How To Install shim on Debian 9

In this tutorial we learn how to install shim on Debian 9. shim is boot loader to chain-load signed boot loaders under Secure Boot

Introduction

In this tutorial we learn how to install shim on Debian 9.

What is shim

shim is:

This package provides a minimalist boot loader which allows verifying signatures of other UEFI binaries against either the Secure Boot DB/DBX or against a built-in signature database. Its purpose is to allow a small, infrequently-changing binary to be signed by the UEFI CA, while allowing an OS distributor to revision their main bootloader independently of the CA.

There are three methods to install shim on Debian 9. We can use apt-get, apt and aptitude. In the following sections we will describe each method. You can choose one of them.

Install shim Using apt-get

Update apt database with apt-get using the following command.

sudo apt-get update

After updating apt database, We can install shim using apt-get by running the following command:

sudo apt-get -y install shim

Install shim Using apt

Update apt database with apt using the following command.

sudo apt update

After updating apt database, We can install shim using apt by running the following command:

sudo apt -y install shim

Install shim Using aptitude

If you want to follow this method, you might need to install aptitude first since aptitude is usually not installed by default on Debian. Update apt database with aptitude using the following command.

sudo aptitude update

After updating apt database, We can install shim using aptitude by running the following command:

sudo aptitude -y install shim

How To Uninstall shim on Debian 9

To uninstall only the shim package we can use the following command:

sudo apt-get remove shim

Uninstall shim And Its Dependencies

To uninstall shim and its dependencies that are no longer needed by Debian 9, we can use the command below:

sudo apt-get -y autoremove shim

Remove shim Configurations and Data

To remove shim configuration and data from Debian 9 we can use the following command:

sudo apt-get -y purge shim

Remove shim configuration, data, and all of its dependencies

We can use the following command to remove shim configurations, data and all of its dependencies, we can use the following command:

sudo apt-get -y autoremove --purge shim

Dependencies

shim have the following dependencies:

References

Summary

In this tutorial we learn how to install shim package on Debian 9 using different package management tools: apt, apt-get and aptitude.