[gentoo-user] Re: grub weirdness
On Wed, 07 May 2008 12:13:47 +0200 Sven Köhler [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: To avoid automounting and autoinstalling with /boot, just export the DONT_MOUNT_BOOT variable. Which /boot partition? I don't have any ... I believe you've already avoided it being mounted, then. :) -- gentoo-user@lists.gentoo.org mailing list
[gentoo-user] Re: grub weirdness
To avoid automounting and autoinstalling with /boot,
just export the DONT_MOUNT_BOOT variable.
Which /boot partition? I don't have any ...
If there's a setup-command in your grub.conf, it is indeed executed.
So if that command is outdated (something you won't notice, since that
command is not used by grub in any situation i know), the ebuild will
execute that setup-command and write to some device's boot sector. How
evil, again!
Regards,
Sven
P.S.: here's the code from grub-0.97-r5.ebuild:
if [[ -e ${dir}/grub.conf ]] ; then
egrep \
-v
'^[[:space:]]*(#|$|default|fallback|initrd|password|splashimage|timeout|title)'
\
${dir}/grub.conf | \
/sbin/grub --batch \
--device-map=${dir}/device.map \
/dev/null
fi
And following the code of the functions which does the job:
found in ebuild: /usr/portage/sys-boot/grub/grub-0.97-r5.ebuild
setup_boot_dir() {
local boot_dir=$1
local dir=${boot_dir}
[[ ! -e ${dir} ]] die ${dir} does not exist!
[[ ! -L ${dir}/boot ]] ln -s . ${dir}/boot
dir=${dir}/grub
if [[ ! -e ${dir} ]] ; then
mkdir ${dir} || die ${dir} does not exist!
fi
# change menu.lst to grub.conf
if [[ ! -e ${dir}/grub.conf ]] [[ -e ${dir}/menu.lst ]] ; then
mv -f ${dir}/menu.lst ${dir}/grub.conf
ewarn
ewarn *** IMPORTANT NOTE: menu.lst has been renamed to grub.conf
ewarn
fi
if [[ -e ${dir}/stage2 ]] ; then
mv ${dir}/stage2{,.old}
ewarn *** IMPORTANT NOTE: you must run grub and install
ewarn the new version's stage1 to your MBR. Until you do,
ewarn stage1 and stage2 will still be the old version, but
ewarn later stages will be the new version, which could
ewarn cause problems such as an unbootable system.
ebeep
fi
einfo Copying files from /lib/grub and /usr/lib/grub to ${dir}
for x in ${ROOT}/lib*/grub/*/* ${ROOT}/usr/lib*/grub/*/* ; do
[[ -f ${x} ]] cp -p ${x} ${dir}/
done
if [[ -e ${dir}/grub.conf ]] ; then
egrep \
-v
'^[[:space:]]*(#|$|default|fallback|initrd|password|splashimage|timeout|title)'
\
${dir}/grub.conf | \
/sbin/grub --batch \
--device-map=${dir}/device.map \
/dev/null
fi
# the grub default commands silently piss themselves if
# the default file does not exist ahead of time
if [[ ! -e ${dir}/default ]] ; then
grub-set-default --root-directory=${boot_dir} default
fi
}
How you can see isn't the message piped to /dev/null, only
the command /sbin/grub -batch -device-map
Why should i worry about the message being piped to /dev/null?
I worry about a message saying you have to do it by hand although some
harmful magic is going on behind the scenes (the egrep+grub command)
although we are not informed about it (command is piped to /dev/null,
not message about it, etc.).
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[gentoo-user] Re: grub weirdness
When you emerged grub-0.97-r5, this was displayed on your console:
WARN: postinst
*** IMPORTANT NOTE: you must run grub and install
the new version's stage1 to your MBR. Until you do,
stage1 and stage2 will still be the old version, but
later stages will be the new version, which could
cause problems such as an unbootable system.
Yes, the ebuild writes that to the screen.
But silently, in the background (because every output is piped to
/dev/null - how evil!), the ebuild calls grub with some commands inside
your grub.conf.
If there's a setup-command in your grub.conf, it is indeed executed. So
if that command is outdated (something you won't notice, since that
command is not used by grub in any situation i know), the ebuild will
execute that setup-command and write to some device's boot sector. How
evil, again!
Regards,
Sven
P.S.: here's the code from grub-0.97-r5.ebuild:
if [[ -e ${dir}/grub.conf ]] ; then
egrep \
-v
'^[[:space:]]*(#|$|default|fallback|initrd|password|splashimage|timeout|title)'
\
${dir}/grub.conf | \
/sbin/grub --batch \
--device-map=${dir}/device.map \
/dev/null
fi
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Re: [gentoo-user] Re: grub weirdness
Sven Köhler wrote:
When you emerged grub-0.97-r5, this was displayed on your console:
WARN: postinst
*** IMPORTANT NOTE: you must run grub and install
the new version's stage1 to your MBR. Until you do,
stage1 and stage2 will still be the old version, but
later stages will be the new version, which could
cause problems such as an unbootable system.
Yes, the ebuild writes that to the screen.
But silently, in the background (because every output is piped to
/dev/null - how evil!), the ebuild calls grub with some commands
inside your grub.conf.
