efiboot 0.0.1

Library for reading and managing UEFI boot entries on Linux systems.

efiboot

A Python library for reading and managing UEFI boot entries on Linux systems.

Reads EFI variables directly from /sys/firmware/efi/efivars/, exposing the full raw data while keeping common use cases simple. Uses efibootmgr only for write operations.

Note: Most operations require root privileges.

Reading Boot Entries

List all boot entries with details

file_paths = efiboot.get_boot_entry_file_paths()

for path in file_paths:
    entry = efiboot.BootEntry(path)
    print(entry.index, entry.description, "active:", entry.is_active)
    # entry.description is also known as label or name

Get a specific entry by index

path = efiboot.get_boot_entry_file_path_from_index("0001")
entry = efiboot.BootEntry(path)
print(entry.description)

BootEntry attributes

Attribute	Type	Description
index	str	4-character hex index (e.g. 0001)
description	str	Human-readable label
is_active	bool	Whether the entry is enabled
is_hidden	bool	Whether the entry is hidden
is_force_reconnect	bool	Whether reconnect is forced on boot
loader_location	list[LoaderLocationNode]	Raw EFI device path nodes
loader_parameters	bytes	Raw loader arguments

---

Other EFI variables

print(efiboot.get_boot_order())         # e.g. ['0001', '0002', '0003']
print(efiboot.get_current_boot_index()) # e.g. '0001'
print(efiboot.get_next_boot_index())    # e.g. '0002'
print(efiboot.get_boot_timeout())       # seconds, e.g. 5

---

TailFileGptDrivePart

This is the class for inspecting boot entries that point to a file (e.g. a kernel image or .efi file) on a GPT-partitioned drive — the most common use case for efiboot.

Given a BootEntry, pass its loader_location to TailFileGptDrivePart. It will raise ValueError if the entry doesn't match this structure (e.g. network boot, non-GPT disk), so wrap it in a try/except.

file_paths = efiboot.get_boot_entry_file_paths()

for path in file_paths:
    entry = efiboot.BootEntry(path)
    try:
        loader = efiboot.TailFileGptDrivePart(entry.loader_location)
        print(f"[{entry.index}] {entry.description}")
        print(f"  Loader path : {loader.loader_path}")
        print(f"  Partition   : {loader.partition_number}")
        print(f"  PARTUUID    : {loader.partuuid}")
    except ValueError:
        pass  # Entry uses a different boot mechanism, skip it

Available attributes

Attribute	Type	Description
loader_path	str	Path to the loader file on the partition (e.g. \vmlinuz-linux)
partuuid	str	UUID of the GPT partition
partition_number	int	Partition number on the disk
partition_start	int	Partition start offset in sectors
partition_size	int	Partition size in sectors
partition_signature	bytes	Raw 16-byte partition GUID

---

Managing Boot Entries

Create a boot entry

Use create_boot_entry_unicode for standard Linux kernel entries (loader parameters as a string):

efiboot.create_boot_entry_unicode(
    partition_path="/dev/sda1",
    description="Arch Linux",
    loader_path="\\vmlinuz-linux",
    loader_parameters="rw root=PARTUUID=xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx initrd=\\initramfs-linux.img",
)

Use create_boot_entry when you need raw binary loader parameters:

efiboot.create_boot_entry(
    partition_path="/dev/sda1",
    description="My OS",
    loader_path="\\EFI\\myos\\bootx64.efi",
    loader_parameters=bin,
)

Both functions will raise FileNotFoundError if the loader file doesn't exist on the partition.

Note: loader_path accepts both / and \ path separators. Any paths embedded in loader_parameters must use \ separators.

Delete a boot entry

efiboot.delete_boot_entry("0003")

Set boot order

efiboot.set_boot_order(["0001", "0003", "0002"])

Activate or deactivate an entry

efiboot.set_boot_entry_active("0001", state=True)   # activate
efiboot.set_boot_entry_active("0001", state=False)  # deactivate

One-time next boot

efiboot.set_next_boot("0002")   # boot this entry once on next restart
efiboot.delete_next_boot()      # cancel the one-time override