On 2013-03-25 12:12 (GMT-0700) Jordan Uggla composed:
What I very well remember is it does everything I need it to do, and without repeatedly warning me about deprecated cmdline arguments or stuffing dire warnings about consequences of not installing to MBR in my face. And any
Times change. Kernel arguments that were never really kernel arguments in the first place get deprecated (though it's still supported, just with a warning). Warnings about unreliable configurations are good (and the configuration was just as unreliable with grub legacy, just no warning).
Whether vga= was technically a kernel argument or not is orthogonal to the issue that on the cmdline is where it worked and works.
As I've been using it over a decade it has established itself as reliable enough for my and many others' needs. Thus the warnings are effectively rude, and rudeness is reason enough to avoid using it as long as a less rude or non-rude alternative that gets the job done exists, which in this case is true.
time I'm somehow faced with grub> instead of an expected menu at boot time, I already know what commands do what in order to proceed, because they weren't superceded during a massive code rewrite.
Times change. Some of your knowledge of how GNU/Linux worked a decade ago no longer applies (even less of decade old knowledge of other IT sectors likely applies). I don't think it's a compelling argument to keep things the same when a new method, which is much simpler, can be devised instead.
You say simpler, but I don't see simpler. I seen an rpm roughly twice the size of the old. I see msdos where dos could have sufficed, and take offense that ms was unnecessarily prepended to a common string within a FOSS application. I see 0,1 has a different meaning than it previously had. I see the basic design made to inhibit concurrent support for both old and new in the same environment, forcing distros wishing to support both to change scripts, commands, docs and more to diverge from upstream.
That something newer might have advantages doesn't obviate the advantage of status quo that is spending 0 time to learn what's different, which often means unlearning something well ingrained and second nature. Keeping the old also means spending 0 time on replacing the old. On a system with one or few operating systems, changeover time can be nominal, but in an environment with many multiboot systems, changing provides elevated opportunity to encounter unforeseen and or unforeseeable conflicts or other time gobblers. What seems obviously simpler to you won't necessarily be seen the same by all.
Often times there are broader implications than those that are obvious. Decades ago I learned Lotus 1-2-3 for DOS, then migrated to Quattro Pro for DOS via its support of a 1-2-3 based menu system. QPro even today does what it did then exactly the same today, which is exactly what I need, including lack of need to adapt or unlearn just to keep on doing what I'm already doing. Modern spreadsheets may or may not be able to do as well or better, just like Grub2 may be able to do more or better, but the fact that they do their jobs without requiring _any_ investment in learning or unlearning is reason enough stick with the status quo. If and when someday something the old can't support becomes must have is soon enough to make the switch. By then maybe Grub2 will have stabilized and matured into a non-moving target with fewer docs that conflict according to distro source and/or release version.
Though the current Grub2 has a v2.0 moniker, I, like many, consider it v1.0 caliber software, marginally out of beta. Reading here and elsewhere I'm familiar with various issues that frustrate users, both those who are new to multiboot and bootloaders and those familiar with them. Such writings reinforce my perception that maturity suited to my comfort has yet to be reached.
Automagic like grub-mkconfig isn't always what it's cracked up to be, particularly to those like myself who prefer working behind the pretty curtain and/or avoiding black-box processes. I'm dealing with enough alpha and beta software already, and choose to avoid this particular one, at least for the foreseeable future, possibly long enough that need here for any bootloader at all has expired.
-- "The wise are known for their understanding, and pleasant words are persuasive." Proverbs 16:21 (New Living Translation) Team OS/2 ** Reg. Linux User #211409 ** a11y rocks! Felix Miata *** http://fm.no-ip.com/ _______________________________________________ Help-grub mailing list [email protected] https://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/help-grub
