refind can't see stub loader in btrfs partition

[George Pearson]

For fun, I installed the alpha KDE Linux on a partition of my SSD. For the install, I used the default format of btrfs. The default bootloader for KDE Linux is systemd-boot.

But refind doesn't see this distro.

[UPDATE 2025-02-01 The "issue" mentioned in the "update" immediately below has been fixed. it had no effect on refind seeing this distro, but it did change the information I provided below about this problem. So I will repost with the new information, under the title "refind can't see stub loader" (Since there's now files in the ESP, I am dropping "in btrfs partition" from the ttitle of fhe new post.) THERE IS NO LONGER A REASON TO READ ANY MORE OF THIS THREAD.)]

[UPDATE 2025-01-10 I noticed this post from five days ago in "issues" for KDE Linux.

Subject: Installer does not install bootloader
Text: It's currently unclear where this issue started, but latest builds do not install systemd-boot for an unknown reason.

I don't know if this affects refind, but thought I should mention this up front, in case it does.

Also, I my own, I noted that the install of KDE Linux did not add anything to the ESP. Should it have?
END OF UPDATE]

Here's the top level of the filesystem:

@containers  @etc-overlay  @kde-linux_202412270256  @root  @var-overlay
@docker      @home         @locale                  @snap

@root is empty, so the interesting one here is @kde-linux_202412270256. Here's its contents:

bin   buildroot  efi  home  lib    mnt  proc  run   snap  sys     tmp  var
boot  dev        etc  init  lib64  opt  root  sbin  srv   system  usr  work

boot is empty. I think the interesting one here is efi. Here's its complete contents:

[root@F16 efi]# ls -lR
.:
total 924
drwx------ 1 root root     32 Dec 26 22:03 EFI
drwx------ 1 root root     90 Dec 26 22:03 loader
-rwx------ 1 root root 944832 Dec 26 22:03 shellx64.efi

./EFI:
total 0
drwx------ 1 root root 22 Dec 26 22:03 BOOT
drwx------ 1 root root 56 Dec 26 22:05 Linux
drwx------ 1 root root 38 Dec 26 22:03 systemd

./EFI/BOOT:
total 124
-rwx------ 1 root root 123392 Dec 18 04:29 BOOTX64.EFI

./EFI/Linux:
total 177668
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 181929472 Dec 26 22:07 kde-linux_202412270256+3.efi

./EFI/systemd:
total 124
-rwx------ 1 root root 123392 Dec 18 04:29 systemd-bootx64.efi

./loader:
total 12
drwx------ 1 root root  0 Dec 26 22:03 entries
-rwx------ 1 root root  6 Dec 26 22:03 entries.srel
drwx------ 1 root root  0 Dec 26 22:03 keys
-rwx------ 1 root root 40 Dec 26 22:03 loader.conf
-rwx------ 1 root root 32 Dec 26 22:03 random-seed

./loader/entries:
total 0

./loader/keys:
total 0

Now I know very little about booting. My guess was that the kde-linux_202412270256+3.efi is a stub loader because it's so large. But whether it's a stub loader or not, the question is how to get refind to see, and thus be able to boot, this setup.

In refind.conf, I've tried each of the following two lines, but no luck with either:

also_scan_dirs +,@kde-linux_202412270256
also_scan_dirs +,@kde-linux_202412270256/efi

Any advice appreciated.

[dakanji]

The config file says also_scan_dirs does not recurse:
https://github.com/dakanji/rEFInd/blob/253abe5c4af58d044912517daa567c4440612c46/refind.conf-sample#L353-L357

So, if targeting a specific subfolder, you might want to define this fully:
also_scan_dirs +,@kde-linux_202412270256/path/to/subfolder

[George Pearson]

OK, thanks! I did not notice the "not recurse".

BUT, I've now changed also_scan_dirs to this;

also_scan_dirs +,@kde-linux_202412270256/efi,@kde-linux_202412270256/efi/EFI/Linux,@kde-linux_202412270256/efi/EFI/systemd,@kde-linux_202412270256/efi/EFI/BOOT

... and that made no difference - the distro still does not appear in refind.
And that list covers every subdirectory containing a efi file.

What am I missing?

[George Pearson]

To followup my last post, I found a vmlinuz in:

@kde-linux_202412270256/usr/lib/modules/6.12.6-arch1-1

so I added that subdirectory to also_scan_dirs and tried refind again.
No joy tho.

[George Pearson]

OK, OP again with further info.

First, I should mention that KDE Linux is an "atomic" distro, if that makes any difference.

Second, I noticed no sign of the usual initramfs in the usual places. However, deep in systemd subdirectories are a bunch of .service files with initramfs in their filenames. (There's a number of others there with initrd in their filenames.)

Does this shed any light on my problem?

[dakanji]

Suggest waiting for the maintainer to respond.

[George Pearson]

I found two items that MIGHT be relevant to my problem, I thought if Rod came by to read this thread, they are things he should see up-front, so I've edited then into my original post.
You can see them embedded there, labelled UPDATE 2025-01-10.