starting >=2.6.36 FATAL: Setup length exceeds 31 maximum; kernel setup will overwrite boot loader

starting >=2.6.36 FATAL: Setup length exceeds 31 maximum; kernel setup will overwrite boot loader

[Linda Walsh]

Fatal: Setup length exceeds 31 maximum; kernel setup will overwrite
boot loader

Starting with 2.6.36, I started getting the above message.

It didn't seem what options I pruned out of the kernel
ipv6 support, iptables support, any thing I could think of
that would be a 'large chunk of space', nothing would make
it "fit" the way 2.6.35 did.

I didn't turn on options from options from 2.6.35 -> 2.6.36,
but did turn on things like BIOS blk throttling which seemed
low cost.  I set the lower BIOS reserved amount to 4K, which
seemed to be the default under the old system (?), though
this system hasn't ever been tested w/standby or hibernate
so don't know if this is a correct setting, but is unlikely relevant.

So where did this extra length come from?

I *hoped* it was a fluke w/26.36, that would disappear in 26.37...but
nep.  In searching for causes I saw one message pointing to the
XEN subsystem, but I made sure to remove that on both setups and that
made no difference.

So what's caused the sudden bump and how do I get around it?

Re: starting >=2.6.36 FATAL: Setup length exceeds 31 maximum; kernel setup will overwrite boot loader

[Linda Walsh]

Linda Walsh wrote:
> Fatal: Setup length exceeds 31 maximum; kernel setup will overwrite
> boot loader
> Starting with 2.6.36, I started getting the above message.
...
----
FWIW, the above problem was fixed, recently in the latest
release of LILO, V23.2, which one can download from:
https://alioth.debian.org/frs/?group_id=100507&release_id=1670

I'd seen messages around the net asking about this problem,
so thought I'd post the solution here in case anyone read this
list, or might later be searching for solution.