Limine 9.0 is out today as the newest major release for this open-source modern multi-protocol bootloader and boot manager. Limine also boasts its own Limine Boot Protocol in addition to the native Linux support and chainloading/multiboot capabilities.
One change that will surprise some readers is Limine 9.0 doing away with EXT4 file-system support as well as older EXT2 and EXT3 support. The change-log notes of dropping the EXT4 file-system support:
“Support for the ext2/3/4 filesystems has been once again dropped due to lack of maintenance and to avoid extra potential attack surface during Secure Boot Limine usage.”
This commit is what goes ahead and drops the EXT4/EXT3/EXT2 support, which was previously considered experimental. Limine instead is focusing on the FAT32 file-system support and ISO9660 for boot medium storage.
Limine 9.0 also does away with its legacy configuration format, drops support for the chainload-next protocol, adds a new version of the Limine Boot Protocol, adds support for the MONITOR/MWAIT CPU instructions, and other updates.
Downloads and more details on the Limine 9.0 release via GitHub.
