Polltime! Gentoo Boot loader

Message

eccerr0r · Post by **eccerr0r** » Fri Jul 11, 2014 2:58 pm

Ok I've also been hearing a lot of debate between going to Grub2, some of my friends refuse to go to Grub2 because the config file generation is more arcane. It indeed is. Grub-legacy is simpler... Then again lilo works...

Now, for your Gentoo. Your bootloader?

I mostly still have Grub-legacy on my machines, but intend to go to grub2. The 'weirdest' machine I'm using windows 7 bootloader that chainloads grub2 to boot Linux.

One month snapshot as these things can change over time...

nlsa8z6zoz7lyih3ap · Post by **nlsa8z6zoz7lyih3ap** » Fri Jul 11, 2014 4:35 pm

some of my friends refuse to go to Grub2 because the config file generation is more arcane.

I am very happy with grub2 due to it's many extra features. However I also do not like the standard way of configuring grub2.

Fortunately http://wiki.gentoo.org/wiki/GRUB2_Quick_Start contains instructions on how to use grub2 just as if it was legacy-grub.

I.E. It show how to convert legacy-grub's menu.lst directly to /boot/grub/grub.cfg without ever using grab2's autoconfig.
All that is involved is a bit of minor syntax change. This is the way that I use grub2.

xaviermiller · Post by **xaviermiller** » Fri Jul 11, 2014 6:11 pm

Since I cannot vote more than once, here are my choices:
- the native system when possible : UEFI or ARM bootloader
- syslinux for the BIOS systems : it rocks and it is simple to configure and use

Post by **NeddySeagoon** » Fri Jul 11, 2014 6:45 pm

eccerr0r,

Why update your boot loader?
Its like firmware, you install it when you build the box, then it need not change.

I use grub-legacy, grub-static actually, as grub is a 32 bit program, on no-multilib, with 32 bit support disabled in the kernel.
Its therefore not possible to install a grub update.

This works well with both MSDOS and GPT disk labels.

Now that the kernel is a UEFI compliant program, grub2 looks like a solution in search of a problem.

RazielFMX · Post by **RazielFMX** » Fri Jul 11, 2014 7:18 pm

rEFInd (http://www.rodsbooks.com/refind/)

eccerr0r · Post by **eccerr0r** » Fri Jul 11, 2014 7:27 pm

It's more of being able to figure out how to set it up quickly (and not keep two different bootloaders installed.)

As much as I hope that I never have to reinstall the bootloader, I have used machines to bootstrap other machines, and therefore actually use grub-install many times after the initial machine install on some machines.

Again the hope is that grub-legacy doesn't disappear from portage much like other programs that have gone away due to upstream discontinuation. I worry some day some toolchain component comes and breaks something so badly that grub-legacy won't build anymore and deemed too difficult to fix. The package gets deprecated, effectively forcing another bootloader when setting up a fresh machine as I'd all my machines to be able to rewrite its own bootsector should it become corrupt. Plus have that new machine be able to bootstrap the next machine :)

gotyaoi · Post by **gotyaoi** » Fri Jul 11, 2014 7:34 pm

Grub2. My situations tend to be simple enough that grub2-mkconfig "just works", so it's fairly convenient.

Anon-E-moose · Post by **Anon-E-moose** » Fri Jul 11, 2014 8:00 pm

grub-legacy via grub static, it just works

Ant P. · Post by **Ant P.** » Sat Jul 12, 2014 1:35 am

I use LILO everywhere (except on one UEFI box). I don't have any pressing desire to dual-boot livecd ISOs off a reiser4 USB RAID6 partition so this works just fine for me.

miket · Post by **miket** » Sat Jul 12, 2014 4:07 am

My main machine is still on legacy grub, but everything I've been installing lately has been with extlinux. It's very capable, easy to configure, not bloated, and well maintained. Grub 2 is just over the top. The extlinux bootloader works very well with my early-userspace solution for booting root on LVM: I use busybox, static-linked LVM, but no initrd. It's very small and very fast.

I've left the grubs behind in the dirt--maybe the birds will get them.

vaxbrat · Post by **vaxbrat** » Sat Jul 12, 2014 4:14 am

I went to grub2 when working with system roots on btrfs. It still has wrinkles though.

Fitzcarraldo · Post by **Fitzcarraldo** » Sat Jul 12, 2014 8:16 am

I've been using GRUB 2 on my main laptop (PC BIOS; MBR HDD), chainloaded by the Windows 7 Boot Manager, for over four years.

