Migrating to GRUB 2 in Debian (Re: Interesting GSoC project ideas for 09)

[Robert Millan <rmh@aybabtu.com>]

On Sat, Feb 28, 2009 at 11:28:05PM -0500, Pavel Roskin wrote:
> On Sat, 2009-02-28 at 12:54 +0100, phcoder wrote:
> > Robert Millan wrote:
> > > Seems nice.  Would you be willing to write a summary for these?  Then we
> > > could add it to grub-soc.html.
> > Where is this file?
> > Here is elaborated list:
> 
> In my opinion, matching all features of GRUB 1 on i386-pc should be the
> highest priority.  It would allow distributions to switch to GRUB 2,
> bringing more users and more developers.  As it stands now, GRUB 2 is
> seen as something much more experimental and dangerous than GRUB 1.
> 
> We won't win many users by the mouse and bluetooth support if distros
> don't switch to the new GRUB.  And distros are reluctant to make any
> changes that would be seen as regressions.

(Speaking as distro maintainer now)

We don't need a complete match of all the GRUB Legacy features in order to
migrate.  The things I identified as needed for migration in Debian are
listed here:

  http://wiki.debian.org/GrubTransition

I think Xen is fixed now though (someone can confirm?).  For grub-reboot
/ savedefault almost all the pieces are there already (thanks to bean).

For lock / password we need to agree on whether the proposed approach is
acceptable, or otherwise what needs to be done.

-- 
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."