UFBoot

UFBoot is a boot loader derived from the U-Boot project, designed to provide UEFI-compatible booting on systems that rely on the U-Boot firmware traditionally used in embedded devices. The goal is to combine U-Boot's lightweight, flexible environment with EFI boot services to load EFI executables and Linux kernels on hardware without a full UEFI firmware.

UFBoot typically acts as a drop-in replacement or a loading path within a U-Boot-based boot sequence. It implements an EFI-compatible boot manager and loader, enabling selection of EFI applications, kernel images, and other payloads. It supports common platform architectures such as ARM and x86 and inherits U-Boot's hardware initialization, command-line interface, and peripheral drivers while offering a minimal EFI abstraction layer. This enables systems to boot Linux or other EFI-aware payloads directly from U-Boot without requiring a separate firmware stack.

Usage and adoption: UFBoot has seen limited public use and documentation. It is primarily of interest to embedded developers, researchers, and hobbyists seeking EFI boot support in environments where U-Boot is already in use but native UEFI firmware is unavailable or undesirable. Availability depends on developers and maintainers contributing builds for specific architectures.

History: The project emerged from efforts to bridge U-Boot's boot capabilities with EFI services, but public information is sparse and there is no widely cited, active maintainer. As such, UFBoot is regarded as a niche or archival component within the broader bootloader ecosystem.

See also: U-Boot, UEFI, EFI, boot loader, embedded systems.