Re: [gentoo-user] Grub1: Cant ? Re: keeping grub 1

[Fernando Rodriguez <frodriguez.developer@outlook.com>]

On Thursday, August 27, 2015 8:49:13 AM Mike Gilbert wrote:
> On Wed, Aug 26, 2015 at 6:27 PM, Michel Catudal <mcatudal@comcast.net> 
wrote:
> > Le 2015-08-26 13:37, Fernando Rodriguez a écrit :
> >
> >> This may not be complete and some of these may be possible to some extent
> >> with
> >> legacy grub:
> >>
> >> 1. Grub Legacy is 32-bit only, so you need 32-bit libraries or use grub-
> >> static. Grub2 is portable, even beyond Intel architectures.
> >> 2. Grub2 has been rewritten to be modular. Instead of Grub's stages model
> >> it
> >> uses a core image and a bunch of modules.
> >> 3. EFI support without chainloading or other hacks.
> >> 4. Better filesystem support. Including loopback devices.
> >> 5. Graphics and theming support.
> >> 6. Grub2's config file (the one it tells you not to edit manually) is
> >> scriptable
> >> using a shell-like script language.
> >> 7. Password support for each entry.
> >>
> >>
> >
> > I've had serious problems in the past getting to to install on a partition
> > and gave up. Is that bug fixed? It insists on installing on the MBR which 
is
> > unacceptable.
> >
> 
> It's not a bug, and it won't be "fixed". Installing on a partition is
> simply not supported.
> 

I just got it to work with these steps:

1. Mount the partition to /mnt/usb
2. Run:

#grub2-install --directory /usr/lib/grub/i386-pc --boot-
directory=/mnt/usb/boot --force /dev/sdb2
Installing for i386-pc platform.
grub2-install: warning: File system `ext2' doesn't support embedding.
grub2-install: 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..
Installation finished. No error reported.

3. Set the partition as active with fdisk.

And it booted. To verify that it didn't overwrite the mbr I overwrote it with 
syslinux's mbr as follows:

sudo dd conv=notrunc bs=440 count=1 if=/usr/share/syslinux/mbr.bin of=/dev/sdb

Still boots!





-- 
Fernando Rodriguez