grub problem

[wobo]

Nice to know.

I doubt that I will ever need it but thx for your efforts!

[doktor5000]

I finally decided to dig into os-prober code myself - and found the problem.
I sent a patch upstream (Debian) which is now included in os-prober-1.53 (just released).

Awesome, keep up the good work Barry

[MagikGimp]

Hi, can someone please tell me what's wrong with my grub.cfg? I've taken the advice to change the initrd line after a sudo update-grub but I still get a kernel panic for Mageia 2. The entry for Mageia after updating grub follows:

Code: Select all

menuentry "Linux (Mageia 2) (on /dev/sdb6)" --class gnu-linux --class gnu --class os {
   savedefault
   insmod part_msdos
   insmod ext2
   set root='(hd1,msdos6)'
   search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root 48707fcd-effe-4c9a-83ba-139382d77ebc
   linux /boot/vmlinuz BOOT_IMAGE=Linux_(Mageia_2) root=UUID=48707fcd-effe-4c9a-83ba-139382d77ebc nokmsboot splash quiet resume=UUID=81768dbf-7e86-4826-a37e-a84c6f28acb0 vga=791
   initrd (hd0,5)/boot/initrd.img


Changing the last line as per the set root line does not help.
Thank you.

[barjac]

Try changing the last line to :-

Code: Select all

initrd /boot/initrd.img

[Creto]

Hi,

Well my dear, and have the kubuntu mageia in dual boot and there was a kernel update in kubuntu and there was a kernel panic and wonder Mageia is using version 1.53 os-prober

T+

[barjac]

Hi,
Well my dear, and have the kubuntu mageia in dual boot and there was a kernel update in kubuntu and there was a kernel panic and wonder Mageia is using version 1.53 os-prober

Sorry - I don't understand.
Are you asking a question?
Mageia does not use os-prober at all, as it uses grub legacy.
You may find this useful:-
http://docteam.mageia.nl/installer/cont ... Bootloader
HTH

[MagikGimp]

Try changing the last line to :-

Code: Select all

initrd /boot/initrd.img

That worked, thank you. Now, what is the reason for this or rather how should I phrase my bug report on OS-Prober when I submit one?
Cheers, I'm still very much a n00bie at Linux.

[barjac]

Now, what is the reason for this or rather how should I phrase my bug report on OS-Prober when I submit one?

This is known and already fixed bug in os-prober.
You don't say what your grub2 based distro is, however you need to check whether there is a package available for os-prober >= 1.53 available for your distro. You may need to enable a backport or testing repo.
If not, then file a bug on their tracking system requesting an update of os-prober to a version equal to or greater than 1.53 as the current version breaks dual booting with Mageia/PCLOS/Mandriva etc.
Best of luck

[doktor5000]

For the general issue at hand, also documented: https://wiki.mageia.org/en/Mageia_2_Err ... stallation

[Creto]

Ok, thanks for your comments I decided my doubts with them, were very kind.

T+

[MagikGimp]

Now, what is the reason for this or rather how should I phrase my bug report on OS-Prober when I submit one?

This is known and already fixed bug in os-prober.
You don't say what your grub2 based distro is, however you need to check whether there is a package available for os-prober >= 1.53 available for your distro. You may need to enable a backport or testing repo.
If not, then file a bug on their tracking system requesting an update of os-prober to a version equal to or greater than 1.53 as the current version breaks dual booting with Mageia/PCLOS/Mandriva etc.
Best of luck

I'm running Ubuntu as my 'GRUB distro' and v1.51ubuntu3 is the version included in its main repository so does anyone happen to know off hand how to add os-prober's repository or if it even has one at all? I had a quick look myself and I know the command to add new ones (I think), I just couldn't find an URL to use although links to download the files themselves are very easy to find of course. I prefer to use repositories over manual installation for obvious reasons and I'd rather try this avenue before filing a bug as we all know how slow Canonical are with keeping the software of their main repository up to date.

[barjac]

https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+sour ... comments/2

[ohmysql]

I'm able to download the os-prober 1.54 package, but I'm not sure how to install it. I've compiled things before, and understand to use make and make install, but I'm stumped on this one.

Meanwhile, I'm trying to chainload using a grub2 custom entry (I'm using Mint as main OS) and haven't gotten that to work yet. Help would be appreciated.

[barjac]

I have no idea about Mint - you will need to ask on a Mint forum how to install their packages.

To boot Mageia from grub2, I would suggest labelling the root partiton to maybe "mageia2" (you can do this in mcc), then in your /etc/grub.d/40_custom use something like:-

Code: Select all

menuentry 'Mageia 2' {
search --no-floppy --label --set=root mageia2
chainloader +1
}

Now in mint run sudo grub-mkconfig (or maybe update-grub script if mint uses it) - Check mint documentation. Your grub.cfg will not be updated with what's in 40_custom until you run grub-mkconfig either directly or via a script.

You will also need to put a copy of your Mageia bootloader in the root partition boot sector - in Mageia do :-

Code: Select all

su
grub
grub> find /etc/mageia-release
(hdX, Y)
grub> root (hdX, Y)
grub> setup (hdX, Y)
grub> quit

The 'find' command will return your Mageia root partition, use the values of X and Y in the next commands.
You should then be able to boot from your grub2 menu in mint.

