Bug 856

Summary: grub/burg entry is erased after install
Product: Mageia Reporter: jean michel masereel <jean-michel.masereel>
Component: InstallerAssignee: Mageia Bug Squad <bugsquad>
Status: RESOLVED INVALID QA Contact:
Severity: normal    
Priority: Normal CC: ahmadsamir3891, jean-michel.masereel, zen25000
Version: Cauldron   
Target Milestone: ---   
Hardware: x86_64   
OS: Linux   
Whiteboard:
Source RPM: CVE:
Status comment:

Description jean michel masereel 2011-04-17 14:23:51 CEST
Hi,
There is some bugs report about windows that is not in the grub entry, but it's the same thing with other linux distribs.

I first tested the alpha2 release and it erased my burg entry. I wasn't able to boot on my other distrib (mandriva 2010.1 ; xubuntu 10.04 ; windows7 ; windows vista). Since I wasn't able to repair it with my xubuntu CD, I had to re-install completely my xubuntu!!
This time, with the beta release, I installed it on a virtual machine (virtualbox)...
I tried to reproduce the problem :
- first I installed xubuntu on the virtual machine.
- then I installed mageia beta1 on the same virtual machine. Of course I've made a mount point for my xubuntu partition.

Result : I still have only mageia entry in the grub menu!!!

Now I have a better knowledge with grub/grub2/burg, I manually added the xubuntu entry in menu.lst, and everything works fine.
But it's not the first time I have many linux distribs on my computer, and it's the first time I have to manually add an entry in grub to boot on my other distribs after an install!?
jean michel masereel 2011-04-17 14:25:40 CEST

CC: (none) => jean-michel.masereel

Comment 1 Barry Jackson 2011-04-17 14:41:53 CEST
Ubuntu uses grub2 and Mageia will not recognise it or add it to the menu.
I don't know anything about xubuntu or burg.
I find it best to use the following syntax when dual booting from legacy to grub2, this way kernel updates in Ubuntu are catered for :-

title Ubuntu
root (hdx,y)
kernel /boot/grub/core.img

As far as other "normal" linux distros using legacy there is no problem in beta1 that I have found (my Ubuntu installation uses legacy)
menu.lst:-

timeout 10
color black/cyan yellow/cyan
gfxmenu (hd1,6)/boot/gfxmenu
default 0

title linux
kernel (hd1,6)/boot/vmlinuz BOOT_IMAGE=linux root=UUID=9d93628f-b81a-4e6d-a436-173697556020  resume=UUID=1097bb8c-3820-4b3a-b796-b417c9aa56d8 splash=silent vga=788
initrd (hd1,6)/boot/initrd.img

title linux-nonfb
kernel (hd1,6)/boot/vmlinuz BOOT_IMAGE=linux-nonfb root=UUID=9d93628f-b81a-4e6d-a436-173697556020  resume=UUID=1097bb8c-3820-4b3a-b796-b417c9aa56d8
initrd (hd1,6)/boot/initrd.img

title failsafe
kernel (hd1,6)/boot/vmlinuz BOOT_IMAGE=failsafe root=UUID=9d93628f-b81a-4e6d-a436-173697556020  failsafe
initrd (hd1,6)/boot/initrd.img

title Linux sda1
root (hd0,0)
configfile /boot/grub/menu.lst

title Mandriva Linux (Official)
root (hd0,17)
configfile /boot/grub/menu.lst

title alt_Mandriva Linux (Official)
root (hd0,15)
configfile /boot/grub/menu.lst

title Ubuntu 10.04.1 LTS 
root (hd0,11)
configfile /boot/grub/menu.lst

title Mandriva Linux (Cooker)
root (hd0,21)
configfile /boot/grub/menu.lst

title PCLinuxOS (PCLinuxOS)
root (hd0,20)
configfile /boot/grub/menu.lst

title alt2_Mandriva Linux (Official)
root (hd0,9)
configfile /boot/grub/menu.lst

title alt3_Mandriva Linux (Official)
root (hd0,4)
configfile /boot/grub/menu.lst

title alt_PCLinuxOS (PCLinuxOS)
root (hd0,13)
configfile /boot/grub/menu.lst

title alt_Mandriva Linux (Cooker)
root (hd0,12)
configfile /boot/grub/menu.lst

title Mageia (Cauldron)
root (hd1,4)
configfile /boot/grub/menu.lst

CC: (none) => zen25000

Comment 2 jean michel masereel 2011-04-18 12:05:53 CEST
(In reply to comment #1)
> Ubuntu uses grub2 and Mageia will not recognise it or add it to the menu.

