pyefiboot

Python Library to manage EFI Boot Entries

The aim of this library is to provide an API to the functionality of the efibootmgr (https://github.com/rhinstaller/efibootmgr) application. This provides a programmatic mechanism to read and update the EFI Boot Variables, allowing scripting of tasks to manage the EFI boot process.

[!NOTE] The initial release is a straightforward read-only solution, effectively mimicking the features of efibootmgr and efibootmgr -v calls.

Installation

When complete, should be:

pip install pyefiboot

Seek information elsewhere about installing in a virtual environment

This library currently has no dependencies

Usage

Most work can be done via the BootManager class which reads and provides access to all Boot related EFI variables

Reading current Boot Entries

import pyefiboot

bootmgr = pyefiboot.BootManager()

bootmgr.update_from_efi()

Printing to screen

To get output similar to efibootmgr:

bootmgr.display()

To get output similar to efibootmgr -v:

bootmgr.display(verbose=True)

Simple Program to Replicate efibootmgr and efibootmgr -v

import argparse
import pathlib
import logging

from pyefiboot import Configuration, BootTimeout, BootCurrent, BootNext, BootOrder, BootEntry

def main() -> None:
    # Create argument parser and add -v parameter
    parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(description='pfEFIBoot', formatter_class=argparse.RawTextHelpFormatter, allow_abbrev=False)

    parser.add_argument('-v', '--verbose', action='store_true', help='Enable verbose output')

    # Get user options
    arguments = parser.parse_args()

    # Load Simple EFI variables
    boot_timeout: BootTimeout = BootTimeout()
    boot_current: BootCurrent = BootCurrent()
    boot_next: BootNext  = BootNext()
    boot_order: BootOrder  = BootOrder()
    
    # Create dictionary mapping Boot Entry index to BootEntry instance
    boot_entries: dict[str, BootEntry] = {}
    for boot_entry_file in sorted(Configuration().efivarfs_path.glob('Boot[!N]???-*')):
        # For each filename that starts with Boot, followed by a character that is NOT 'N', then three more characters, followed by a '-'
        entry = BootEntry(efivar_fullpath=boot_entry_file)
        boot_entries[entry.index] = entry

    # Display contents of EFI Boot variables to screen
    print(boot_current)
    print(boot_next)
    print(boot_timeout)
    print(boot_order)

    # Display each Boot Entry in turn, with more detail if run in verbose mode
    for num, boot_entry in boot_entries.items():
        print(boot_entry)
        if arguments.verbose:
            print(' - File Path:')
            for path in boot_entry.file_paths:
                print(f'    - {path}')
            print(f' - Optional Data: {boot_entry.optional_data}')


if __name__ == '__main__':
    main()

Public Class APIs and Properties

The API documentation for each of the publicly exposed classes can be found on the project Wiki

• API: Configuration Class
• API: BootTimeout Class
• API: BootCurrent Class
• API: BootNext Class
• API: BootOrder Class
• API: BootEntry Class
• API: BootManager Class

Logging

All modules within pyefiboot support Python logging, enabling logging and an appropriate log level in your application will allow these logs to be captured