[PATCH 2/2 v2] grub: fix grub installation error on i386 target

Yi Zhao
2026-03-03T01:59:14Z

Commit 1a5417f39[1] introduced a grub installation error on i386 target:

grub-mkimage: error: `/usr/lib/grub/i386-pc/kernel.img' is
miscompiled: its start address is 0x9074 instead of 0x9000: ld.gold
bug?.

A series of patches are under review in grub mailing list[2]. Once these
patches are merged, we will backport them to the current version.

Currently, referring to Gentoo[3] and Libreboot[4], revert the following
commits as a workaround:
1a5417f39 configure: Check linker for --image-base support
ac042f3f5 configure: Print a more helpful error if autoconf-archive is
not installed

[1] https://cgit.git.savannah.gnu.org/cgit/grub.git/commit/?id=1a5417f39a0ccefcdd5440f2a67f84d2d2e26960
[2] https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/grub-devel/2026-02/msg00039.html
[3] https://gitweb.gentoo.org/repo/gentoo.git/commit/?id=f5a995ac689a7132651ef6b2b87295c392899427
[4] https://codeberg.org/libreboot/lbmk/src/branch/master/config/grub/nvme/patches/0010-Revert-configure-Check-linker-for-image-base-support.patch

Signed-off-by: Yi Zhao <yi.zhao@windriver.com>
---
...-Check-linker-for-image-base-support.patch | 73 +++++++++++++++++++
...-Print-a-more-helpful-error-if-autoc.patch | 34 +++++++++
meta/recipes-bsp/grub/grub2.inc | 4 +-
3 files changed, 110 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-)
create mode 100644 meta/recipes-bsp/grub/files/0001-Revert-configure-Check-linker-for-image-base-support.patch
create mode 100644 meta/recipes-bsp/grub/files/0002-Revert-configure-Print-a-more-helpful-error-if-autoc.patch

