Re: No more GRUB legacy at install time since wheezy?
On Sat, 25 Jun 2011 23:46:00 +0100, Brian wrote:
> On Sat 25 Jun 2011 at 19:14:06 +0000, Camaleón wrote:
>> > With Linux you have complete control - so you can alter any file you
>> > wish. However, it is not usual (and maybe ill-advised) to change
>> > 00_header, 10_linux, 20_linux_xen or 30_os-prober. 40_custom is
>> > completely under your control (there is an example in this thread)
>> > and 05_debian_theme could be customised.
>>
>> Sure, but that's no what I understand for "with GRUB2 there is only one
>> file to tweak", there are many and we (as admins) have to learn about
>> them ;-)
>
> Tom H is fundamentally correct with his 'one file' view. There is quite
> a lot which can be done with /etc/default/grub if desired. Kernel
> options, a GRUB background and font, whether the menu is displayed or
> not and for how long it is displayed - etc.
For basic stuff, it could be. But we have to know there are additional
files that can be also used to configure GRUB 2 and that's a slightly
difference with GRUB legacy where basically we had only 2 main files:
- menu.lst for the common things, basically GRUB's menu options and OS
entries
- device.map to tweak device detection order
And device.map had to be rarely modified, unless USB devices or non-fixed
hard disks came into play.
And don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that GRUB 2 is a bad thing per se,
is just that people used to GRUB legacy will have to adapt to the new
layout and learn again how to recover -in minutues- from a boot disaster.
I'm afraid that in the learning process I'm going to damn GRUB 2 one or
two times while I remember to run "update-grub" after editing "/etc/
default/grub" :-)
> Anything more special and you move on to 40_custom. For example, booting
> from an iso file (those that are especially to provide the facility) can
> be done there. It also is useful if sub-menus are wanted. Neither is in
> GRUB Legacy, Of course, if these and other possibilities are of no use
> to a user they can work with /etc/default/grub or not, as they want.
I knew about that possibility (directly booting from an ISO image) in the
time of GRUB legacy, but never tried.
> Files in /boot/grub are mainly binary. Nothing to do there. grub.cfg is
> an easy target though!
>
> I do have a 05_debian_theme which differs a little from the one provided
> by Debian but I'd not go out of my way to change it drastically in other
> ways.
At least I can say one good thing of GRUB 2: it was the first time the
installer could install GRUB on my system! ;-)
Greetings,
--
Camaleón
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