GRUB FAQ

GRUB FAQ

[Bruce Dubbs]

I'm working on updating the GRUB FAQ.  So far I've got the following 
questions.  Does anyone have any corrections or additional questions?

After I define the questions, I'll work on the answers.  :)

   -- Bruce


1.  I have questions about GRUB!
2.  Why did you need to rewrite GRUB?
3.  How does GNU GRUB differ from GRUB Legacy?
4.  Where is the documentation?
5.  Can GRUB boot my operating system from large hard disks?
6.  How are partitions specified?  It seems to be
     very different from the notation in my operating system.
7.  How can I boot Windows (or DOS) from a non-first disk?
8.  Can I install GRUB to a partition boot sector?
9.  How do I uninstall GRUB from my hard disk drive?
10. I installed GRUB, but it just hangs up.  What now?

Re: GRUB FAQ

[Michal Suchanek]

On 30 January 2010 06:15, Bruce Dubbs <bruce.dubbs@gmail.com> wrote:
> I'm working on updating the GRUB FAQ.  So far I've got the following
> questions.  Does anyone have any corrections or additional questions?

Ones that are missing would be:

* Do I have to install grub on my hardrive?

Because it should be noted that with some bootloaders it is not quite
easy or even possible at all to load the OS from a disk/partition
different from the one where the loader is installed but GRUB can
easily run form a rescue CD or an USB stick (or perhaps PXE - can it
already?). This is something that may not be obvious to people coming
from such simplistic bootloaders and it is one of the major advantages
of GRUB.

This brings the networking issues:

* Can grub be loaded over the network (such as over PXE) ?

  It most likely can as there is a kernel for pxelinux for loading any
floppy image and emulating a floppy so it should work like this at the
very least.

* Can grub load the system from the network?

I think it is somewhat possible with some additional PXE module not
part of grub mainline but I have never tried for myself.

These questions seem to be somewhat x86-pc-centric.

The ones concerning support for different platforms would be:

* What platforms does grub support?


* How do I install/run grub on my computer?

This is non-obvious. Installing on different platforms varies wildly.

For example, Apple's EFI is somewhat supported as it somewhat conforms
to the EFI standard but I could not get a conclusive answer how to run
grub on Apple x86 hardware. When I find a way that works on one
computer it would fail on another.


Thanks

Michal

Re: GRUB FAQ

[Vincent Pelletier]

Le samedi 30 janvier 2010 14:11:57, Michal Suchanek a écrit :
> * Do I have to install grub on my hardrive?
[...]
> This brings the networking issues:

A different understanding of the same wording leads to a yet another question:

  Can I install grub on a disk image ?

Actually, a friend of mine is trying to achieve it, and found no simple way...
The use case is being able to continue generating flash card images from 
script. Something along the lines of debootstrap + tweaks to folders (incl. 
replacing config files etc) + wraping the result in a disk image and 
installing a bootloader (grub 1 before, and now trying with grub 2).

I didn't even try to search, so maybe he just didn't find the right bit of 
information - which I think means it should be made more visible, as in a FAQ.

-- 
Vincent Pelletier

Re: GRUB Faq

[richardvoigt]

On Thu, Jan 7, 2010 at 1:40 PM, Robert Millan <rmh@aybabtu.com> wrote:
> On Tue, Jan 05, 2010 at 12:08:28AM -0600, Bruce Dubbs wrote:
>> I've been working on grub.texi and I notice a reference to
>> http://www.gnu.org/software/grub/grub-faq.html.  I will change that to
>> grub-2-faq.en.html before I submit it.
>
> Actually, I'd rather ditch the old FAQ and replace it completely.
>
> In general, references to "GRUB 2" need to disappear from the website, wiki
> and documentation.  Now that GRUB Legacy is completely obsolete it's not
> necessary to make the distinction in most contexts.

Development may have ended, but as long as there is a single boot
device supported by GRUB legacy and not GRUB 2 (whether certain RAID
flavors, floppies, filesystems with small embedding area, etc) legacy
isn't obsolete.  And given the number of users who still have it
installed, I suggest that removing documentation for legacy is a
mistake.

Consider either:
(1) Moving the old FAQ to a new URL, and putting a link on the top of
the new FAQ.
or
(2) Adding a link to the GRUB 2 FAQ prominently on top of the GRUB
Legacy FAQ, which stays where it is.

The second option is probably better since there are anchors in the
page, allowing links from outside to specific parts of the page.
Replacing the page will break all such links.

>
> Would you be interested in adapting the website?
>
> --
> Robert Millan
>
>  "Be the change you want to see in the world" -- Gandhi
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Grub-devel mailing list
> Grub-devel@gnu.org
> http://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/grub-devel
>

Re: GRUB Faq

[Bruce Dubbs]

Robert Millan wrote:
> On Tue, Jan 05, 2010 at 12:08:28AM -0600, Bruce Dubbs wrote:
>> I've been working on grub.texi and I notice a reference to  
>> http://www.gnu.org/software/grub/grub-faq.html.  I will change that to
>> grub-2-faq.en.html before I submit it.
> 
> Actually, I'd rather ditch the old FAQ and replace it completely.
> 
> In general, references to "GRUB 2" need to disappear from the website, wiki
> and documentation.  Now that GRUB Legacy is completely obsolete it's not
> necessary to make the distinction in most contexts.
> 
> Would you be interested in adapting the website?

I can do that if I have permissions.