GRUB 2 took some getting used to but I'm OK with it now, although sometimes I still forget to update GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX in /etc/default/grub after building a new version of the kernel. I wish the GRUB 2 design were more robust, but it's usable once you've climbed the learning curve.

(I'm not looking forward to having to install Gentoo on a future new laptop with UEFI and GPT HDD, as I have no clue about those so far.)

EmaRsk · Post by **EmaRsk** » Sat Jul 12, 2014 2:14 pm

Both generations of grub gave me huge amounts of frustration

. Extlinux is ridiculously easier to manage.

I voted syslinux, but I actually use lilo on /dev/sda to chainload extlinux on each /dev/sdaX (I have a dual boot with Debian). This way I get to keep completely separated the configuration files for Gentoo and Debian.

On my next laptop I'll probably try rEFInd.

Gatsby · Post by **Gatsby** » Sat Jul 12, 2014 2:47 pm

My Gentoo systems are booting with grub legacy.

Tried grub2 once, but it didn't suit my needs. It's bloated and complicated.
Smells like systemd and similar stuff.

Regards, Gatsby

Post by **asturm** » Sat Jul 12, 2014 3:41 pm

grub-2 on anything BIOS (current main)
efibootmgr on anything UEFI

GabrielYYZ · Post by **GabrielYYZ** » Sat Jul 12, 2014 7:04 pm

RazielFMX wrote:rEFInd (http://www.rodsbooks.com/refind/)

++

Fran · Post by **Fran** » Sun Jul 13, 2014 9:06 am

I voted grub2, but the thread made me take a look at syslinux (extlinux). Now I'm a convert.

eccerr0r · Post by **eccerr0r** » Sun Jul 13, 2014 4:41 pm

Yes syslinux is pretty neat. I probably still would be using it as a default if I hadn't gotten grub working first.

djdunn · Post by **djdunn** » Sun Jul 13, 2014 10:18 pm

syslinux is great, works with uefi at syslinux:6, always works, easy to write configs for, simple

eccerr0r · Post by **eccerr0r** » Mon Jul 14, 2014 1:54 am

For those machines known to have UEFI, is there a way to get the EFI command interpreter?
I suspect it'd have to be copied onto the HDD if it's not already in firmware - I'm sort of spoiled that I do have one machine that has the EFI CLI in firmware (an ia64 box) but the two Core-i series machines I have don't appear to have the CLI...

Hypnos · Post by **Hypnos** » Mon Jul 14, 2014 1:59 am

I'm going to use Lilo until I get a machine that it doesn't support, at which point I'll use the next simplest solution -- probably will be rEFInd.

srs5694 · Post by **srs5694** » Mon Jul 14, 2014 12:36 pm

eccerr0r wrote:For those machines known to have UEFI, is there a way to get the EFI command interpreter?
I suspect it'd have to be copied onto the HDD if it's not already in firmware - I'm sort of spoiled that I do have one machine that has the EFI CLI in firmware (an ia64 box) but the two Core-i series machines I have don't appear to have the CLI...

Yeah, if the EFI shell is not built into the firmware, you've got to either do without it or put it on hard disk. You can add it to your firmware's own boot list or launch it from a boot manager (rEFInd, gummiboot, GRUB, etc.). Some EFIs provide an option to launch a shell from their setup tools if the shell is named something specific -- usually shellx64.efi in the ESP's root directory (on x86-64 systems).

Hypnos wrote:I'm going to use Lilo until I get a machine that it doesn't support, at which point I'll use the next simplest solution -- probably will be rEFInd.

Be aware that there's a LILO-like boot loader for EFI, known as ELILO. If you like LILO, you might find ELILO to be a relatively simple transition.

swimmer · Post by **swimmer** » Mon Jul 14, 2014 3:00 pm

Syslinux all the way - I dropped grub{2} more than a year ago and never looked back since ...

likewhoa · Post by **likewhoa** » Mon Jul 14, 2014 4:18 pm

syslinux all the way.

py-ro · Post by **py-ro** » Mon Jul 14, 2014 4:48 pm

While technicaly not a Bootloader -> refind (+ kernel stub loader)

Polltime! Gentoo Boot loader

Your current primary bootloader on your main Gentoo machine

Polltime! Gentoo Boot loader

grub2 for btrfs