Updating firmware on 10.13 unsupported Macs?

[nekton1]

The new APFS relies on a firmware update to boot APFS disks but Apple obviously is never going to release firmware for older "unsupported" Macs although many models like the cMP3,1 can run High Sierra fine with a little modding/tweaking (thanks dosdude and foxlet).
Back in the day, some kind person released a way to update the 2009 MP firmware to the 2010 version, giving those old 2009 Macs a new lease on life and keeping them out of landfill.
Is the effort to reverse-engineer the firmware for these older Macs a much harder task than the effort needed to develop hacks/alternative bootloaders supporting APFS?
Are there no retired Apple firmware engineers out there who could give advice, or is this a violation of Apple's IP? Is the firmware encrypted?
What exactly is stopping hacking of firmware for older Macs?

 

[chrfr]

Back in the day, some kind person released a way to update the 2009 MP firmware to the 2010 version, giving those old 2009 Macs a new lease on life and keeping them out of landfill.

This only worked because the hardware in the 2009 and 2010 Mac Pros was the same. There was no reverse engineering involved. People who want to run High Sierra on unsupported hardware are going to have to boot from HFS+ volumes.

 

[nekton1]

This only worked because the hardware in the 2009 and 2010 Mac Pros was the same. There was no reverse engineering involved. People who want to run High Sierra on unsupported hardware are going to have to boot from HFS+ volumes.

Not necessarily, there is a way to boot APFS on these old Macs—it just has not been made widely public yet. But you'll find more on Macrumors if you look.

 

[Squuiid]

The 2010 Mac Pro IS supported however. We are still waiting to see what they're going to do about APFS. Perhaps there will be a firmware update. If there is, it very likely can be modded in the same way the previous update was to convert 4,1 to 5,1.

 

[nekton1]

Old posts on InsanelyMac indicate firmware files for older Macs like the MP3,1 can be dumped and are not encrypted. We need an Apple firmware guru to modify them for the 3,1 and possibly 4,1 to add APFS support. Difficult and high potential for bricking the Mac too.
I'm 99% sure the cMP 5,1 will get a firmware update to add APFS support in the coming weeks.

 

[applCore]

Use ZFS Boot. ZFS is still better than APFS and the more people who get behind it, the better off the support on macOS will be. See: https://openzfsonosx.org/wiki/ZFS_on_Boot

Get involved here:
https://openzfsonosx.org/forum/viewforum.php?f=26

 

[nekton1]

Used o3x zfs for years and found it to be good too but cannot use on a boot disk.