Measured against the bootloaders you actually meet on Linux today: GRUB, systemd-boot, rEFInd, and Limine.
One screen
| Capability | LamBoot | GRUB | systemd-boot | rEFInd | Limine |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Native ext4 / btrfs read | Yes, memory-safe, compiled in | Yes, in C | No, FAT only | Via separate driver binaries | No, dropped ext4 in 9.0 |
| FAT and btrfs on LVM, read in place | Yes | Partial | No | No | No |
| Per-boot trust-evidence log to the ESP | Yes | No | No | No | No |
| Own PE loader (avoids firmware LoadImage) | Yes | No | No | No | No |
| Integrated crash-loop recovery | Yes, NVRAM state machine | No | Partial, boot counting | No | No |
| Graphical menu with mouse | Yes, on by default | No | No | Yes, off by default | No |
| BLS Type 1 | Yes | Via blscfg | Yes | No | No |
| UKI first-class | Yes | Via wrapper | Yes | Limited | Via protocol |
| Memory-safe implementation | Yes, Rust | No | No | No | No |
| Secure Boot via shim plus MOK | Yes, plus firmware db and Path F | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Legacy BIOS | No | Yes | No | No | Yes |
| Interactive rescue console | No | Yes | No | No | Yes |
| Approx. size and language | about 650 KB, Rust | large, C | small, C | C | C |
LamBoot is not shim-review approved yet, so production Secure Boot needs a one-time MOK enrollment. The roadmap tracks the shim-review submission that removes that step.
What each is best at
GRUB
GRUB is the universal default, with legacy BIOS support, an interactive rescue console, and the widest filesystem driver set, written in C. It is the right pick when you need legacy BIOS or a rescue command line. LamBoot is the pick when you want memory-safe native /boot reading, a per-boot audit log, and crash-loop recovery on UEFI.
systemd-boot
systemd-boot is the clean, minimal BLS manager that several distributions now default to, and it has the deepest TPM measurement coverage. It is the right pick when FAT-only /boot and minimalism are what you want. LamBoot is the pick when you want to read ext4 or btrfs /boot natively, a graphical menu with a mouse, and a written trust log.
rEFInd
rEFInd is the strong graphical multi-OS picker with broad auto-detection. It is the right pick for a polished multi-boot menu across many operating systems. LamBoot is the pick when you want memory-safe native reading and an audit trail rather than firmware-style driver binaries.
Limine
Limine is a minimal, multi-protocol loader that deliberately avoids parsing filesystems. It is the right pick for a tiny, multi-protocol loader. LamBoot is the pick when reading your real Linux /boot natively is the point.