Roadmap & Status

This page is the single source of truth for what actually exists in the go-bootloaders organization. It is deliberately conservative: a target is only moved past Planned once its repository contains real, building Go code.

Honest status, last reviewed 2026-08-05

grub and systemd-boot are real, tested Go modules — both build with CGO_ENABLED=0, pass their test suites on all six 64-bit Go architectures, and are already consumed downstream (e.g. go-diskimages/diskimage imports grub). Neither has cut a tagged release yet, so — by the letter of the status legend below — both sit at In progress rather than Released; in practice both are usable today via Go pseudo-version imports, exactly as any untagged module is.

Status legend

State	Meaning
Planned	Named in the roadmap; repository does not yet exist or holds no code.
Scaffolding	Repository exists with placeholder files (README, LICENSE) but no Go code.
In progress	Real Go code is landing; no tagged release yet.
Released	A tagged release exists and the module is importable.

Target bootloaders

Target	Models	State	Notes
grub	GRUB multi-OS boot menu	In progress	github.com/go-bootloaders/grub, 93.9% test coverage. Opens a GPT disk image, mounts the ESP (FAT32) and a Linux /boot (ext4/btrfs) read-write, reads/generates/patches grub.cfg on both, registers a UEFI boot entry, and optionally measures grub.cfg + kernels/initrds into TPM PCRs. No tagged release yet.
systemd-boot	systemd-boot (sd-boot), Boot Loader Specification	In progress	github.com/go-bootloaders/systemd-boot, 92.9% test coverage. GPT-locates the ESP, parses loader.conf + BLS entries/*.conf into resolved boot entries, reads/writes UEFI BootOrder/BootNext, and measures the selected kernel/initrd/cmdline into TPM PCRs with a TCG event log. No tagged release yet.
limine	Limine boot protocol (modern x86_64 / UEFI)	Planned	Not yet created.
refind	rEFInd graphical UEFI boot manager	Planned	Not yet created.
syslinux	Syslinux / ISOLINUX / PXELINUX	Planned	Not yet created.
u-boot	U-Boot embedded / SoC bootloader	Planned	Not yet created.

Supporting repositories

These are not bootloaders but are part of the organization:

Repo	What it is	State
brand	Logos and icons (the family brand kit)	Populated
go-bootloaders.github.io	Organization landing page	Populated
docs	This documentation site (MkDocs Material + mike)	Populated

go-bootloaders does not maintain its own interface repo; both grub and systemd-boot consume the shared filesystem/partition contracts from go-filesystems/interface and go-volumes/gpt as ordinary pseudo-version dependencies.

What "done" will look like

A target graduates from Planned → Released when it can, from source with CGO_ENABLED=0:

1. Parse its native configuration (e.g. grub.cfg, loader.conf, extlinux.conf) into a typed model.
2. Probe partitions and filesystems enough to locate kernels and initrds.
3. Load a kernel and initrd and present the appropriate boot menu.
4. Hand off to the loaded kernel via the right protocol (Multiboot2, Linux boot protocol, EFI stub, …).
5. Ship with tests and a tagged release.

grub and systemd-boot satisfy 1–3 today (config parsing, filesystem/partition probing, and kernel/initrd discovery); actual kernel handoff (4) is out of scope for both — they operate on disk images ahead of boot (preparing, patching, inspecting, and measuring what a real firmware/bootloader will later load), not as a running bootloader stage themselves. Only step 5 — a tagged release — is outstanding for both before they'd count as Released by this page's own bar.

Contributing

grub and systemd-boot are in active use; issues and PRs against them follow the normal Go module workflow (tests, CGO_ENABLED=0, all six 64-bit architectures). For the four remaining Planned targets, the most useful contributions right now are design discussion and prototype code in the target repositories. Track progress through the organization directly.