Fedora 17, not possible to add kernel parameters to GRUB 2

[agraham]

Hello,

I've installed F17 (in a VM) and on first boot, it is not possible to 
modify any kernel parameters. There appears to be 2 problems:

Note: 	1. I've never actually logged in to the VM.
	2. no updates have been done
	3. I've connecting to the VM via tigervnc client

Problem 1.
=========
On the very first boot, at the grub 2 to menu, I press 'e' to edit grub, 
but I cannot move the cursor to the "linux" line because it is always on 
the wrong position, so you cannot see what you are editing.

Problem 2.
=========
Making any changes to the kernel parameter line (locks up grub) and 
requires a hard boot.

I would assume that these basic tests must have been tested as part of 
Q/A so I must be doing something wrong

I know I can boot the machine and manually configure grub2, but the 
above should work "out of the box" from the first installation of an F17 
ISO image.


Any suggestions.

Thanks.

Albert.

[agraham]

The following is a workaround that allows editing of the kernel 
parameters, but you have to be careful.

At the Grub2 menu, press the 'e' to edit,

1. Move the cursor down to the linux line
2. Move the cursor across the linux line to any "space" and hit "\"
then 
return (i.e create a multi-line \)
3. Repeat step 2 to until you can see the entire kernel line split 
across multiple lines (terminated with your "\" chars).

You can then edit what ever parts of the multi-line you like as normal 
and press F10 to boot.

[Bill Davidsen]

G.Wolfe Woodbury wrote:
>  On 07/01/2012 08:42 PM, agraham wrote:
> >
> > F17 must be the only linux distribution in history in which you cannot edit
> > kernel parameters from the boot menu.
> >
>  I've actually run into this bug, but I found with a little exploration that it's
>  just a misplacement
>  of the cursor.  If you let the cursor be a line or so below the "linux" line
> and
>  hit the "end" key
>  it will "logically" be the right place, but the cursor isn't in the right
> place,
>  and one *can* change
>  the kernel parameters.
>  
Exactly so. The problem is a simple (curses?) issue, the edit works fine.

>  grub-2.00-rc1 is in the GNU repo, and it fixes most of the problems.
> robatino is
>  tracking
>  the development and I hope the rc1 gomes in an update soon.
>
>  After yumming in the beta6 rpm, don't forget to grub2-install /dev/sd<x> to
>  actually replace
>  the grub2 code on the disk.
>  

-- 
Bill Davidsen <davidsen(a)tmr.com&gt;
   "We have more to fear from the bungling of the incompetent than from
the machinations of the wicked."  - from Slashdot

[agraham]

On 07/02/2012 02:01 AM, G.Wolfe Woodbury wrote:
>  On 07/01/2012 08:42 PM, agraham wrote:
> >
> > F17 must be the only linux distribution in history in which you cannot
> > edit kernel parameters from the boot menu.
> >
>  I've actually run into this bug, but I found with a little exploration
>  that it's just a misplacement
>  of the cursor. If you let the cursor be a line or so below the "linux"
>  line and hit the "end" key
>  it will "logically" be the right place, but the cursor isn't in the
>  right place, and one *can* change
>  the kernel parameters. 
One *cannot* because it crashes as I previously mentioned.

I could live with the fact that you cannot see what you are editing, but 
the fact that it crashes when you change anything it the real problem.

>  grub-2.00-rc1 is in the GNU repo, and it fixes most of the problems.
>  robatino is tracking
>  the development and I hope the rc1 gomes in an update soon.
>
>  After yumming in the beta6 rpm, don't forget to grub2-install /dev/sd<x>
>  to actually replace
>  the grub2 code on the disk.
>  
My understanding is that you do not need to do grub2-install /dev/blah, 
that only does the MBR install, the README.Fedora in the source states:

The active boot loader will not be changed when the GRUB 2 package is 
updated. A new boot loader can be installed with something like:

   grub2-install /dev/sda

Unless I'm misunderstanding this.

