Insert Bootnum at a Specific Index in the Boot Order

[Neurognostic]

Summary

When adding new entries to the boot order, efibootmgr(8) always places the new entry at the top of the boot order. I require the ability to insert the new entry at a specific index (i.e., position) in the boot order.

Currently, this can only be achieved by wrapping efibootmgr(8) in a script that parses the boot order before and after the new entry is created (i.e., --create), then reconstruct the boot order (i.e. --bootorder`) with the new entry at the desired index.

It's a somewhat complex operation for shell scripting that must be done anytime the user wants to create a new entry but does not want it to be at index 1; and this operation ought be supported by the tool natively.

The only alternative to the above description of reconstructing the boot order is to delete all of the boot entries in the boot order up to the index where the new entry is needed, then recreate all of the entries in reverse order to achieve the desired boot order. This has potential to cause excessive wear on the NVRAM if the user is often changing the boot order.

Implementation

efibootmgr(8) needs to:

1. Support index option when --create option is used to specify where in the boot order to place the new entry or even to not place it in the boot order at all. Default to current behaviour, index 1.

2. After the boot entry already exists, support operation to insert or move a specific bootnum to a specified index in the boot order. Default to placing the specified bootnum at the top of the bootorder, index 1. This is similar to Feature request: ability to edit an entry #49, but does not require editing a boot entry, only editing the boot order.

Thank you. 🖖

[Neurognostic]

Here is an example of a "somewhat complex" shell script that creates a boot entry and sets it at index 2.

#!/bin/zsh

# Index to add new boot entry to
index=2

# Save current boot order list
bootorder=( ${(s:,:)${(M)"${(@f)"$(efibootmgr)"}":#BootOrder*}#* } )

# Create new boot entry and save its boot number
new_bootnum=${${(s.,.)${(M)"${(@f)"$(efibootmgr \
	--label 'rEFInd' --create \
	--disk /dev/disk/by-label/ESP \
	--loader EFI/BOOT/bootx64.efi)"}":#BootOrder*}#* }[1]}

# Create new boot order with rEFInd boot number in position 2
bootorder=( $bootorder[0,$index-1] $new_bootnum $bootorder[$index,-1] )

# Save new boot order to BootOrder EFI var
efibootmgr --bootorder ${(j:,:)bootorder}

As you can see, there is a lot of overhead for the user if they want to do an operation as [seemingly] simple as adding a new boot entry to the second position in the boot order.