Test version with new feature: Dynamically hide loader tags

[Roderick W. Smith]

Hi all,

Over the past few years, the number of EFI programs installed on ESPs has exploded, making rEFInd's model of scanning for loaders at every boot increasingly awkward -- you're left with redundant or useless entries in the menu or you need to edit the dont_scan_volumes, dont_scan_dirs, or dont_scan_files options in refind.conf to unclutter your boot menu.

No more!

I've recently added a new dynamic boot tag removal feature to rEFInd. With this feature, you can hit Delete (on PC keyboards; Apple's Delete key maps to what everybody else calls Backspace) or D to tell rEFInd to hide a tag. (As I write this, I'm thinking that maybe - would be a better alternative than D. Consider these shortcut keys tentative.) You'll be asked to confirm this choice, and if you do, that tag will vanish. If you change your mind, you can get the tag back by using a new second-row tool, represented by a recycling icon. This tool enables you to select a hidden-tag entry for removal, thus restoring the tag to the main menu. If you don't want this feature, you can disable both of these functions by editing showtools in refind.conf and removing the hidden_tags option. (Note that this means that if you've edited showtools in the past and keep that refind.conf file, these features will be disabled until you add hidden_tags to showtools.)

Anyhow, this is a pretty significant new feature, so I thought I'd issue a preview version for testing and feedback before doing an official full release. If you want to give this a try, you can download it from:

http://www.rodsbooks.com/refind-bin-0.10.9.5.zip

The source code is on the rEFInd git repository.

Note that this feature is very new, so please be careful with it, especially since it involves writing to NVRAM.

I would appreciate feedback on this new feature -- especially bug reports and suggestions for changes to the user interface. (Keep in mind that EFI programming is pretty primitive in that department -- I can't conjure up a GUI to rival that in macOS; even the version that shipped with the first Macs is well beyond what I can do!)

[acls86]

Well, works great!
That was the only thing I had to edit the .conf for. Now so much more convenient.
Using refind with mac.

[Roderick W. Smith]

Thanks for testing, acls86! FWIW, I've got another test version up now:

http://www.rodsbooks.com/refind-bin-0.10.9.9.zip

This includes several bug fixes and refinements to the hidden-tags support over the previous one, and also incorporates CJ Vaughter's new mouse support and improvements to touch controls. (Touch still doesn't work on my own two touch-enabled computers, but even the old version does work for some people. Mouse support depends on the firmware and doesn't seem to track well with whether the firmware enables a mouse pointer in its own user interface, in my experience. You need to activate touch or mouse support with enable_touch or enable_mouse in refind.conf.)

FWIW, I'll be releasing this as rEFInd 0.11.0 before too long -- probably this weekend, but it could be sooner or might drag on longer.