Re: too many commands, "help" output rolls of screen

[Andy Goth <unununium@aircanopy.net>]

jidanni@jidanni.org wrote:
> The top two lines of
> grub> help
> output will roll off the standard sized console. Please remove some
> commands so there aren't so many that they roll off the screen.

You should be able to remove testing commands (like "hello" and "play") from the build.  At the moment I don't have the ability to research how.

I recently found a related problem that I'll post more information on after doing some research.  It's the opposite issue: scrolling doesn't always happen when I want it to.
 
> P.S., What if I forget my password and I cannot login to my machine?

Presuming Linux, you can add "init=/bin/sh" to the kernel command line.  This will give you a shell without asking for a password.  From this shell you can edit your password file.

I sometimes use this trick to give myself an account. :^)  Seriously, if you don't password-protect your GRUB or LILO prompt (or anything else that edits the kernel command line), your system is open to anyone who has access to the keyboard.  Then again, unless you take extraordinary measures, your system is open to anyone with a screwdriver and physical access to the machine.

Warning 1: If support for your keyboard isn't compiled into the kernel, you won't be able to type, since the init scripts (which would load modules and do other configuration) will be bypassed.  I suggest using a PS/2 keyboard in this case.

Warning 2: You won't have job control, so Ctrl-C and so on won't work.  Issue a command that takes a long time to complete, and you will have to wait.  Issue a command that never completes, and you will have to reboot.  I suggest running screen so as to give yourself a workaround.

Warning 3: The root filesystem might be mounted read-only.  Test this by using touch to create a file, then use ls to see if the file was created.  If not, type "mount" to get a listing of filesystems, then remount / with the device name taken from mount's output and the -oremount,rw option.  Or add "rw" to the kernel command line, removing "ro" if it is present.

Warning 4: Initrd scripts might change everything.

> Could you supply ed(1) in the commands perhaps?

I could be wrong, but I don't think grub was, is, or ever will be meant to modify filesystems.  Oh wait, I think it can be configured to remember the selected menu item as a new default, but I don't know how that's implemented.

-- 
Andy Goth | http://andy.junkdrome.org/
unununium@{aircanopy.net,openverse.com}