Bug#92269: 'update-grub' having difficulty with /boot partition(using devfs, no devfsd)

[David B. Harris]

Package: grub
Version: 0.5.96.1progeny5
Severity: serious

Hey there :) Normally I wouldn't give a bug like this a severity of "serious". 
But since update-grub is(I think) an automatic script, it should work right the 
first time, and every time.

Anyhoo, I will include my /etc/fstab, the output of 'mount', and a menu.lst 
generated by 'update-grub'. The main problem is that 'update-grub' doesn't work 
properly(for me), when I have /boot on a seperate partition. I believe the 
issue is DevFS-related. Let me check.

Hmmm, can't be sure. The problem still exists when I run 'devfsd'(I usually do 
not). Looking at the "dev2grub" function, it looks to be awfully simplistic. I 
think that's the problem. I'm no Perl coder, though :) Anyways, here's the 
output of the various files I mentioned above:

/etc/fstab:
####START####
# /etc/fstab: static file system information.
#
# <file system> <mount point>   <type>  <options>                       <dump>  
<pass>
/dev/md/0       /               reiserfs        defaults        0       1
/dev/ide/host0/bus0/target0/lun0/part6 /boot ext2 defaults 0 2
/dev/ide/host0/bus0/target0/lun0/part2  none            swap    sw,pri=1        
                0  0
/dev/ide/host0/bus1/target0/lun0/part1  none            swap    sw,pri=1        
                0  0
none            /dev            devfs   defaults        0       0
proc            /proc           proc    defaults                        0       0
tmpfs           /dev/shm tmpfs defaults 0 0

/dev/floppy/0   /floppy         auto    defaults,user,noauto            0       0
/dev/cdroms/cdrom0      /cdrom          iso9660 defaults,ro,user,noauto         
0       0

/dev/ide/host0/bus0/target0/lun0/part5  /mnt    reiserfs        
defaults,noauto,users   0       0
/dev/ide/host0/bus0/target0/lun0/part1  /win    vfat    
defaults,noauto,users,uid=1000,gid=1000 0  0

/lizc           //den/cdrive smbfs defaults,noauto,users,password=blork 0 0
/lizd           //den/ddrive smbfs defaults,noauto,users,password=blork 0 0
/paul           //upstairs/cdrive smbfs defaults,noauto,users,password=blork 0 0
####END####

/boot/boot/grub/menu.lst:
####START####
default 0
timeout 2
fallback 1
password (Yeah, I know, like you guys are going to be poking around my computer 
- but still ;)

color cyan/blue white/blue

# --> PROGENY START (1.0) <--

title Progeny Debian (kernel 2.2.18pre21)
root
kernel //vmlinuz-2.2.18pre21 root=/dev/md/0 ro

title Progeny Debian - single-user (kernel 2.2.18pre21)
root
kernel //vmlinuz-2.2.18pre21 root=/dev/md/0 ro single

<snip>
# --> PROGENY END <--
####END####

Now, those *should* be "kernel (hd0,5)/vmlinuz-2.2.18pre21 root=/dev/md/0 ro"...

`mount`:
####START####
/dev/md/0 on / type reiserfs (rw)
proc on /proc type proc (rw)
none on /dev type devfs (rw)
/dev/ide/host0/bus0/target0/lun0/part6 on /boot type ext2 (rw)
tmpfs on /dev/shm type tmpfs (rw)
automount(pid263) on /auto type autofs (rw,fd=5,pgrp=263,minproto=2,maxproto=3)
automount(pid271) on /ftp type autofs (rw,fd=5,pgrp=271,minproto=2,maxproto=3)
####END####

I'd also like to say that I don't think the ordering of the kernels is proper. 
If someone has some custom kernels, I really think they'd rather they were at 
the top. Here's a 'diff -u' of what I use:
####START####
--- ./update-grub       Sun Mar  4 14:49:38 2001
+++ ./update-grub-custom        Sat Mar 31 01:27:30 2001
@@ -112,11 +112,11 @@
 {
     if ($kern_version =~ /^$supported_kernel_series/)
     {
-        push @supported_kernels, $kern_version;
+        push @other_kernels, $kern_version;
     }
     else
     {
-        push @other_kernels, $kern_version;
+        push @supported_kernels, $kern_version;
     }
 }
####END####

Also, it might be worthwhile to grep /var/log/dmesg for the kernel command 
line. I use 'devfs=mount', as I'd prefer it not be automatic all the time. I 
can imagine lots of people who use custom command lines, whether for IDE-SCSI 
emulation or having nice pretty bootup logos or whatnot :) That's beyond my 
ability, however.

Anyways, thanks a bunch for GRUB - it's really quite good :) If you have any 
questions at all, please let me know. I'm more than willing to be a guinea pig, 
or to help you track down problems. Thanks again :)

-- System Information
Debian Release: testing/unstable
Architecture: i386
Kernel: Linux david 2.4.2-ac27-a2 #4 Fri Mar 30 01:34:03 EST 2001 i686

Versions of packages grub depends on:
ii  debconf                   0.9.31         Debian configuration management sy
ii  libc6                     2.2.2-4        GNU C Library: Shared libraries an
ii  libncurses5               5.2.20010318-1 Shared libraries for terminal hand