[Wishlist] Better warning if grub.cfg not found

[Wishlist] Better warning if grub.cfg not found

[Carles Pina i Estany]

Hello,

Doing some tests with Grub2 and qemu I've made a mistake that Grub (I
think) could warn me better.

The mistake is that I didn't have a grub.cfg file (well, I had but in
the wrong place). 

The Grub2 feedback for a standard user it's just flickering (I think
that Grub2 paints the menu) and after that shows the command line.

I would expect a warning, before the command line or in the command line
screen informing user that grub.cfg has not been found in the expected
place.

I'm doing the Grub2 imagine file using grub-mkrescue.

Should already grub-mkrescue warn if grub.cfg is not there? (at least if
using overlay option). I could take a look if grub-mkrescue should do
it.

-- 
Carles Pina i Estany		GPG id: 0x17756391
	http://pinux.info

Re: [Wishlist] Better warning if grub.cfg not found

[Robert Millan]

On Thu, Aug 21, 2008 at 09:51:44PM +0200, Carles Pina i Estany wrote:
> 
> Hello,
> 
> Doing some tests with Grub2 and qemu I've made a mistake that Grub (I
> think) could warn me better.
> 
> The mistake is that I didn't have a grub.cfg file (well, I had but in
> the wrong place). 
> 
> The Grub2 feedback for a standard user it's just flickering (I think
> that Grub2 paints the menu) and after that shows the command line.
> 
> I would expect a warning, before the command line or in the command line
> screen informing user that grub.cfg has not been found in the expected
> place.

Agreed.  Can you fix this?  Also, it shouldn't bother to draw the menu if it
isn't going to use it for anything.

> I'm doing the Grub2 imagine file using grub-mkrescue.
> 
> Should already grub-mkrescue warn if grub.cfg is not there? (at least if
> using overlay option). I could take a look if grub-mkrescue should do
> it.

AFAICT, this problem is in GRUB itself, and shouldn't affect what grub-mkrescue
does.

-- 
Robert Millan

  The DRM opt-in fallacy: "Your data belongs to us. We will decide when (and
  how) you may access your data; but nobody's threatening your freedom: we
  still allow you to remove your data and not access it at all."

Re: [Wishlist] Better warning if grub.cfg not found

[Carles Pina i Estany]

Hello,

On Aug/22/2008, Robert Millan wrote:
> On Thu, Aug 21, 2008 at 09:51:44PM +0200, Carles Pina i Estany wrote:
> > 
> > Hello,
> > 
> > Doing some tests with Grub2 and qemu I've made a mistake that Grub (I
> > think) could warn me better.
> > 
> > The mistake is that I didn't have a grub.cfg file (well, I had but in
> > the wrong place). 
> > 
> > The Grub2 feedback for a standard user it's just flickering (I think
> > that Grub2 paints the menu) and after that shows the command line.
> > 
> > I would expect a warning, before the command line or in the command line
> > screen informing user that grub.cfg has not been found in the expected
> > place.
> 
> Agreed.  Can you fix this?  Also, it shouldn't bother to draw the menu
> if it isn't going to use it for anything.

I will take a look. I'm not familiar with this Grub code part and on
next week I will be some days away. But it's not an urgent issue.

> > I'm doing the Grub2 imagine file using grub-mkrescue.
> > 
> > Should already grub-mkrescue warn if grub.cfg is not there? (at least if
> > using overlay option). I could take a look if grub-mkrescue should do
> > it.
> 
> AFAICT, this problem is in GRUB itself, and shouldn't affect what
> grub-mkrescue does.

I think that it's a Grub issue and not grub-mkrescue issue.

One this is done (fixing Grub) we could fix the utilities. If
grub-mkrescue knows that Grub will not have a grub.cfg, it's nice to
warn the user (could save time). Of course, then, what happends if
grub.cfg exists but it's not valid? Should grub-mkrescue parse it?

Anyway, I will take a look to fix Grub before other things.

-- 
Carles Pina i Estany		GPG id: 0x17756391
	http://pinux.info

Re: [Wishlist] Better warning if grub.cfg not found

[Robert Millan]

On Fri, Aug 22, 2008 at 05:22:01PM +0200, Carles Pina i Estany wrote:
> Of course, then, what happends if
> grub.cfg exists but it's not valid? Should grub-mkrescue parse it?

That would be overkill IMO.

-- 
Robert Millan

  The DRM opt-in fallacy: "Your data belongs to us. We will decide when (and
  how) you may access your data; but nobody's threatening your freedom: we
  still allow you to remove your data and not access it at all."