"... use it for serious work."

Hah, sure bro. Seems more like you're just trying to set a personal record
for most bootable OSes on a single system.

On Fri, Jul 14, 2023 at 12:03 AM Rob Schmersel <r...@schmersel.net> wrote:

> On Thu, 13 Jul 2023 13:53:24 -0500 (EDT)
> "Jay F. Shachter" <j...@m5.chicago.il.us> wrote:
>
> > Esteemed Colleagues:
> >
> > Every time I install OpenBSD (the latest version, 7.3), it trashes
> > GRUB, and renders my computer unbootable.  I am guessing, and please
> > correct me if I am wrong, that this is because OpenBSD puts its
> > subpartition table in disk storage that has not been given to it.
> >
> > The internal hard drive is an MBR-partitioned disk belonging to a
> > computer that is configured to do Legacy boot.  Microsoft Windows,
> > Linux, and Haiku are already installed.  Microsoft Windows uses all
> > three primary partitions for itself, because that is what Windows
> > does, and every other operating system has to find a place for itself
> > within the extended partition.
> >
> > The bootloader is GRUB2, and has been, since I installed the Linux
> > system.  The Linux system resides on two logical volumes (root and
> > swap) carved out of an LVM volume group that resides on the first
> > logical slice of the extended partition (which Linux calls /dev/sda5).
> > GRUB2 boots it by means of:
> >
> >      insmod lvm
> >      set root=(lvm/m5-springdale)
> >      linux /boot/vmlinuz root=/dev/m5/springdale
> >      initrd /boot/initramfs.img
> >
> > Haiku resides on the third logical slice of the extended partition,
> > which in Linux is called /dev/sda7, and is booted by means of:
> >
> >      set root=(hd0,7)
> >      chainloader +1
> >
> > OpenBSD was installed -- repeatedly -- in the second logical slice of
> > the extended partition, which in Linux is called /dev/sda6 (and I
> > intend to install NetBSD in /dev/sda9, I have a very subtle sense of
> > humor), and there is already a stanza in my GRUB menu that has been
> > made ready for it:
> >
> >      set root=(hd0,6)
> >      chainloader +1
> >
> > although I am also ready to boot it by means of kopenbsd, if
> > necessary.
> >
> > I never got to execute that stanza in the GRUB menu, however, because
> > the OpenBSD installation has always rendered my system unbootable.  It
> > just didn't boot, not even into the GRUB menu.  I had to repair my
> > system by booting from a recovery CD, mounting /dev/m5/springdale on,
> > e.g., /mnt, furnishing /mnt with appropriate proc, sys and dev
> > filesystems, doing a chroot to /mnt, and then doing a "grub2-install
> > /dev/sda".  Which failed, complaining, inter alia, about a disk with
> > multiple partition tables.  But if I did
> >
> >       dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sda bs=512 skip=1 count=2
> >
> > then grub2-install ceased complaining about a disk with multiple
> > partition tables, and it succeeded, and I could then reboot into the
> > GRUB menu.  But now OpenBSD was unbootable.
> >
> > All of this has led me reasonably to theorize that OpenBSD puts its
> > subpartition table outside of the area that belongs to it, which is
> > the second logical slice of the extended partition, which is where I
> > tell it to install itself -- in particular, that it puts its
> > subpartition table near the MBR table, which is an area of disk that
> > does not belong to it, but, rather, to GRUB, which is, consequently,
> > trashed.
> >
> > If this is what is happening, then it is totally bogus.
> >
> > I have nothing against subpartitioning.  Linux doesn't do it, but many
> > respectable operating systems do, like FreeBSD, NetBSD, and Solaris,
> > although Solaris, practically speaking, is usually installed so as to
> > use ZFS rather than UFS, so the entire concept of subpartitioning is
> > obsolete.
> >
> > (Parenthetically, when is OpenBSD going to support ZFS, and join the
> > category of operating systems in which I can do serious work, i.e.,
> > Solaris, Linux, FreeBSD, and NetBSD?  NetBSD didn't use to be in that
> > category, because its implementation of ZFS was brain-damaged, but
> > now it has a good implementation of ZFS, and now it is a member in
> > good standing of the category of operating systems in which I can do
> > serious work.  OpenBSD is not, and in that regard it resembles Haiku,
> > or SkyOS, or Icaros, and that is regrettable, because OpenBSD has
> > other good features that would otherwise make me want to use it for
> > serious work.  But I digress.)
> >
> > But my FreeBSD systems manage to do subpartitioning without trashing
> > GRUB and rendering my computers unbootable.  I assume that is because
> > FreeBSD doesn't overwrite disk storage that doesn't belong to it, but
> > that, rather, it keeps its subpartition table in the area of disk
> > where it has been told to install itself.
> >
> > Now, I do not know for certain that OpenBSD overwrites parts of GRUB
> > with its subpartition table.  I am only theorizing, based on strong
> > circumstantial evidence.  What I do know is that every time I install
> > OpenBSD, it renders my computer unbootable.  How do I get it to stop
> > doing that?
> >
> > Thank you in advance for any and all replies.
> >
> >                         Jay F. Shachter
> >                         6424 North Whipple Street
> >                         Chicago IL  60645-4111
> >                                 (1-773)7613784   landline
> >                                 (1-410)9964737   GoogleVoice
> >                                 j...@m5.chicago.il.us
> >                                 http://m5.chicago.il.us
> >
> >                         "Quidquid latine dictum sit, altum videtur"
> >
> Did you read the FAQ:
> https://www.openbsd.org/faq/faq4.html#Multibooting ??
>
>

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