Boot Loader
A boot loader is one of the very first programs that is started up by the UEFI or BIOS on startup. It is responsible for loading the kernel into memory and any other parameters that the kernel needs to start up. Quite often a menu will be shown on the screen to allow the user to select which kernel to boot into, or which operating system to boot into.
Types supported by various distributions
| Name | Firmware types | Partition types | Multiboot | Supported file systems |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Clover | BIOS, UEFI | GPT | Yes | Many |
| EFI boot stub | UEFI | MBR, GPT | Yes | Many |
| GRUB | BIOS, UEFI | MBR, GPT | Yes | Many |
| Limine | BIOS, UEFI | MBR, GPT | Yes | Limited |
| rEFInd | UEFI | MBR, GPT | Yes | Many |
| Syslinux | BIOS, Partial UEFI | MBR,ff GPT | Partial | Limited |
| systemd-boot | UEFI | Manual MBR, GPT | Yes | Many |