Re: error: embedding is not possible, but this is required for RAID and LVM install.

[bl0]

On Sunday 30 March 2014 19:04:55 Andrey Borzenkov wrote:
> В Sun, 30 Mar 2014 16:49:54 +0200
>
> bl0 <address@hidden> пишет:
> > Hello,
> >
> > I try to install grub2 v2.00 to my hard disk. It fails with these messages:
> > > warning: your embedding area is unusually small.  core.img won't fit
> > > in it..
> >
> > My first partition starts at sector 63. Is this unusual?
>
> Well, modern systems tend to start first partition on 1M boundary.

Does this mean that grub2 will only support hard disks partitioned recently
and will not support hard disks which have been in use for a longer time?

> > > error: embedding is not possible, but this is required for RAID and
> > > LVM install.
> >
> > So, embedding is required but not possible. From this, it's clear to me
> > that it is not possible to use grub2 on my system configuration? Should
> > I start looking for another bootloader?
>
> It depends on your disk configuration. If you provide more information,
> someone may have an idea how to use grub2 in your case.

When I searched the web for this error message, most of the time the problem
was "solved" by moving data around (sometimes large amounts of data) to
accomodate grub. I expect software to accomodate the user for the user's
convenience rather than have the user jump through hoops to accomodate the
software for the developers convenience.

From my perspective it's clear what to do. A bootloader which does not fit
in the 31 KB embedding area needs to be loaded into memory by another
bootloader which does fit in that area. My current setup is grub2 v2.00
loaded using 'multiboot' from an lvm volume by another bootloader,
grub2 v1.99, which does fit in the embedding area (with tar module instead
of ext2).

Using v1.99 alone is an option but it removes the ability to install future
versions of grub with new features. I prefer to keep grub2 v1.99 for the
sole purpose of loading a later version of grub. Really this is the only
sure way I can see to use future versions of grub which will probably
continue to grow bigger if fitting into 31 KB is no longer a design goal.

-- 
bl0