lilo removal in squeeze (or, "please test grub2")
in [Debian]
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From: Edward Allcutt on 24 May 2010 13:30 On Mon, 24 May 2010, Stephen Powell wrote: > To the best of my knowledge, it is the *only* bootloader which supports > setting an initial text video mode *and* does not use any sectors outside > the master boot record and outside of a partition. If I'm wrong about > that, someone please correct me. grub2 supports loading its core.img from a dedicated partition instead of embedding it in the first "cylinder". This does require switching to the GPT partitioning scheme which may or may not be acceptable to you. -- Edward Allcutt -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-devel-REQUEST(a)lists.debian.org with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact listmaster(a)lists.debian.org Archive: http://lists.debian.org/alpine.DEB.2.00.1005241244200.1971(a)emallcut-x.pc.teamgleim.com
From: Ferenc Wagner on 24 May 2010 13:40 Stephen Powell <zlinuxman(a)wowway.com> writes: > On Mon, 24 May 2010 05:36:32 -0400 (EDT), Ferenc Wagner wrote: >> Kurt Roeckx <kurt(a)roeckx.be> wrote: >>> On Sun, May 23, 2010 at 01:11:48PM +0200, Cyril Brulebois wrote: >>>> William Pitcock <nenolod(a)dereferenced.org> (22/05/2010): >>>>> This means that users should *test grub2 extensively* before Squeeze >>>>> is released so that any issues can be resolved now. >>>> >>>> There should also be some folks fixing the discovered issues. >>> >>> grub2 currently seems to be having 18 RC bugs, plus a whole bunch >>> of merged bugs, while lilo only has 1 RC bug. >> >> I chatted about this with the grub upstream a couple of days ago. >> According to Vladimir, most of those bugs are already fixed, but there's >> nobody around to do a new upload. Both grub maintainers (Felix Zielke >> and Robert Millan) unexpectedly disappeared some time ago. > > What about Jordi Mallach and Colin Watson? I really don't know, I just echoed what I heard on the #grub IRC channel. I saw articles from Colin Watson recently, so he's around, but I don't know how he feels about Grub maintenance. -- Regards, Feri. -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-devel-REQUEST(a)lists.debian.org with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact listmaster(a)lists.debian.org Archive: http://lists.debian.org/87y6f9z0il.fsf(a)tac.ki.iif.hu
From: Ferenc Wagner on 24 May 2010 14:00 Stephen Powell <zlinuxman(a)wowway.com> writes: > On Mon, 24 May 2010 05:29:56 -0400 (EDT), Ferenc Wagner wrote: > >> Stephen Powell <zlinuxman(a)wowway.com> writes: >>> >>> Both grub-legacy and grub-pc use sectors on the hard disk outside of >>> the master boot record [...] >> >> You may want to try extlinux, it works much like LILO in this respect. > > Thanks for the tip. That may be an option. I looked at the documentation > online, and there does not appear to be an option equivalent to lilo's > vga option, though, which I use a lot, especially since svgatextmode > has already been pulled from squeeze. I'm not sure what you're after, I haven't used LILO for ages. But typing vmlinuz-2.6.32 vga=0xf07 at the pxelinux boot prompt gives me a 80x60 console. The other variants use the same code. >> It lacks a convenient configuration system, but that of grub-legacy >> would be easy to adapt, and I actually plan to work on this. > > if you have the requisite skills to become the equivalent of lilo > upstream, I think there's a lot of people who would rather that you do > that, myself included. Sorry, I don't trust in the future of LILO myself. If there's anything which only LILO can do, I recommend you start complaining on the Syslinux and the Grub mailing lists. I suppose it will be heard. -- Regards, Feri. -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-devel-REQUEST(a)lists.debian.org with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact listmaster(a)lists.debian.org Archive: http://lists.debian.org/87typxyzbk.fsf(a)tac.ki.iif.hu
From: Stephen Powell on 24 May 2010 14:20 On Mon, 24 May 2010 13:01:30 -0400 (EDT), Edward Allcutt wrote: > On Mon, 24 May 2010, Stephen Powell wrote: >> To the best of my knowledge, lilo is the *only* bootloader which supports >> setting an initial text video mode *and* does not use any sectors outside >> the master boot record and outside of a partition. If I'm wrong about >> that, someone please correct me. > > grub2 supports loading its core.img from a dedicated partition instead > of embedding it in the first "cylinder". This does require switching to > the GPT partitioning scheme which may or may not be acceptable to you. No, the backup software assumes the traditional MS-DOS hard disk partitioning scheme. One can get around this by requiring an image backup, but that has three substantial drawbacks: (1) The entire disk, including free space and extended partition free space, must be backed up. This takes a lot more time. (2) A restore can only be done to a disk of the exact same size as the one backed up. Often, a larger disk must be used because the model that failed is no longer available on the market. (3) The need for special backup requirements will be used by the opponents of Linux at my place of employment to oppose further deployments of Linux, which I wish to avoid at all costs. But thanks for the info anyway. -- .''`. Stephen Powell : :' : `. `'` `- -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-devel-REQUEST(a)lists.debian.org with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact listmaster(a)lists.debian.org Archive: http://lists.debian.org/1081731293.13454.1274723918397.JavaMail.root(a)md01.wow.synacor.com
From: Stephen Powell on 24 May 2010 14:50
On Mon, 24 May 2010 13:38:55 -0400 (EDT), Ferenc Wagner wrote: > Stephen Powell <zlinuxman(a)wowway.com> writes: >> On Mon, 24 May 2010 05:29:56 -0400 (EDT), Ferenc Wagner wrote: >>> Stephen Powell <zlinuxman(a)wowway.com> writes: >>>> Both grub-legacy and grub-pc use sectors on the hard disk outside of >>>> the master boot record [...] >>> >>> You may want to try extlinux, it works much like LILO in this respect. >> >> Thanks for the tip. That may be an option. I looked at the documentation >> online, and there does not appear to be an option equivalent to lilo's >> vga option, though, which I use a lot, especially since svgatextmode >> has already been pulled from squeeze. > > I'm not sure what you're after, I haven't used LILO for ages. But > typing vmlinuz-2.6.32 vga=0xf07 at the pxelinux boot prompt gives me a > 80x60 console. The other variants use the same code. Interesting. At one point, the kernel itself had de-supported the vga boot option, relying on the boot loader to set the video mode before transferring control to the kernel. And now you're saying it's back. Hmm. According to Documentation/svga.txt in the kernel source tree: This small document describes the "Video Mode Selection" feature which allows the use of various special video modes supported by the video BIOS. Due to usage of the BIOS, the selection is limited to boot time (before the kernel decompression starts) and works only on 80X86 machines. Note the wording "before the kernel decompression starts". That to me implies "done by the bootloader", because the bootloader decompresses the kernel (if it is compressed) before transferring control to it, does it not? The vga option is a separate option in lilo. You can't include it in the append variable without lilo generating an error. You've got my curiosity up now. I'll have to try this. I do have a spare computer with which to test. I'm going to have to try installing Squeeze using extlinux as the boot loader. (No doubt I'll have to change bootloaders after installation, as the Debian Installer won't offer that option.) Then I'll see if I can pass it the vga option and have it work. And if that works, then I'll try the backup, nuke, and restore scenario. And if that works, then I may have a viable alternative to lilo. I'll let you know how it goes. -- .''`. Stephen Powell : :' : `. `'` `- -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-devel-REQUEST(a)lists.debian.org with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact listmaster(a)lists.debian.org Archive: http://lists.debian.org/158609809.14709.1274725819037.JavaMail.root(a)md01.wow.synacor.com |