinux.conf / boot.scr)

Metadata

Project: imagecraft
Number: #379
Type: issue
State: open
Author: lengau
Labels: —
Created: 2026-07-21 03:45 PM UTC
Updated: 2026-07-21 03:45 PM UTC
Closed: —

Current evaluation

Maintainer request for non-EFI U-Boot configuration and raw SPL/U-Boot flashing on armhf, arm64, and riscv64; current code supports only EFI/BIOS and remains untriaged.

Suggested action: needs triage

Reason: BootMethod currently exposes only EFI, BIOS, and NONE, while ARM/RISC-V architecture definitions contain only EFI targets and no extlinux, boot.scr, or mkimage implementation exists. The request bundles several substantial mechanisms but leaves the configuration schema, DTB discovery, vendor binary sourcing, board-specific offsets, and test targets undefined; with no labels, assignee, or comments, it needs triage.

Evaluated by: mr-cal-bot

Impact: 58 Quick Win: 7 Complexity: 80 Confidence: 90 Actionability: 58

Issue body

### Feature Description Add support for generating non-EFI boot configurations for embedded ARM (`armhf`, `arm64`) and RISC-V (`riscv64`) boards that do not have UEFI firmware. ### Implementation Details When building images for non-EFI boards: 1. **Bypass GRUB**: Skip `grub-install` / `grub-mkimage`. 2. **U-Boot Distro Boot (`extlinux.conf`)**: - Write `/boot/extlinux/extlinux.conf` specifying kernel (`vmlinuz`), initrd (`initrd.img`), Device Tree (`FDT /boot/dtbs/...`), and command-line parameters (`APPEND root=UUID=...`). - Integrate with Ubuntu's `u-boot-menu` package. 3. **U-Boot Script (`boot.scr`)**: - Support compiling `/boot/boot.cmd` to `/boot/boot.scr` using `mkimage -T script`. 4. **Raw SPL / U-Boot Flashing**: - Support writing vendor SPL and U-Boot binaries to unpartitioned disk sector offsets via `dd` (e.g., Rockchip `idbloader.img` at 32KB, Allwinner `sunxi-spl.bin` at 8KB).

Evaluation history

Date	Model	Scores	Action	Summary
2026-10-02 08:32 PM UTC	stealth/space-bunny-alpha	Impact: 58 Quick Win: 7 Complexity: 80 Confidence: 90 Actionability: 58	needs triage	Maintainer request for non-EFI U-Boot configuration and raw SPL/U-Boot flashing on armhf, arm64, and riscv64; current code supports only EFI/BIOS and remains untriaged.
2026-09-30 09:38 PM UTC	stealth/space-bunny-alpha	Impact: 50 Quick Win: 6 Complexity: 78 Confidence: 60 Actionability: 55	needs triage	Maintainer-filed feature request to add non-EFI boot support (U-Boot extlinux.conf, boot.scr, raw SPL/U-Boot dd flashing, GRUB bypass) for armhf/arm64/riscv64; unlabelled, no discussion yet.
2026-09-24 09:19 PM UTC	stealth/space-bunny-alpha	Impact: 64 Quick Win: 6 Complexity: 82 Confidence: 89 Actionability: 49	needs triage	Requests non-EFI ARM and RISC-V boot support through U-Boot, including extlinux, boot.scr, Device Trees, and raw SPL flashing. The feature remains unlabelled and untriaged.
2026-09-05 10:21 PM UTC	qwen3.6-35b-a3b-mtp-q6	Impact: 70 Quick Win: 14 Staleness: 40 Complexity: 80 Confidence: 80 Support Request: 0	needs triage	Feature request to add U-Boot support (extlinux.conf, boot.scr, raw SPL) for non-EFI ARM and RISC-V boards. Currently untriaged with no maintainer interaction.
2026-07-21 03:54 PM UTC	qwen3.6-35b-a3b-mtp-q6	Staleness: 5 Complexity: 65 Confidence: 90 Support Request: 10	needs triage	Feature request to implement U-Boot based non-EFI boot configuration for embedded ARM and RISC-V boards, covering extlinux.conf, boot.scr, and raw SPL flashing. Currently untriaged with no maintainer engagement.

Update history

Date	Change
2026-07-21 03:45 PM UTC	created

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