Albert.

[agraham]

On 07/02/2012 01:58 AM, Tom Horsley wrote:
>  On Mon, 02 Jul 2012 01:42:04 +0100
>  agraham wrote:
>
> > root@localhost ~]# grub2-install /dev/vda1
>
>  What? You mean it isn't obvious you need to use
>  the --force option? :-). 
Actually, I did try the force option but you cannot force an update for 
something that does not exist i.e. grub2-tools, so you must first 
install it, but like I said it said the package did not exist

>  But actually, inside a virtual machine I'd expect
>  you'd want grub2-install /dev/vda (not vda1)
>  unless you've setup some kind of multi-boot
>  virtual machine. 
So, that could have been the cause of that message about blocklist.

I would have never guessed that message actually meant 'please use 
/dev/vda instead of /dev/vda1'.

Thinking about this, grub2 should have automatically detected this 
condition because /boot was mounted on /dev/vda1 and no other drives 
exist, anyhow, well spotted.

Thanks.

[Gregory Woodbury]

On 07/01/2012 08:42 PM, agraham wrote:
>  F17 must be the only linux distribution in history in which you cannot 
>  edit kernel parameters from the boot menu.
>  
I've actually run into this bug, but I found with a little exploration 
that it's just a misplacement
of the cursor.  If you let the cursor be a line or so below the "linux" 
line and hit the "end" key
it will "logically" be the right place, but the cursor isn't in the 
right place, and one *can* change
the kernel parameters.

grub-2.00-rc1 is in the GNU repo, and it fixes most of the problems.  
robatino is tracking
the development and I hope the rc1 gomes in an update soon.

After yumming in the beta6 rpm, don't forget to grub2-install /dev/sd<x> 
to actually replace
the grub2 code on the disk.

-- 
G.Wolfe Woodbury
aka redwolfe (proventesters)

[Tom Horsley]

On Mon, 02 Jul 2012 01:42:04 +0100
agraham wrote:

>  root@localhost ~]# grub2-install /dev/vda1 
What? You mean it isn't obvious you need to use
the --force option? :-).

But actually, inside a virtual machine I'd expect
you'd want grub2-install /dev/vda (not vda1)
unless you've setup some kind of multi-boot
virtual machine.

[agraham]

On 07/01/2012 11:57 PM, Tom Horsley wrote:
>  On Sun, 01 Jul 2012 23:48:32 +0100
>  agraham wrote:
>
> > I've installed F17 (in a VM) and on first boot, it is not possible to
> > modify any kernel parameters. There appears to be 2 problems:
>
>  Right you are. There was a bug in grub2:
>
>  https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=830843
>
>  I don't know if the fix in there has made it to
>  an official update yet or not, but if you manually
>  install that grub2, you also need to re-run
>  grub2-install for it to actually take effect. 
I thought I would chance taking the easy route, by using updates-testing
yum --enablerepo=updates-testing update "grub*" but the version Beta6 
there has the same problems :(

The link you provided is to src rpms only, but there is a 
grub2-2.0-0.37.beta6.fc17 in koji. which involves 3 files,

http://kojipkgs.fedoraproject.org//packages/grub2/2.0/0.37.beta6.fc17/x86...

http://kojipkgs.fedoraproject.org//packages/grub2/2.0/0.37.beta6.fc17/x86...

http://kojipkgs.fedoraproject.org//packages/grub2/2.0/0.37.beta6.fc17/x86...


After downloading, you cannot simply do yum update grub2*rpm because it 
looks for grub2-tools, and you cannot 'yum install grub2-tools' because 
it does not exist!

