On 30.08.2012 23:20, ivo welch wrote: > > dear grub2 developers: > > I have wrestled often with the problems of setting up grub2 on new > systems. I know booting is a low-level science in itself, so I don't > dare to pretend that I know anything. but I wanted to put up a small > starting bounty of $500 for a grub2 derivative type of boot loader, to > be made available GPL, of course, in the main linux distributions (such > as ubuntu) if one knowledgeable developer finds this interesting. > > You miss the fact that GRUB2 already has the abilities you describe with corresponding config files (see e.g. isoscan.cfg). > from the user perspective, this booting system should work as follows: > > if the user holds any key during the boot process, the new "B" loader > (call it bootauto.bin) would scan all available partitions for bootable > systems (such as Windows, linux, freebsd, etc.) and all root partitions > for *.iso files, and present the user with a list of what it found > where, and put the default selection line on the OS that was most > recently booted. the user should be able to select one of these, and > then proceed booting from them. the user presumably could also enter > command line options at this stage, choose a common option (such as > "rescue", "single user", or "single user read-only"), or possibly see > all kernels, including older ones. bootauto.bin obviously needs a whole > lot more intelligence at boot time than what grub2 has. > > if the user does not hold down a key, then bootauto.bin would boot > whatever it booted last, without delay. > > the setup is similar to an OSX boot, where holding down an "ALT" key > presents all bootable OS's that are found. > > there would be no more grub configuration files, grub-install commands, > etc. bootauto.bin would do it all. bootauto.bin would presumably > always reside in a fixed spot, such as /bootauto.bin, and all that the > boot sector would have to do would be to find it and pass control to it. > > from a user perspective, creating live USB flash sticks with multiple > OS's, or booting from another hard disk now becomes much simpler. end > users only need to connect the bootable device or connect USB stick with > a couple of ISOs on them, and it just works. > > the system-wide first-time installation of the bootloader would consist > of one command that copies the bootauto.bin file to a designated > partition and writes the bootsector. "bootauto-install /dev/sda > /mnt/sda1" would install the boot sector on /dev/sda that chain loads > the B loader bootauto.bin on mnt/sda1/bootauto.bin (whatever file system > /mnt/sda1/ uses; could be ntfs, ext4, etc). the only error should be > that /mnt/sda1 cannot be written. no mysterious chroots, no --binds, no > uuid's, no grub configuration file consultation. no problems if disks > get rearranged on the next boot. simple. > > it doesn't have to work on legacy systems more than 5 years old, either. > this is to move forward. /bootauto.bin can be big. > > > if interested, send me a personal email, please. I will pay upon > completion (or put it into an escrow account at the FSF or another > reasonable place). maybe some others will supplement the funding---I > know that $500 won't pay for it all. I just wanted to start the ball > rolling, and put my money where my mouth is. > > sincerely, > > /iaw > ---- > Ivo Welch (ivo.welch@gmail.com ) > > > > _______________________________________________ > Grub-devel mailing list > Grub-devel@gnu.org > https://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/grub-devel -- Regards Vladimir 'φ-coder/phcoder' Serbinenko