Bug#492317: (update breaks grub boot (MBR) "Grub Error 28: Selected item can not fit into memory")

[Robert Millan <rmh@aybabtu.com>]

On Fri, Jul 25, 2008 at 06:16:33PM +0200, Alan BRASLAU wrote:
> On Friday 25 July 2008 15:12:42 Robert Millan wrote:
> > reassign 492317 kdm
> > thanks
> Look at
> http://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=63800
> 
> > On Fri, Jul 25, 2008 at 02:05:01PM +0200, Alan BRASLAU wrote:
> > > Further investigation shows that the error systematically occurs after
> > > selecting a grub boot option from kdm. This, persists even after
> > > powering-down the system before trying to reboot. Thus, kdm (version
> > > 4:4.0.98-1) must be corrupting the grub configuration somehow.
> >
> > I wasn't aware of this feature.  What is kdm exactly doing?
> >
> > > I am filing a kdm bug report upstream. Should the present grub bug report
> > > be closed?
> >
> > I can't tell if this is GRUB's fault or not without an accurate description
> > of what kdm is doing.
> 
> I'm not sure what kdm is doing, as I have not taken a look at the source code.
> However, I see the following in /var/log/kdm.log
> 
>     GNU GRUB  version 0.97  (640K lower / 3072K upper memory)
> 
>        [ Minimal BASH-like line editing is supported.   For
>          the   first   word,  TAB  lists  possible  command
>          completions.  Anywhere else TAB lists the possible
>          completions of a device/filename. ]
> grub> savedefault --default=5 --once
> grub>
> 
> so I see that kdm seems to run grub, and not edit menu.lst or some other hack.
> 
> > Let's reassign this bug; later it can be moved back to GRUB if necessary.
> 
> The grub and kdm maintainers are much more competent than I. However, I can 
> investigate more if no-one else is aware of the problem or cannot reproduce. 
> It's a bit time-consuming, so for the moment I am simply avoiding using this 
> feature - I'll stick to rebooting into linux :) 

My summary:

  We found savedefault feature to be buggy and dangerous.  Because of this it
  is disabled now in update-grub.  This problem is most likely just a result
  of kdm enabling it.

  Since this chunk of code is basicaly unmaintained upstream, I don't expect
  that it will be fixed in the Legacy version of GRUB (specially, not in
  time for lenny).

  We intend to re-enable this functionality in GRUB 2 shortly.  In the meantime
  I recommend that you avoid using it in GRUB Legacy.  For kdm, it'd probably
  be a good idea to disable this feature for now.

-- 
Robert Millan

<GPLv2> I know my rights; I want my phone call!
<DRM> What good is a phone call… if you are unable to speak?
(as seen on /.)