You have to do:
yum localinstall grub*rpm
then
grub2-install /dev/vda1

Which results in this friendly message:

root@localhost ~]# grub2-install /dev/vda1

/usr/sbin/grub2-bios-setup: warning: File system `ext2' doesn't support 
embedding.
/usr/sbin/grub2-bios-setup: warning: Embedding is not possible.  GRUB 
can only be installed in this setup by using blocklists.  However, 
blocklists are UNRELIABLE and their use is discouraged..
/usr/sbin/grub2-bios-setup: error: will not proceed with blocklists.
[root@localhost ~]#

After rebooting, (grub menu confirmed Beta6), the SAME problems still 
exist, it looks like the patches mentioned the bug report are not 
applied to later versions yet.

I read the spec for grub2 and that speaks for itself.  Grub2 belong in 
room 101.

We need grub1 back especially for simply set-ups like VMs which have no 
use for the unusable features in grub2.

F17 must be the only linux distribution in history in which you cannot 
edit kernel parameters from the boot menu.

Albert

[Reindl Harald]

Am 02.07.2012 00:54, schrieb agraham:
>  On 07/01/2012 11:48 PM, agraham wrote:
> > Hello,
> >
> > I've installed F17 (in a VM) and on first boot, it is not possible to
> > modify any kernel parameters. There appears to be 2 problems:
> >
> > Note: 1. I've never actually logged in to the VM.
> > 2. no updates have been done
> > 3. I've connecting to the VM via tigervnc client
> >
> > Problem 1.
> > =========
> > On the very first boot, at the grub 2 to menu, I press 'e' to edit grub,
> > but I cannot move the cursor to the "linux" line because it is always on
> > the wrong position, so you cannot see what you are editing.
> >
> > Problem 2.
> > =========
> > Making any changes to the kernel parameter line (locks up grub) and
> > requires a hard boot.
> >
> > I would assume that these basic tests must have been tested as part of
> > Q/A so I must be doing something wrong
> >
> > I know I can boot the machine and manually configure grub2, but the
> > above should work "out of the box" from the first installation of an F17
> > ISO image.
> >
> >
> > Any suggestions.
> >
> > Thanks.
> >
> > Albert.
>  
>  I've just logged in an did yum update "grub*" and power off and restarted
> the VM and the _same problem exists_.
>  Can anyone confirm this? 
"yum update yum" does not change anything because
because it doe snot change grub in the MBR which
is the same for RAID1-setup where you have to manually
install grub on each drive

you have to use grub2-install /dev/sd<yourdrive>

[Tom Horsley]

On Sun, 01 Jul 2012 23:48:32 +0100
agraham wrote:

>  I've installed F17 (in a VM) and on first boot, it is not
> possible to 
>  modify any kernel parameters. There appears to be 2 problems: 
Right you are. There was a bug in grub2:

https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=830843

I don't know if the fix in there has made it to
an official update yet or not, but if you manually
install that grub2, you also need to re-run
grub2-install for it to actually take effect.

[agraham]

On 07/01/2012 11:48 PM, agraham wrote:
>  Hello,
>
>  I've installed F17 (in a VM) and on first boot, it is not possible to
>  modify any kernel parameters. There appears to be 2 problems:
>
>  Note: 1. I've never actually logged in to the VM.
>  2. no updates have been done
>  3. I've connecting to the VM via tigervnc client
>
>  Problem 1.
>  =========
>  On the very first boot, at the grub 2 to menu, I press 'e' to edit grub,
>  but I cannot move the cursor to the "linux" line because it is always on
>  the wrong position, so you cannot see what you are editing.
>
>  Problem 2.
>  =========
>  Making any changes to the kernel parameter line (locks up grub) and
>  requires a hard boot.
>
>  I would assume that these basic tests must have been tested as part of
>  Q/A so I must be doing something wrong
>
>  I know I can boot the machine and manually configure grub2, but the
>  above should work "out of the box" from the first installation of an F17
>  ISO image.
>
>
>  Any suggestions.
>
>  Thanks.
>
>  Albert. 
I've just logged in an did yum update "grub*" and power off and 
restarted the VM and the _same problem exists_.

Can anyone confirm this?

Thanks.