[Bug 978994] [NEW] GRUB_HIDDEN_TIMEOUT is badly documented

[Chris Bainbridge]

Public bug reported:

$ info -f grub -n 'Simple configuration'

`GRUB_HIDDEN_TIMEOUT'
     Wait this many seconds for a key to be pressed before displaying
     the menu.  If no key is pressed during that time, boot
     immediately.  Unset by default.

The documentation above does not state what the default actually is. I
read it as implied that when GRUB_HIDDEN_TIMEOUT is unset the system
will boot immediately. What it doesn't say is the important bit: when
this feature is unset (default), the menu will be displayed, and when it
is set, the menu will not be displayed.

>From https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Grub2 :

"The default behavior is to hide the menu if only one operating system
is present. If a user with only Ubuntu wishes to display the menu, place
a # symbol at the start of this line to disable the hidden menu feature.
"

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 12.04
Package: grub2-common 1.99-21ubuntu2
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.2.0-22.35-generic 3.2.14
Uname: Linux 3.2.0-22-generic x86_64
ApportVersion: 2.0-0ubuntu5
Architecture: amd64
Date: Wed Apr 11 15:59:04 2012
ProcEnviron:
 LANGUAGE=en_GB:en
 TERM=xterm
 PATH=(custom, user)
 LANG=en_GB.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
SourcePackage: grub2
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)

** Affects: grub2 (Ubuntu)
     Importance: Undecided
         Status: New


** Tags: amd64 apport-bug precise

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https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/978994

Title:
  GRUB_HIDDEN_TIMEOUT is badly documented

Status in “grub2” package in Ubuntu:
  New

Bug description:
  $ info -f grub -n 'Simple configuration'

  `GRUB_HIDDEN_TIMEOUT'
       Wait this many seconds for a key to be pressed before displaying
       the menu.  If no key is pressed during that time, boot
       immediately.  Unset by default.

  The documentation above does not state what the default actually is. I
  read it as implied that when GRUB_HIDDEN_TIMEOUT is unset the system
  will boot immediately. What it doesn't say is the important bit: when
  this feature is unset (default), the menu will be displayed, and when
  it is set, the menu will not be displayed.

  From https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Grub2 :

  "The default behavior is to hide the menu if only one operating system
  is present. If a user with only Ubuntu wishes to display the menu,
  place a # symbol at the start of this line to disable the hidden menu
  feature. "

  ProblemType: Bug
  DistroRelease: Ubuntu 12.04
  Package: grub2-common 1.99-21ubuntu2
  ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.2.0-22.35-generic 3.2.14
  Uname: Linux 3.2.0-22-generic x86_64
  ApportVersion: 2.0-0ubuntu5
  Architecture: amd64
  Date: Wed Apr 11 15:59:04 2012
  ProcEnviron:
   LANGUAGE=en_GB:en
   TERM=xterm
   PATH=(custom, user)
   LANG=en_GB.UTF-8
   SHELL=/bin/bash
  SourcePackage: grub2
  UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)

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