diff --git a/meta/recipes-bsp/grub/files/0001-Revert-configure-Check-linker-for-image-base-support.patch b/meta/recipes-bsp/grub/files/0001-Revert-configure-Check-linker-for-image-base-support.patch
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..123909cdf8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/meta/recipes-bsp/grub/files/0001-Revert-configure-Check-linker-for-image-base-support.patch
@@ -0,0 +1,73 @@
+From 3a9d2dd2f5fb07b75a74c307d61b9b9fc5d20a62 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
+From: Yi Zhao <yi.zhao@windriver.com>
+Date: Fri, 27 Feb 2026 11:46:54 +0800
+Subject: [PATCH] Revert "configure: Check linker for --image-base support"
+
+This reverts commit 1a5417f39a0ccefcdd5440f2a67f84d2d2e26960.
+
+Upstream-Status: Inappropriate [oe specific]
+
+Signed-off-by: Yi Zhao <yi.zhao@windriver.com>
+---
+ acinclude.m4 | 5 -----
+ configure.ac | 14 ++------------
+ 2 files changed, 2 insertions(+), 17 deletions(-)
+
+diff --git a/acinclude.m4 b/acinclude.m4
+index 70c1912f8..fa7840f09 100644
+--- a/acinclude.m4
++++ b/acinclude.m4
+@@ -79,11 +79,6 @@ AC_DEFUN([grub_PROG_OBJCOPY_ABSOLUTE],
+ [AC_MSG_CHECKING([whether ${TARGET_OBJCOPY} works for absolute addresses])
+ AC_CACHE_VAL(grub_cv_prog_objcopy_absolute,
+ [cat > conftest.c <<\EOF
+-asm (
+- ".globl start, _start, __start\n"
+- ".ifdef cmain; .set start = _start = __start = cmain\n.endif\n"
+- ".ifdef _cmain; .set start = _start = __start = _cmain\n.endif\n"
+-);
+ void cmain (void);
+ void
+ cmain (void)
+diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
+index d8ca1b7c1..041cfbab4 100644
+--- a/configure.ac
++++ b/configure.ac
+@@ -1461,6 +1461,7 @@ elif test x$grub_cv_target_cc_link_format = x-mi386pe || test x$grub_cv_target_c
+ TARGET_IMG_LDSCRIPT='$(top_srcdir)'"/conf/i386-cygwin-img-ld.sc"
+ TARGET_IMG_LDFLAGS="-Wl,-T${TARGET_IMG_LDSCRIPT}"
+ TARGET_IMG_LDFLAGS_AC="-Wl,-T${srcdir}/conf/i386-cygwin-img-ld.sc"
++ TARGET_IMG_BASE_LDOPT="-Wl,-Ttext"
+ TARGET_IMG_CFLAGS=
+ else
+ TARGET_APPLE_LINKER=0
+@@ -1468,6 +1469,7 @@ else
+ TARGET_IMG_LDSCRIPT=
+ TARGET_IMG_LDFLAGS='-Wl,-N'
+ TARGET_IMG_LDFLAGS_AC='-Wl,-N'
++ TARGET_IMG_BASE_LDOPT="-Wl,-Ttext"
+ TARGET_IMG_CFLAGS=
+ fi
+
+@@ -1798,18 +1800,6 @@ grub_PROG_TARGET_CC
+ m4_ifndef([AX_CHECK_LINK_FLAG], [m4_fatal([autoconf-archive is missing. You must install it to generate the configure script.])])
+
+ if test "x$TARGET_APPLE_LINKER" != x1 ; then
+-AX_CHECK_LINK_FLAG([-Wl,--image-base,0x400000],
+- [TARGET_IMG_BASE_LDOPT="-Wl,--image-base"],
+- [TARGET_IMG_BASE_LDOPT="-Wl,-Ttext"],
+- [],
+- [AC_LANG_SOURCE([
+-asm (".globl start; start:");
+-asm (".globl _start; _start:");
+-asm (".globl __start; __start:");
+-void __main (void);
+-void __main (void) {}
+-int main (void);
+- ])])
+ grub_PROG_OBJCOPY_ABSOLUTE
+ fi
+ grub_PROG_LD_BUILD_ID_NONE
+--
+2.43.0
+
diff --git a/meta/recipes-bsp/grub/files/0002-Revert-configure-Print-a-more-helpful-error-if-autoc.patch b/meta/recipes-bsp/grub/files/0002-Revert-configure-Print-a-more-helpful-error-if-autoc.patch
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..bf6375246e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/meta/recipes-bsp/grub/files/0002-Revert-configure-Print-a-more-helpful-error-if-autoc.patch
@@ -0,0 +1,34 @@
+From d0f516385dc73e8dd92b78ce08c1df100434fe67 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
+From: Yi Zhao <yi.zhao@windriver.com>
+Date: Fri, 27 Feb 2026 13:58:44 +0800
+Subject: [PATCH] Revert "configure: Print a more helpful error if
+ autoconf-archive is not installed"
+
+This reverts commit ac042f3f58d33ce9cd5ff61750f06da1a1d7b0eb.
+
+Upstream-Status: Inappropriate [oe specific]
+
+Signed-off-by: Yi Zhao <yi.zhao@windriver.com>
+---
+ configure.ac | 5 -----
+ 1 file changed, 5 deletions(-)
+
+diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
+index 041cfbab4..209c0fb11 100644
+--- a/configure.ac
++++ b/configure.ac
+@@ -1794,11 +1794,6 @@ LIBS=""
+ # Defined in acinclude.m4.
+ grub_ASM_USCORE
+ grub_PROG_TARGET_CC
+-
+-# The error message produced by autoconf if autoconf-archive is not installed is
+-# quite misleading and not very helpful. So, try point people in the right direction.
+-m4_ifndef([AX_CHECK_LINK_FLAG], [m4_fatal([autoconf-archive is missing. You must install it to generate the configure script.])])
+-
+ if test "x$TARGET_APPLE_LINKER" != x1 ; then
+ grub_PROG_OBJCOPY_ABSOLUTE
+ fi
+--
+2.43.0
+
diff --git a/meta/recipes-bsp/grub/grub2.inc b/meta/recipes-bsp/grub/grub2.inc
index 434f977667..8c62315e69 100644
--- a/meta/recipes-bsp/grub/grub2.inc
+++ b/meta/recipes-bsp/grub/grub2.inc
@@ -17,6 +17,8 @@ SRC_URI = "${GNU_MIRROR}/grub/grub-${PV}.tar.gz \
file://0001-autogen.sh-exclude-.pc-from-po-POTFILES.in.patch \
file://0002-grub-module-explicitly-keeps-symbole-.module_license.patch \
file://0003-grub.d-10_linux.in-add-oe-s-kernel-name.patch \
+ file://0001-Revert-configure-Check-linker-for-image-base-support.patch \
+ file://0002-Revert-configure-Print-a-more-helpful-error-if-autoc.patch \
"

SRC_URI[sha256sum] = "d0415fbb3e739237064e173743a6e5f60c33a81ec02a069cc9152d80efff4967"
@@ -26,7 +28,7 @@ CVE_STATUS[CVE-2023-4001] = "not-applicable-platform: Applies only to RHEL/Fedo
CVE_STATUS[CVE-2024-1048] = "not-applicable-platform: Applies only to RHEL/Fedora"
CVE_STATUS[CVE-2024-2312] = "not-applicable-platform: Applies only to Ubuntu"

-DEPENDS = "flex-native bison-native gettext-native gawk-replacement-native autoconf-archive-native"
+DEPENDS = "flex-native bison-native gettext-native gawk-replacement-native"

GRUB_COMPATIBLE_HOST = '(x86_64.*|i.86.*|arm.*|aarch64.*|loongarch64.*|riscv.*)-(linux.*|freebsd.*)'
COMPATIBLE_HOST = "${GRUB_COMPATIBLE_HOST}"
--
2.34.1