Grub 2 in Jaunty/Karmic can break double boot configuration

[NoOp]

On 10/02/2009 06:30 PM, Lucio M Nicolosi wrote:
> On Fri, Oct 2, 2009 at 8:23 PM, NoOp <glgxg at sbcglobal.net> wrote:
>> On 10/02/2009 03:21 PM, NoOp wrote:
>> ...
>>>
>>> Did you read these before attempting?
>>> http://www.ubuntu.com/testing/karmic/beta
>>> https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Grub2
>>> https://wiki.ubuntu.com/KernelTeam/Grub2Testing
>>> https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/grub2/+bug/376879
>>
>> Sorry if that implied "RTFM", it wasn't intended that way. Instead, I am
>> curious to know if you did review those links before installing. If so &
>> you had problems not mentioned in those, then perhaps it might be useful
>> to file a bug and/or modify/add-to the wiki's so that they cover this issue.
>>
> 
> NoOp
> 
> But you're right, I didn't RTFM (and now at least I know what this
> acronym means).
> 
> Regarding Karmic, I had to delete some unwanted (8.10) partitions to
> make space for Karmic, but as my Jaunty of choice was the 12th, this
> required gparted, editing menu.list, resetting grub, etc. things that
> usually make me nervous (backup? what's backup?). After this my jaunty
> was intact and I was left with a nice empty space at the beginning of
> the disk, ready for a lonely primary partition.
> 
> I tried to install Karmic with a separate /boot partition, but it
> didn't work. Install couldn't manage to reboot and I guessed that it
> didn't like this config. At this point, due to the failed install,
> Jaunty had vanished as a boot option, but I had clear in mind the
> procedures to recover it.
> 
> Then I tried a single primary /root partition (/home always shared),
> but Karmic (cd daily current - 09/29) still didn't reboot.
> 
> Later I decided to try grub2 in Jaunty. Although grub2 install found
> my kernels at (hd0,8) it defaulted them all to (hd0,0) (failed Karmic)
> and even the new (chainloaded) menu.lst defaulted to (hd0,0), UUID and
> all, and I found this last part weird. No working chainload means no
> easy recovery besides LiveCD, root edit menu.lst etc., not exactly a
> newbie dream.
> 
> As you noticed, although there are several bugs at Grub2, I found
> little references to this at Karmic Bugs, were I usually check for my
> future woes, so I decided to alert the community hoping I was not
> crying wolf.
> 
> I found a relatively recent bug at
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/grub2/+bug/392836
> **(high)**, posted a comment and asked nomination for Karmic. Of
> course most users will distr. upgrade to Karmic and never face these
> woes and those with multi boots are keen enough to deal with this, but
> it may be annoying.
> 
> No, in fact I didn't Google before installing grub2 on Jaunty, maybe
> headquarters should put a "beware" sign near it at Synaptic. And as
> Karmic was a clean test install I also didn't  bother to check release
> notes. Jaunty works so fine that I'm becoming careless.
> 
> Regards,
> 
> Lucio
> 

Note: nothing snipped as this is good info IMO.

Thanks for that. My install was an Alpha 6 on a clean drive with a
second drive w/WinXPPro on it. On that install I also had issue with
Grub/Grub 2 (see my "[Karmic] Heads up" thread from 9/23/2009 - see:

<http://permalink.gmane.org/gmane.linux.ubuntu.user/196089>
<http://comments.gmane.org/gmane.linux.ubuntu.user/196089>

Tomorrow I'll pull out my other test system that has jaunty drives on it
& test the 'upgrade' to see what I discover. I'll also reinstall the
Alpha 6 drive with a clean Beta to see what I find.

Hopefully we (karmic users/testers) can help sort out some of the issues
before the final release so that other/new users won't bork their
systems :-)

Thanks again for taking the time to providing the details/info.

Gary