pyefiboot 0.0.1

Python API to manage EFI Boot Entries

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)

Reading the BootCurrent, BootNext, BootTimeout and BootOrder EFI Variables

import pyefiboot

cur = pyefiboot.BootCurrent()

# Integer value of the current EFI Boot Entry
x: int = cur.value

# String representation of the current EFI Boot Entry, four character hex number
y: str = cur.hex_value

# BootNext and BootTimeout have similar functionality to BootCurrent

ord = pyefiboot.BootOrder()

# List of integers mapping the current programmed order of EFI Boot Entries
x: list[int] = ord.value

# String representation of the current EFI Boot Entry order, displayed as comma separated string of four character hex numbers
y: str = ord.hex_value

Creation of any of the above four classes will raise an exception if the nominated EFI variable does not exist

Reading an EFI Boot Entry variable

import pathlib
import pyefiboot

entry1 = pyefiboot.BootEntry(efivar_name='Boot0001')
entry2 = pyefiboot.BootEntry(efivar_fullpath=pathlib.Path('/sys/firmware/efi/efivars/Boot0002-8be4df61-93ca-11d2-aa0d-00e098032b8c'))

# Print string representation of boot entry to screen
print(entry1)

# Print verbose string representation of boot entry to screen
print(entry1.verbose_str())

# String representation of Boot Entry Index, four character hex number
x: str = entry2.entry_num

# If the Boot Entry refers to an actual local kernel to boot, returns the string representing the kernel file name, otherwise None
y: str | None = entry2.kernel_file

Access to other variables within the BootEntry will be in future versions

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