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9.2. Limine 11.4.1 binary release

Install Limine's bootloader payloads and build its host control utility from the binary-release snapshot.

Input assumption: limine-5be26a73d7b7.tar.gz is already present in /sources from the chapter 4 source staging step.

Source URL: https://github.com/Limine-Bootloader/Limine/commit/5be26a73d7b7b4d4477d18be94e1d16e615adf56

Source note: this is the upstream v11.4.1-binary snapshot. Unlike the full limine-11.4.1.tar.xz source release, it already contains the Limine boot payloads, so this section does not need nasm, mtools, or Limine's autotools configure path.

Licenses:

BSD 2-Clause

Dependencies:

musl (libc)
clang
make

limine is a modern bootloader with UEFI and BIOS support. we need it to provide the boot payloads and host-side limine utility used to make the target system bootable.

Extract and Enter the Source Tree

cd /sources
rm -rf limine-5be26a73d7b7
tar -xf limine-5be26a73d7b7.tar.gz
cd limine-5be26a73d7b7

Clear Build Flags

Limine's binary-release Makefile is intentionally small and provides its own default CFLAGS. Clear inherited build variables before compiling the host utility so target-package flags do not leak into this build.

unset CFLAGS CPPFLAGS LDFLAGS LIBS
unset CFLAGS_FOR_TARGET CPPFLAGS_FOR_TARGET LDFLAGS_FOR_TARGET
unset NASMFLAGS_FOR_TARGET

Build the Limine Utility

make $LWI_MAKE_FLAGS CC=clang

Install Limine

Install the host utility, the license, and the boot payloads. The files in /system/share/limine are not installed to the EFI System Partition yet; later sections will copy the needed payloads into the chosen boot location.

install -Dm755 limine /system/binaries/limine
install -Dm644 LICENSE /system/documentation/limine/LICENSE

install -d /system/share/limine
for file in \
    BOOTAA64.EFI \
    BOOTIA32.EFI \
    BOOTLOONGARCH64.EFI \
    BOOTRISCV64.EFI \
    BOOTX64.EFI \
    limine-bios-cd.bin \
    limine-bios-pxe.bin \
    limine-bios.sys \
    limine-uefi-cd.bin
do
    install -m644 "$file" /system/share/limine/
done

Verify Limine

limine --version
test -f /system/share/limine/BOOTX64.EFI
test -f /system/share/limine/limine-bios.sys

The version command should report Limine 11.4.1.

The installed files are staged for bootloader deployment. A later section will create the Limine configuration and copy the selected EFI payload, usually BOOTX64.EFI on x86-64 UEFI systems, to the EFI System Partition.

Command Explanations

rm -rf limine-... and tar -xf: Recreate a clean Limine source tree.
unset CFLAGS CPPFLAGS LDFLAGS LIBS and related variables: Clear target package flags that can confuse Limine's firmware-oriented build.
make $LWI_MAKE_FLAGS CC=clang: Builds Limine with Clang and the shared make parallelism setting.
install -Dm755 limine: Installs the Limine command-line tool.
install -Dm644 LICENSE: Installs the license text into the documentation tree.
install -d /system/share/limine: Creates the directory for Limine bootloader support files.
for file in ...; do install -Dm644 ...; done: Installs BIOS and EFI bootloader payload files used by later boot setup.
limine --version and test -f ...: Verify the command and required boot files were installed.

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