I thought that after an install the boot loader (or distrib?) detects the other distribs by another method than just read a menu.lst file!!? (for example by detecting vmlinuz or initrd files) What if I want to use lilo for example?
Furthermore, I thought that grub tends to desapear for grub2 ???
I will try to install a mandriva in my virtual machine (of course after changing grub of mageia by grub2 of xubuntu) and see what hapens... ;-)
Comment 3 Barry Jackson 2011-04-18 12:32:21 CEST
(In reply to comment #2)
>> Ubuntu uses grub2 and Mageia will not recognise it or add it to the menu.
>
> I thought that after an install the boot loader (or distrib?) detects the other
> distribs by another method than just read a menu.lst file!!? (for example by
> detecting vmlinuz or initrd files) What if I want to use lilo for example?

Yes I am sure you are correct, but in the case of grub it does not look for grub.cfg AFAIK so ignores grub2 installations. This has always been my experience in Mandriva and the (best IMHO) workaround is in my previous reply.

> Furthermore, I thought that grub tends to  desapear for grub2 ???

If you mean it will be replaced by grub2 then no, not in the immediate future at least.

> I will try to install a mandriva in my virtual machine (of course after
> changing grub of mageia by grub2 of xubuntu) and see what hapens... ;-)

Not sure I understand exactly what you are going to do with grub2 and Mageia, but OK.  ;-)
Comment 4 jean michel masereel 2011-04-18 18:10:45 CEST
First I want to explain that I've always used redhat/mandrake/mandriva distribs until 2 months ago when I wanted to test ubuntu... That's certainly the reason why I never experienced such problems :-)

(In reply to comment #3)
> (In reply to comment #2)
> >> Ubuntu uses grub2 and Mageia will not recognise it or add it to the menu.
> >
> > I thought that after an install the boot loader (or distrib?) detects the other
> > distribs by another method than just read a menu.lst file!!? (for example by
> > detecting vmlinuz or initrd files) What if I want to use lilo for example?
> 
> Yes I am sure you are correct, but in the case of grub it does not look for
> grub.cfg AFAIK so ignores grub2 installations. This has always been my
> experience in Mandriva and the (best IMHO) workaround is in my previous reply.
> 
> > Furthermore, I thought that grub tends to  desapear for grub2 ???
> 
> If you mean it will be replaced by grub2 then no, not in the immediate future
> at least.

Ok, but since there is some ascending compatibility problems between grub and grub2, isn't it possible to be able to choose between both in the installation procedure??

> 
> > I will try to install a mandriva in my virtual machine (of course after
> > changing grub of mageia by grub2 of xubuntu) and see what hapens... ;-)
> 
> Not sure I understand exactly what you are going to do with grub2 and Mageia,
> but OK.  ;-)

- I installed mageia beta1 : OK
- I installed xubuntu  : OK (it detects mageia and add it to grub2 menu)
- I installed mandriva 2010 RC1 : NOt OK! : it only detects mageia (which is a good thing) but not ubuntu (certainly for the reason you explained previously)
The worst thing is that mandriva destroyed my partition table and I couldn't add ubuntu in the menu.lst (it is in a partition that is detected on mandriva but not at boot time, and not on mageia!)
I couldn't fix the problem, even with testdisk and the 3 installation DVDs, and it seems that the partition is lost. By luck, it was on a "testing virtual machine" !! ;-)

So in conclusion, what I called a "bug" is not a bug of mageia, it's only a problem between grub and grub2, and was already present with mandriva2010.

Thanks for your help. Continu your good, it will certainly make me comme back to the mandriva world and leave ubuntu :-D
Comment 5 Barry Jackson 2011-04-18 19:40:03 CEST
>Ok, but since there is some ascending compatibility problems between grub and
>grub2, isn't it possible to be able to choose between both in the installation
>procedure??
Not yet, although I think that may come in time. It is possible to install grub2 in Mageia (I am currently testing it) but a lot of work would be needed before this could be offered during installation. The goal of Mageia 1 is not to make any major changes!

>it will certainly make me comme back
>to the mandriva world

...and Mageia I hope! ;-)

@Ahmad - please mark as invalid/closed

CC: (none) => ahmadsamir3891

Comment 6 jean michel masereel 2011-04-19 22:32:15 CEST
when I wrote mandriva, I meant mageia of course ;-)

marked as resolved/invalid

Status: NEW => RESOLVED
Resolution: (none) => INVALID