grub (was: Re: [vox-tech] Urgent - Problem in upgradation of RH 7.1 to RH 7. 2 !!)

[Matt Roper]

I don't know about other distributions, but grub is pretty easy to
use on debian.  To set it up, do the following:

 * Install the grub package ("apt-get install grub").
 * As root, use grub-install to put the grub code into the MBR
   ("grub-install /dev/hda").
 * Run "update-grub" to generate an initial grub config file; this
   script will automatically add menu entries for all kernels that you
   have installed.
 * Manually edit /boot/grub/menu.lst in order to set parameters such as
   menu colors and timeout duration.
 * By default, grub will assume that linux is on /dev/hda1 (which is
   expressed (hd0,0) in grub notation); if this isn't correct for your
   system, look for some comments about halfway down the menu.lst file
   under the heading "## Start Default Options ##" -- these comments are
   used by the update-grub script to (re)generate menu entries for each
   installed kernel.  You can edit these comments to reflect the
   partitions and kernel parameters appropriate for your system and then
   re-run the "update-grub" script to regenerate all the menu entries
   with the new values.
 * If you have any non-linux operating systems on your computer, you can
   manually add additional menu entries for those operating systems
   (there are examples in the comments of menu.lst).  Make sure you add
   these menu entries outside the "BEGIN/END AUTOMAGIC KERNELS LIST"
   markers.

Any time you run the "update-grub" script, menu entries will be
added/regenerated for every kernel you have installed.  If you want, you
can add additional menu entries which won't be touched by the
update-grub script; a good choice would be to add an entry for /vmlinuz
since this is always a symbolic link to the latest kernel on debian
systems.  Since grub actually understands the filesystem, it has no
problem following the symbolic link even if what the link points to
changes.  Better yet, if you screw something up, you can use grub's
bash-like command line and filesystem browsing abilities to manually
boot kernels or add kernel parameters that you don't have menu entries
for.

If you like to keep a menu entry for every single kernel you have
installed, then you should run the update-grub script every time you
install a new kernel version.  You can have this done automatically by
adding the following lines to your /etc/kernel-img.conf file (create the
file if it doesn't exist):

    postinst_hook = /sbin/update-grub
    postrm_hook = /sbin/update-grub
    do_bootloader = no
    do_bootfloppy = no


Matt

On Mon, Dec 31, 2001 at 11:42:43AM -0800, Peter Jay Salzman wrote:
> i am not a lilo bigot -- if you can convince me that grub is as easy to
> use as lilo, i would switch over before you can say "LI"
> 
> (little joke there for anyone who forgot to run lilo when installing a
> new kernel).
> 
> having most of the world use lilo is a powerful reason to use lilo, but
> if grub is very easy to use, perhaps that reason isn't as compelling as
> it would be if grub were difficult to use.
> 
> i third the motion.
> 
> pete
> 
> begin R. Douglas Barbieri <doug@dooglio.net> 
> > I second the motion, Henry!
> > 
> > On Mon, 24 Dec 2001, Henry House wrote:
> > 
> > > On Mon, Dec 24, 2001 at 11:36:01AM -0800, Roland Minden wrote:
> > > > Have you thought of doing a mini how-to or perhaps a talk on GRUB. I would
> > > > not mind learning more about it, but after working with it a little I became
> > > > rather confused with it. I found that I preferred LILO so I stayed with it,
> > > > but I would like to learn GRUB.
> > > 
> > > I'd be happy to do a mini-presentation on GRUB. As I said, it is tricky to
> > > install but it is well worth the effort of you like to try new kernels often.
> > > 
> > > 
> > 
> > -- 
> > R. Douglas Barbieri
> > doug@dooglio.net
> > www.dooglio.net
> > 
> > _______________________________________________
> > vox-tech mailing list
> > vox-tech@lists.lugod.org
> > http://lists.lugod.org/mailman/listinfo/vox-tech
> 
> -- 
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