[ohmysql]

Thanks for the post - I've now got the chainloader working, I actually got it earlier today. So that is great. I hope your post helps someone else (or me later) and your effort isn't lost on a fixed problem.

I'd still like to fix os-prober, though, if anyone has ideas on how to update it within grub (PS I'm not working on that, I swear ).

OMS!

[filip]

You will also need to put a copy of your Mageia bootloader in the root partition boot sector - in Mageia do :-

Code: Select all

su
grub
grub> find /etc/mageia-release
(hdX, Y)
grub> root (hdX, Y)
grub> setup (hdX, Y)
grub> quit

The 'find' command will return your Mageia root partition, use the values of X and Y in the next commands.
You should then be able to boot from your grub2 menu in mint.

Nice procedure. But find will give you wrong root Y and possibly X too if user has separate boot partition. I suggest adding a note about that. Unfortunately BIOS can see X differently than the kernel. In my case it sure does as I boot from SATA and I have also one IDE hd.

[barjac]

Nice procedure. But find will give you wrong root Y and possibly X too if user has separate boot partition. I suggest adding a note about that. Unfortunately BIOS can see X differently than the kernel. In my case it sure does as I boot from SATA and I have also one IDE hd.

True, however I was working on the assumption that anyone who had a non-standard setup with a separate /boot would not be needing this information. I was trying to keep it easy.
This would be safer I agree, notes in [ ] :-

Code: Select all

su
grub
grub> find /etc/mageia-release
(hdX, Y)
grub> find /boot/grub/menu.lst
[check that (hdX,Y) is also returned here, if it's not then do the next line]
grub> find /grub/menu.lst
[if that returns just one output, then use it below]
grub> root (hdX, Y)
grub> setup (hdX, Y)
grub> quit

Regarding the BIOS vs kernel view of drive assignments - yes exactly, this is why I used grub to detect them. It is grub's view of the hardware that we are interested in (normally provided by BIOS), since it's grub that will be using it.

[gohlip]

To find the right /boot partition, whether or not it is in a separate partition from /, the right find command should be

Code: Select all

grub> find /boot/grub/stage1


Use that output and it should be fine.

[barjac]

That is fine unless you have two or ten grub legacy installations on the system - hence my use of /etc/mageia-release.
The best solution would be to use :-

Code: Select all

su
# touch /boot/grub/hey-there
grub
grub> find /boot/grub/hey-there
(hdX, Y)
grub> root (hdX, Y)
grub> setup (hdX, Y)
grub> quit
# rm /boot/grub/hey-there -f
exit

I should have thought of that sooner

[gohlip]

Hey-there

That is fine unless you have two or ten grub legacy installations on the system -

2 installations? No big deal; 10? I'd rather have dedicated boot partition and labelled them well. Can't imagine doing 'update-grub' on 10 OS bootloaders on a single OS kernel change. And there's no need to chainload either as well. And it better be grub2.

But to each his own, as they say.
Cheers, take care.

ps: to do "# touch /boot/grub/hey-there", you need to be in that OS, won't you?

[barjac]

I agree - I use a dedicated grub2 partition and multiboot or chainload into - a mix of legacy and grub2 systems, using labels. I did propose a patch for grub2 a few years ago to optionally have grub-mkconfig produce grub.cfg for linux using labels, but phcoder threw it out so I eventually I gave up.

Anyhow this is going beyond the scope of the original question.
Cheers.
(I think we spoke some years back in grub ML

re: ps. Yes true, in fact the whole procedure assumes that the Mageia system is running, as it requires grub legacy to be installed, but I have posted many times in the past on how to manually boot into a grub OS so not a big deal

[gohlip]

Aha! You're Barry Jackson! Good to hear from you again. Hope you've got those direct booting iso's cleared up. Some distros really make it hard to boot iso's - (Mageia too? - never tried booting its iso though) - Using Mageia for old memories' sake - (Mandrake made me fell for linux -and trying hard not to touch command line instructions in it - to make that nostalgia more genuine, so maybe I should install LILO in it, heh heh).

Good cheers.

ps: to use labels....(in grub2)

Code: Select all

search --no-floppy --label --set=root xxx

but I guess you already knew that, ahem.

[ohmysql]

Can either of you tell me how to update os-prober within GRUB on mint?

I've downloaded the latest version, but when I go to that folder, I do make and make install and nothing happens. It says "make: *** No rule to make target `install'. Stop."

Yet according to Mageia this is the preferred solution. So how is it done?

Also, any updates to the instructions here for Mageia 4?

Also also, I can't access mageia (again), so I'm not sure how to complete the steps you mentioned that needed to be done in mage.

Thanks!

OH MY SQL!!!

[doktor5000]

I've downloaded the latest version, but when I go to that folder, I do make and make install and nothing happens. It says "make: *** No rule to make target `install'. Stop."

Yet according to Mageia this is the preferred solution. So how is it done?

Where does it say that "make install" is the preferred solution to update or run os-prober?

[ohmysql]

Oh, it doesn't say that anywhere. That is just what I used to compile usb_modeswitch when I needed to manually update that a few years ago. But I'm all ears, how can I compile the newest os-prober? I've been googling with no luck.