I just updated grub to version 0.97-r5 and this was,
at the end, displayed:
To avoid automounting and autoinstalling with /boot,
just export the DONT_MOUNT_BOOT variable.
Your boot partition was not mounted as /boot, but portage
was able to mount it without additional intervention.
Files will be installed there for grub to function correctly.
*** IMPORTANT NOTE: you must run grub and install
the new version's stage1 to your MBR. Until you do,
stage1 and stage2 will still be the old version, but
later stages will be the new version, which could
cause problems such as an unbootable system.
Copying files from /lib/grub and /usr/lib/grub to //boot/grub
To install grub files to another device (like a usb stick), just run:
emerge --config =grub-0.97-r5
If there's a setup-command in your grub.conf, it is indeed executed.
So if that command is outdated (something you won't notice, since that
command is not used by grub in any situation i know), the ebuild will
execute that setup-command and write to some device's boot sector. How
evil, again!
Regards,
Sven
P.S.: here's the code from grub-0.97-r5.ebuild:
if [[ -e ${dir}/grub.conf ]] ; then
egrep \
-v
'^[[:space:]]*(#|$|default|fallback|initrd|password|splashimage|timeout|title)'
\
${dir}/grub.conf | \
/sbin/grub --batch \
--device-map=${dir}/device.map \
/dev/null
fi
And following the code of the functions which does the job:
found in ebuild: /usr/portage/sys-boot/grub/grub-0.97-r5.ebuild
setup_boot_dir() {
local boot_dir=$1
local dir=${boot_dir}
[[ ! -e ${dir} ]] die ${dir} does not exist!
[[ ! -L ${dir}/boot ]] ln -s . ${dir}/boot
dir=${dir}/grub
if [[ ! -e ${dir} ]] ; then
mkdir ${dir} || die ${dir} does not exist!
fi
# change menu.lst to grub.conf
if [[ ! -e ${dir}/grub.conf ]] [[ -e ${dir}/menu.lst ]] ; then
mv -f ${dir}/menu.lst ${dir}/grub.conf
ewarn
ewarn *** IMPORTANT NOTE: menu.lst has been renamed to grub.conf
ewarn
fi
if [[ -e ${dir}/stage2 ]] ; then
mv ${dir}/stage2{,.old}
ewarn *** IMPORTANT NOTE: you must run grub and install
ewarn the new version's stage1 to your MBR. Until you do,
ewarn stage1 and stage2 will still be the old version, but
ewarn later stages will be the new version, which could
ewarn cause problems such as an unbootable system.
ebeep
fi
einfo Copying files from /lib/grub and /usr/lib/grub to ${dir}
for x in ${ROOT}/lib*/grub/*/* ${ROOT}/usr/lib*/grub/*/* ; do
[[ -f ${x} ]] cp -p ${x} ${dir}/
done
if [[ -e ${dir}/grub.conf ]] ; then
egrep \
-v
'^[[:space:]]*(#|$|default|fallback|initrd|password|splashimage|timeout|title)'
\
${dir}/grub.conf | \
/sbin/grub --batch \
--device-map=${dir}/device.map \
/dev/null
fi
# the grub default commands silently piss themselves if
# the default file does not exist ahead of time
if [[ ! -e ${dir}/default ]] ; then
grub-set-default --root-directory=${boot_dir} default
fi
}
How you can see isn't the message piped to /dev/null, only
the command /sbin/grub -batch -device-map
Have fun,
W. Canis
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[gentoo-user] Re: grub weirdness [solved]
Peter Ruskin [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: On Wednesday 07 May 2008, »Q« wrote: Earlier today, I emerged grub-0.97-r5 on my x86 laptop, replacing 0.97-r4. I didn't run grub and didn't expect anything to be done to my boot partition. Now I've read http://bugs.gentoo.org/show_bug.cgi?id=218599, and I suspect my current problem has to do with that, though I don't recall anything in grub.conf that would lead to trouble. I can't access the boot partition right now, and I'm posting this in hopes of pointers for what to look at once I get the chance to boot from a livecd. When I try to boot, the word GRUB gets written to the screen over and over and over, filling the screen. Pressing keys, AFAICT so far, doesn't stop this. The screen is just filled with GRUB, and I think it's an ongoing thing because of a little flicker at the bottom right. When you emerged grub-0.97-r5, this was displayed on your console: WARN: postinst *** IMPORTANT NOTE: you must run grub and install the new version's stage1 to your MBR. Until you do, stage1 and stage2 will still be the old version, but later stages will be the new version, which could cause problems such as an unbootable system. Thanks. I had assumed (d'oh!) that I could wait and read the elog if I ever decided to install the new grub to my boot partition. I'm not so happy with the boot partition being mounted and screwed with by the ebuild, especially given I was using a grub from Fedora, not Gentoo. Now I've got DONT_MOUNT_BOOT=yes in make.conf, so I should never have this kind of problem again. Once I booted a livecd, running the setup command within grub fixed the problem. Then once I booted Gentoo, I did it again, to get whatever goodness is in this latest revision. To make life easier for situations like this, you could install grub on a floppy. Even if I had a floppy drive, I'm not sure portage wouldn't find the floppy and overwrite it. ;) I usually have a livecd or two in my bag, but of course not when I most need one. -- gentoo-user@lists.gentoo.org mailing list
