What is 'Limine'?

cscs · March 31, 2025, 1:30am

As you already noted limine is a bootloader.

Most things asked have answers in the form of limines own claims.

What is Limine?

Limine is a modern, advanced, portable, multiprotocol bootloader and boot manager that supports Linux, multiboot1 and 2, the native Limine boot protocol, and more.

What is a bootloader for?

A bootloader is an essential piece of software which takes over the computer after the firmware relinquishes control of the system. It is the job of the bootloader to find an operating system to boot and perform all the operations needed in order to get the operating system’s kernel and modules up and running.

Why Limine?

Limine is lightweight, elegant, fast, and the reference implementation of the Limine boot protocol.

The Limine boot protocol’s main target audience is operating system and kernel developers that want to use a boot protocol which supports modern features in an elegant manner, that GRUB’s aging multiboot protocols do not (or do not properly).

If you already have an installed system I do not believe you will be switched automatically.