   -- Bruce

Re: GRUB Faq

[Robert Millan]

On Tue, Jan 05, 2010 at 12:08:28AM -0600, Bruce Dubbs wrote:
> I've been working on grub.texi and I notice a reference to  
> http://www.gnu.org/software/grub/grub-faq.html.  I will change that to
> grub-2-faq.en.html before I submit it.

Actually, I'd rather ditch the old FAQ and replace it completely.

In general, references to "GRUB 2" need to disappear from the website, wiki
and documentation.  Now that GRUB Legacy is completely obsolete it's not
necessary to make the distinction in most contexts.

Would you be interested in adapting the website?

-- 
Robert Millan

  "Be the change you want to see in the world" -- Gandhi

Re: GRUB Faq

[Bruce Dubbs]

Lapohos Tibor wrote:

> To clarify, I was talking about the headings:
> 
> Building / Installation from Source Build Prerequisites Example

This is covered in the INSTALL file.  I've submitted a new one, but it 
hasn't been committed.

In the meantime you can get most of what you need from:

http://www.linuxfromscratch.org/lfs/view/development/chapter06/grub.html
http://www.linuxfromscratch.org/lfs/view/development/chapter08/grub.html

It covers the basics, but many distros add a lot of customization and 
automation that is not in the above links.

   -- Bruce

Re: GRUB Faq

[Lapohos Tibor]

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Sorry for the former silly lines. I've just realized, I wrote based on a document made of what you, developers, are saying, with my formatting on top.
 
To clarify, I was talking about the headings:
 
Building / Installation from Source
Build Prerequisites
Example grub.cfg for RAID (and I see you have already done most of what I was thinking of)
 
respectively.
 
Regards,
Tibor

--- On Tue, 1/5/10, Lapohos Tibor <tibor.lapohos@rogers.com> wrote:


From: Lapohos Tibor <tibor.lapohos@rogers.com>
Subject: Re: GRUB Faq
To: "The development of GNU GRUB" <grub-devel@gnu.org>
Date: Tuesday, January 5, 2010, 11:12 AM







Inspired by my own problems, in a seIfish way, I would suggest "Grub2 and RAID" + section 3.8.
 
Also, I think sections 2.2.5 and 2.2.6 could take a bit of a touch-up, or extension, if you will. Especially the last sentence of 2.2.6. IMHO, the real thing is to be able to do everything from scratch. If the how-tos are explained  a bit more, a better understanding of other related subjects becomes  possible.
 
Regards,
Tibor


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Re: GRUB Faq

[Lapohos Tibor]

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Inspired by my own problems, in a seIfish way, I would suggest "Grub2 and RAID" + section 3.8.
 
Also, I think sections 2.2.5 and 2.2.6 could take a bit of a touch-up, or extension, if you will. Especially the last sentence of 2.2.6. IMHO, the real thing is to be able to do everything from scratch. If the how-tos are explained  a bit more, a better understanding of other related subjects becomes  possible.
 
Regards,
Tibor

--- On Tue, 1/5/10, Bruce Dubbs <bruce.dubbs@gmail.com> wrote:


From: Bruce Dubbs <bruce.dubbs@gmail.com>
Subject: GRUB Faq
To: "The development of GNU GRUB" <grub-devel@gnu.org>
Date: Tuesday, January 5, 2010, 1:08 AM


I've been working on grub.texi and I notice a reference to http://www.gnu.org/software/grub/grub-faq.html.  I will change that to
grub-2-faq.en.html before I submit it.

I think we should come up with a new list of FAQs here and agree on the answers.  I'll be glad to format it.

The current questions are:

Why do you need to rewrite GRUB?
What is the status of GRUB 2?

I would remove both of these and and start with:

I have questions about GRUB2!
What operating systems does GRUB2 support?
What hardware platforms does GRUB2 support?
How does GRUB2 differ from GRUB Legacy (GRUB1)?
How do I create a GRUB2 boot floppy?
How do I create a GRUB2 boot CD-ROM?

How are partitions specified? That seems to be very different from the notation in my operating system...

How do I uninstall GRUB2 from my hard disk drive?
I installed GRUB, but it just hangs up. What now?
-----------

What others would you suggest?

By the way, validator.w3.org says grub-2-faq.en.html has 24 errors, but that cascades errors.  I only see 5 errors.  I imagine the page is formatted by a standard header + body + standard footer, but there is one html error in the header too:

....
alt="image of the Head of a GNU" width="129" height"122" />

height is missing an = sign.

  -- Bruce


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GRUB Faq

[Bruce Dubbs]

I've been working on grub.texi and I notice a reference to 
http://www.gnu.org/software/grub/grub-faq.html.  I will change that to
grub-2-faq.en.html before I submit it.

I think we should come up with a new list of FAQs here and agree on the 
answers.  I'll be glad to format it.

The current questions are:

Why do you need to rewrite GRUB?
What is the status of GRUB 2?

I would remove both of these and and start with:

I have questions about GRUB2!
What operating systems does GRUB2 support?
What hardware platforms does GRUB2 support?
How does GRUB2 differ from GRUB Legacy (GRUB1)?
How do I create a GRUB2 boot floppy?
How do I create a GRUB2 boot CD-ROM?

How are partitions specified? That seems to be very different from the 
notation in my operating system...

How do I uninstall GRUB2 from my hard disk drive?
I installed GRUB, but it just hangs up. What now?
-----------

What others would you suggest?

By the way, validator.w3.org says grub-2-faq.en.html has 24 errors, but 
that cascades errors.  I only see 5 errors.  I imagine the page is 
formatted by a standard header + body + standard footer, but there is 
one html error in the header too:

...
alt="image of the Head of a GNU" width="129" height"122" />

height is missing an = sign.

   -- Bruce