GRUB update borks Debian testing

[Jamon Camisso]

D. Hugh Redelmeier wrote:
> Summary: LILO win: simplicity, lack of duplication of code
> GRUB win: easier for user (no refresh on kernel installation)
> 
> GRUB2 now seems to throw away that advantage: since you are not
> supposed to edit the config file, you have to refresh GRUB2 every time
> a new kernel is installed.

I usually always run update-grub when a new kernel comes around, either
grub or grub2. No change there for me.

> GRUB still has an advantage: when grub cannot boot a kernel, it still
> gives you a kind of shell that lets you play around a bit.  You can
> edit menu items (for example, to change the partition being booted)
> and try them.  You can also poke around a bit on filesystems.

The emacs key bindings for grub2 are annoying, grub was much easier to
edit from the grub shell.

> I skimmed the tutorial John pointed out.  Nothing jumps out as a big
> win for GRUB2.
> 
> + modular building of the menu is at least theoretically a good thing.
>   This could have been done with the old GRUB, but GRUB2 provides the
>   tools and conventions.
> 
> - The shell scripting seems a bit abstruse.  And you still have to
>   understand the new version of the grub command set.
> 
> 0 the way of setting the default menu entry is just as bad as ever: a
>   cardinal number rather than an ordinal number or, much better, a label.

grub2 also now numbers paritions starting with 1, whereas disks still
start at 0. e.g. grub: hd0,0 first disk, first partition. grub2: hd0,1,
first disk, first partition. Took me a while to catch on to that..

> + the loadable modules must be good for something but that isn't
>   self-evident.

It's certainly handy for a hackintosh. grub2 easily passes arguments
directly to the xnu kernel, even checks for sleep/resume before booting
it. Very cool how they've tried to be filesystem and operating system
agnostic, while at the same time supporting very operating system
specific options[1], e.g.

Filesystems:
afs (AtheOS/Syllable)
affs
befs
ext2 (+ext3 with journaling support, +ext4 extents)
fat (+long filenames)
hfs
hfs+
iso9660 (including rockridge and joliet extensions)
jfs
minix (version 1 and 2)
ntfs (+compression)
reiserfs (with journaling support (?) this statement conflicts with
comment in fs/reiserfs.c)
sfs
tar and cpio
udf
ufs (version 1 and 2)
xfs

Supported PC Loaders
chainloader
linux
multiboot
freebsd
openbsd
netbsd
xnu

Supported Mac Loaders
linux
appleloader
xnu

> + GRUB2 understands ext4.  (I think Ubuntu put support for ext4 into
>   old GRUB but that may not be widely adopted.)
> 
> All these comments are based on a slim thread: my understanding of the
> tutorial.  More enlightened insights would be useful.

I think just like lilo and grub, grub2 is going to be with us for a long
time to come. It isn't that scary once you get familiar with it -- sort
of like the transition from lilo to grub put a lot of people off
(because lilo mostly just works fine), so too the transition to grub2
seems drastic, but I think it is for the best in the long run.

Jamon

[1] http://grub.enbug.org/CurrentStatus
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