help-grub
[Top][All Lists]
Advanced

[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]

Re: grub-mkimage


From: Andrei Borzenkov
Subject: Re: grub-mkimage
Date: Tue, 25 Jan 2022 20:23:44 +0300
User-agent: Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Linux x86_64; rv:91.0) Gecko/20100101 Thunderbird/91.5.0

On 25.01.2022 17:23, Pascal wrote:
> when I use grub-mkimage, the generated EFI executable automatically loads
> the embedded modules which explains this change in behavior.
> and so I don't need this command insmod linux normal minicmd gzio efi_uga
> efi_gop fat part_gpt in my configuration file.
> On the contrary, grub-mkstandalone incorporates all the modules in the EFI
> executable that will be generated (unless the use of the --install-modules
> option) but the latter will only preload those listed in the --modules
> option.
> is this right ?
> 

Yes.

> except chain, do you know if these nine modules are the "vital minimum" to
> boot my roaming live system present on the second partition of a USB key -
> or even an internal disk - partitioned in GPT in a UEFI environment ?
> if (,gpt2) means "the second partition on the disk grub was loaded from",
> then I'm sure to boot the system selected from the UEFI firmware and not
> another system that might be present on another drive ?
> 

You do not really need efi_uga or efi_gop unless you want to display pretty
pictures.

But EFI does not have memory constraints of legacy BIOS, so what not simply
have all modules? 

