On Tue, Mar 22, 2005 at 09:32:46AM +0100, Molle Bestefich wrote: > Gerte Hoogewerf wrote: > >> need to know: You can install GRUB just fine IFF you boot > >> from a GRUB boot floppy. NEVER (except for trivial configurations) > >> use the GRUB shell running under any operating system. > > > > Saying that (meaning: "IFF") would mean we would never be able to > > install Linux using an installer. That's not true, so don't say it. > > Hm, you're right. > The patch is good if you want a Linux installer to be able to install > on device-mapped devices. > > Gerte, do you have the time to check that the patch is "clean" (I > think it is), and perhaps vote +1 over on bug-grub for getting it > included in GRUB? > > > > (hd0,x) must be on (hd0) (duh!) > > Well, as mentioned before, even though it's real simple, the GRUB > stage2 simulator seems to screw it up. I'll see if I can fix that bug > another day. > > > > I agree that installing grub is don't most safely when running the GRUB > > shell in real-mode. > > I think that dmraid should protect the HPT metadata blocks :-). Well, it can't. GRUB needs fixing. > > > >> and it destroyed my RAID0. > >> GRUB is such a piece of crap :-). > > GRUB is not a piece of crap. It's very very sensible when running it on > > "unknown" things like the device-mapper stuff. > > Right, sorry, just got a little worked up because it borked my RAID array again. > > > > My experience is, you should always specify a (correct or in this case > > empty) device-map when running grub: > > /sbin/grub --device-map=/dev/null > > Yes. It seems, well, a bit dumb that the default in GRUB is to take a > wild guess, assuming that's what it does if you don't tell it to relax > and smoke a null file? > > > Remember always to specify partitions (like: (hd0,x)) with with the grub > > "device" command first and to specify the disk (like: (hd0)) in the last > > place!! > > Order shouldn't matter, that's a bug in GRUB as I see it. > At least if we want GRUB to be user friendly. > > > And don't ever blame me of installing bootloaders into (hd0,5), > > I never recommend people to do this. > > I'll just quote your web site, > http://tienstra4.flatnet.tudelft.nl/~gerte/gen2dmraid/. > === Installing grub on a /boot partition: > # That's it, the rest should be easy: > [...] > grub> setup (hd0,0) > === > Humn :-). > (It isn't *exactly* (hd0,5), but isn't (hd0,0) equivalent? or?) > > > I'll just take the opportunity to thank you very much for the effort > you put into helping others by making the gen2dmraid ISO images and > the nice guides on your web site available. They are a great help, > thanks! > > That said, could you perhaps share with us the LILO patch you use to > make LILO work with device-mapped devices? Your site only mentions > that it "needs to be patched", no link to the patch. Also, feel free > to include my patch, it could be helpful for others wanting GRUB to > work with dmraid from eg. inside the livecd or any booted Linux :-). > > > > My last words on bootloaders and device-mapper stuff: > > * I'm too busy to fix Saout's patch for Lilo to include straight > > mappings. > > I took a quick look, but can't figure out what's needed. > Care to explain real quick? > > > > * To make grub more dmraid-friendly, device-map code (asigning realmode > > names to /dev names) {c,sh}ould be improved a tiny little bit. > > Or just dropping the feature, seeing as there's no reasonably sane way > to implement it for the foreseeable future. Rather let the user know > that he has to tell us, than to make some wild guess that's correct "a > lot of the time" and turns your data into bitsoup the other half. > > > > It could be an idea to make it less important in which order device commands are > > given on the Grub shell. > > Paramount to user friendliness, if you ask me. > > Further, I think that the device (hdx,y) command should just be > disallowed - as you said, (hdx,y) always resides on (hdx)! Entering > just device (hdx) instead of both (as seen in your example), works for > me, so perhaps it's time to modify the example and remove the "device > (hd0,0) /dev/blah" line? > > > > * To make dmraid more accepted in the Linux world, we have to find a > > generic way of (re-)reading partitiontables and giving names to devices > > that might be 'something bootable'. > > I seem to remember fdisk spewing out "Calling ioctl() to re-read > partition tables" when you do part modifications under Linux. What's > wrong with doing the same with device-mapped devices? Just tell the > kernel to re-read partition tables? > > _______________________________________________ > > Ataraid-list@xxxxxxxxxx > https://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/ataraid-list -- Regards, Heinz -- The LVM Guy -- *** Software bugs are stupid. Nevertheless it needs not so stupid people to solve them *** =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Heinz Mauelshagen Red Hat GmbH Consulting Development Engineer Am Sonnenhang 11 56242 Marienrachdorf Germany Mauelshagen@xxxxxxxxxx +49 2626 141200 FAX 924446 =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
