on Mon, Aug 05, 2002, Patrick Kirk (patrick@kirks.net) wrote:
> Kent West said:
> > I tried GRUB tonight for the first time. I'm not sure that I see any
> > great value of it over LILO. However, if that's going to be the wave of
> > the future, I might as well get started with it. So, my question: Are
> > there plans for Debian to adopt GRUB as the preferred boot loader in the
> > future?
> Be warned. If you need emergency access to your system, all the usual
> suggestions about entering 'Linux emergency' or 'single' or even '1'
> at the boot prompt do _not_ work with grub.
Some measure of truth. The specific instructions won't get you there.
However, you have _more_ options, including all the _mechanisms_ listed
above.
> With grub, you have to learn the syntax and its no walk in the park.
It's not _that_ difficult [1].
For starters, GRUB makes copious use of tab expansion, and there's help
available with the 'help' command.
The tab expansion is context sensitive, so that hitting <tab> at the
start of a line gives you a list of commands. If you've entered
"kernel" (for a kernel stanza), another <tab> gives you a list of files
on the boot partition (generally /boot or /, depending on your
partitioning scheme). You've got a few familiar, minimalist tools,
including 'cat' (which does what you'd think), meaning you can cat
/grub/menu.lst to see an example of a GRUB configuration (though the
assumption is that this either isn't working quite right or doesn't suit
your immediate needs).
For those familiar with dancing on the LILO prompt, the key is to
remember that the 'kernel' line within GRUB is its rough equivalent, so
your 'single', 'mem=###', 'vga=6', 'apm=on' and similar directives go
there. The key is to remember you've got to type 'boot' to actually
load a kernel.
And the general principals are similar to LILO. The key business at
hand is to point at a kernel, point it at a root partition, and tell it
to rock. Above and beyond that, you can add spice and flavoring to the
kernel initialization, supply an initrd if necessary, and/or dress up
the actual GRUB initialization and timeout parameters.
Ability to handle large disks, multiple OSs with ease, and the liberty
to _not_ have to remember re-running LILO is kinda nice.
> In my case it proved easier to open the case and pull the second IDE
> cable to force Debian to grant me root access before running init
> scripts.
In this situation:
- Boot system.
- At GRUB prompt, type 'c' for command.
- 'cat /grub/menu.lst' (assumes /boot is its own partition)
- From your existing GRUB conf, copy the 'kernel' line. Add 'single'
to the end of it. You'll boot single.
- If necessary, enter an 'initrd' line.
- Type 'boot'
> I switched back to lilo after that. Grub may well be technically
> superior, but if your system is having problems you do not want to
> have a bloody boot loader that doesn't offer an _easy_ emergency boot
> procedure.
It's there. Though it helps to know how to use it ;-)
Peace.
----------------------------------------
Notes:
1. OK. I just got through a conversation with a friend yesterday about
how I avoid answering questions with "it's easy", and instead focus
on the mechanism. And I'll grant that grubbing around in the GRUB
command line is probably _not_ what your maiden aunt (or my mother)
wants to do. But let's posit a moderately seasoned GNU/Linux user
here. Back to methods.
--
Karsten M. Self <kmself@ix.netcom.com> http://kmself.home.netcom.com/
What Part of "Gestalt" don't you understand?
TWikIWeThey: Technology, free software, GNU/Linux, and a little bit
of everything else: http://twiki.iwethey.org/twiki/bin/view/
Attachment:
pgpPBfwLkxc8A.pgp
Description: PGP signature