> Le mar. 25 janv. 2022 à 13:06, Andrei Borzenkov <arvidjaar@gmail.com> a
> écrit :
> 
>> On Tue, Jan 25, 2022 at 12:13 PM Pascal <patatetom@gmail.com> wrote:
>>>
>>> hi,
>>>
>>> first of all, a small precision which can be important : I use version
>> 2.06 of GRUB.
>>>
>>> in both cases (tiny and full EFI), /efi/boot/bootx64.efi and /boot/ are
>> on the same partition (gpt2).
>>>
>>> in first case, these few modules allow me to access my configuration
>> file (/efi/boot/bootx64.efi read /efi/menu.cfg) and to boot my kernel
>> (linux /boot/kernel) with its initialization file (initrd /boot/initramfs).
>>>
>>> in the second case, the presence of all modules disturbs the expected
>> behavior. I don't think that grub-mkstandalone will add more modules than
>> the ones requested in this case.
>>>
>>
>> I never said "it will add more modules". I said "it will add modules
>> differently so they will not interfere with grub loading".
>>
>>> I added the nativedisk module (which has no dependency according to
>> /usr/lib/grub/x86_64-efi/moddep.lst) to the few modules of the first case
>> and it didn't change anything to its behavior : GRUB accesses its
>> configuration file and boots my roaming live system.
>>> this module doesn't seem to be the one that modifies GRUB's behaviour
>> towards (,gpt2)/efi/boot prefix.
>>>
>>> in first case (with or without nativedisk), the ls command played in the
>> GRUB console (hd0) (hd0,gpt2) (hd0,gpt1) (hd1) (cd0) (where (hd0) is my
>> live disk).
>>
>> It is not enough to have the "nativedisk" module, you also need to
>> have low level drivers (ahci, etc depending on your hardware). I
>> assume nativedisk simply did not detect any native driver and its
>> loading became noop.
>>
>>> in second case, it returns (ahci1) (ahci1,msdos1) (ahci0) (ahci0,gpt2)
>> (ahci0,gpt1) (ahci2) (where (ahci0) is my live disk).
>>>
>>
>> Well, (,gpt2) means "the second partition on the disk grub was loaded
>> from". I doubt that grub magic to detect this disk will work with
>> native drivers on UEFI (actually I am pretty sure it won't).
>>
>> nativedisk drivers were never intended for BIOS/UEFI systems.
>>
>>> regards, lacsaP.
>>>
>>> Le lun. 24 janv. 2022 à 19:28, Andrei Borzenkov <arvidjaar@gmail.com> a
>> écrit :
>>>>
>>>> On 24.01.2022 17:53, Pascal wrote:
>>>>> hi,
>>>>> I use grub successfully to boot my removable "UEFI only" roaming live
>>>>> system.
>>>>> I use grub-mkimage as follows to generate the EFI executable :
>>>>>
>>>>> cat > /tmp/cfg <<< "normal /efi/menu.cfg"
>>>>>
>>>>> grub-mkimage  \
>>>>>   --disable-shim-lock  \
>>>>>   -p "(,gpt2)/efi/boot/"  \
>>>>>   -o /run/live/bootmnt/efi/boot/bootx64.efi  \
>>>>>   -O x86_64-efi  \
>>>>>   -c /tmp/cfg  \
>>>>>   linux normal minicmd gzio efi_uga efi_gop fat part_gpt chain
>>>>>
>>>>> cat > /run/live/bootmnt/efi/menu.cfg <<~~~~
>>>>> insmod linux normal minicmd gzio efi_uga efi_gop fat part_gpt
>>>>> menuentry "My Live Linux" {
>>>>>       linux …
>>>>>       initrd …
>>>>> }
>>>>> ~~~~
>>>>>
>>>>> the executable being really minimal, I can't do much with it when I
>>>>> encounter a boot problem.
>>>>> so, I set up another EFI executable next to it, this time with all the
>>>>> available modules :
>>>>>
>>>>> mods=$( ls -1 /usr/lib/grub/x86_64-efi/*.mod | sed -e
>>>>> 's;/usr/lib/grub/x86_64-efi/;;g' -e 's/\.mod$//g' | tr '\n' ' ' )
>>>>>
>>>>> echo $mods
>>>>> acpi adler32 affs afs afsplitter ahci all_video aout appleldr archelp
>>>>> at_keyboard ata backtrace bfs bitmap bitmap_scale blocklist boot
>> boottime
>>>>> bsd bswap_test btrfs bufio cacheinfo cat cbfs cbls cbmemc cbtable
>> cbtime
>>>>> chain cmdline_cat_test cmp cmp_test configfile cpio cpio_be cpuid
>> crc64
>>>>> crypto cryptodisk cs5536 ctz_test date datehook datetime disk
>> diskfilter
>>>>> div div_test dm_nv echo efi_gop efi_uga efifwsetup efinet ehci elf
>> eval
>>>>> exfat exfctest ext2 extcmd f2fs fat file fixvideo font fshelp
>>>>> functional_test gcry_arcfour gcry_blowfish gcry_camellia gcry_cast5
>>>>> gcry_crc gcry_des gcry_dsa gcry_idea gcry_md4 gcry_md5 gcry_rfc2268
>>>>> gcry_rijndael gcry_rmd160 gcry_rsa gcry_seed gcry_serpent gcry_sha1
>>>>> gcry_sha256 gcry_sha512 gcry_tiger gcry_twofish gcry_whirlpool geli
>> gettext
>>>>> gfxmenu gfxterm gfxterm_background gfxterm_menu gptsync gzio halt
>> hashsum
>>>>> hdparm hello help hexdump hfs hfsplus hfspluscomp http iorw iso9660
>> jfs
>>>>> jpeg json keylayouts keystatus ldm legacy_password_test legacycfg
>> linux
>>>>> linux16 loadbios loadenv loopback ls lsacpi lsefi lsefimmap
>> lsefisystab
>>>>> lsmmap lspci lssal luks luks2 lvm lzopio macbless macho mdraid09
>>>>> mdraid09_be mdraid1x memdisk memrw minicmd minix minix2 minix2_be
>> minix3
>>>>> minix3_be minix_be mmap morse mpi msdospart mul_test multiboot
>> multiboot2
>>>>> nativedisk net newc nilfs2 normal ntfs ntfscomp odc offsetio ohci
>>>>> part_acorn part_amiga part_apple part_bsd part_dfly part_dvh part_gpt
>>>>> part_msdos part_plan part_sun part_sunpc parttool password
>> password_pbkdf2
>>>>> pata pbkdf2 pbkdf2_test pcidump pgp play png priority_queue probe
>> procfs
>>>>> progress raid5rec raid6rec random rdmsr read reboot regexp reiserfs
>>>>> relocator romfs scsi search search_fs_file search_fs_uuid search_label
>>>>> serial setjmp setjmp_test setpci sfs shift_test signature_test sleep
>>>>> sleep_test smbios spkmodem squash4 strtoull_test syslinuxcfg tar
>> terminal
>>>>> terminfo test test_blockarg testload testspeed tftp tga time tpm tr
>> trig
>>>>> true udf ufs1 ufs1_be ufs2 uhci usb usb_keyboard usbms
>> usbserial_common
>>>>> usbserial_ftdi usbserial_pl2303 usbserial_usbdebug usbtest video
>>>>> video_bochs video_cirrus video_colors video_fb videoinfo videotest
>>>>> videotest_checksum wrmsr xfs xnu xnu_uuid xnu_uuid_test xzio zfs
>> zfscrypt
>>>>> zfsinfo zstd
>>>>>
>>>>> grub-mkimage  \
>>>>>   --disable-shim-lock  \
>>>>>   -p "(,gpt2)/efi/boot"  \
>>>>>   -o /run/live/bootmnt/efi/boot/helpx64.efi  \
>>>>>   -O x86_64-efi  \
>>>>>   -c /tmp/cfg  \
>>>>>   $mods
>>>>>
>>>>> however, when I choose to boot this one, I get the following error :
>>>>>
>>>>> error: disk `,gpt2' not found.
>>>>> error: you need to load the kernel first.
>>>>>
>>>>> does anyone know why the *minimal* is fully functional while the
>> *maximal*
>>>>> refuses to consider (,gpt2)/efi/boot/ ?
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Modules listed in grub-mkimage are intended only for access to
>> /boot/grub
>>>> directory and are initialized when grub image is executed. One of
>> modules
>>>> is nativedisk which replaces firmware disk drivers with native drivers
>> (like
>>>> ahci. usb, etc). These driver are using different name conventions so
>> none of
>>>> them recognizes gpt2. Moreover, I am not really sure whether those
>> drivers
>>>> will work under UEFI at all (they compete with UEFI for hardware
>> access).
>>>>
>>>> If you need image with more grub modules consider using
>> grub-mkstandalone. It
>>>> creates image with embedded RAM disk and sets $prefix to refer to this
>> disk.
>>>> So you have usual grub environment with modules autoloading and avoid
>> this
>>>> problem. You can chose which modules are included into RAM disk. You
>> can also
>>>> create usual grub.cfg on this RAM disk which boots whatever you like
>> automatically.
>>>>
>>
>>
> 




reply via email to

[Prev in Thread] Current Thread [Next in Thread]