Re: Help-grub Digest, Vol 193, Issue 9

[Guillaume Tetart]

   Hi sir,
   I remember you, my computer is petty much old (HP xw4400 - BIOS 2.07
   from 12/08/2010) ; it's not designed for UEFI ! … So the EFI partition
   is totally useless !
   I tried once to let the installer do the work, but it didn't work
   either !
   So I resume :
   no UEFI technology ;
   Intel fake-Raid0 on two HDD of 500Gb each one ;
   custom partitioning following this distribution :
   BIOS-boot if GPT - swap - / - /opt for optional packages - /tmp - /home
   Thank you for helping,
   Guillaume,

   Le 28 mars 2024 17:02, help-grub-request@gnu.org a écrit :

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     Today's Topics:

        1. Fwd: lmvid not found (Randy Goldenberg)
        2. Re: Fwd: lmvid not found (Eduardo Suarez)
        3. Re: Fwd: lmvid not found (Randy Goldenberg)
        4. Re: Get/set UEFI variables or NVMe driver? (Randy Goldenberg)
        5. Re: Get/set UEFI variables or NVMe driver? (JZB)
        6. Problem with vmnext and grub2.12 (Mathias Radtke)

     --------------------------------------------------------------------
     --

     Message: 1
     Date: Wed, 27 Mar 2024 09:55:42 -0700
     From: Randy Goldenberg <randy.goldenberg@gmail.com>
     To: Grub <help-grub@gnu.org>
     Subject: Fwd: lmvid not found
     Message-ID:
     <CAMOQsSNgZdfuSY9VVUgAfUGrWCrAWgJYzA9dqU5NufGCS5mW0A@mail.gmail.com>
     Content-Type: text/plain; charset="UTF-8"

     On Wed, Mar 27, 2024 at 8:09 AM Eduardo Suarez
     <esuarez@itccanarias.org>
     wrote:

     >
     > To me it seems that it is using the GPT module to open the LVM
     volume
     > directly.
     > Maybe GPT and LVM do not fit together for grub.
     >

     I use grub on systems with storage managed with LVM, including
     /boot, and
     have no issues.

     Why don't you just use your distro's package manager to install
     grub-efi?

     ------------------------------

     Message: 2
     Date: Wed, 27 Mar 2024 17:53:10 +0000
     From: Eduardo Suarez <esuarez@itccanarias.org>
     To: Randy Goldenberg <randy.goldenberg@gmail.com>
     Cc: Grub <help-grub@gnu.org>
     Subject: Re: Fwd: lmvid not found
     Message-ID: <ZgRdBnXjWUakRecc@itccanarias.org>
     Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"

     On Wed, Mar 27, 2024 at 09:55:42AM -0700, Randy Goldenberg wrote:
     > On Wed, Mar 27, 2024 at 8:09 AM Eduardo Suarez
     <esuarez@itccanarias.org>
     > wrote:
     >
     > >
     > > To me it seems that it is using the GPT module to open the LVM
     volume
     > > directly.
     > > Maybe GPT and LVM do not fit together for grub.
     > >
     >
     > I use grub on systems with storage managed with LVM, including
     /boot, and
     > have no issues.
     >
     > Why don't you just use your distro's package manager to install
     grub-efi?

     Do you mean to use the package manager to install a grub efi image
     directly on
     the EFI partition? I use a source code based distribution (exherbo
     linux), so I
     think there is no such thing.

     https://www.exherbolinux.org/docs/install-guide.html

     ------------------------------

     Message: 3
     Date: Wed, 27 Mar 2024 11:01:37 -0700
     From: Randy Goldenberg <randy.goldenberg@gmail.com>
     To: Eduardo Suarez <esuarez@itccanarias.org>
     Cc: Grub <help-grub@gnu.org>
     Subject: Re: Fwd: lmvid not found
     Message-ID:
     <CAMOQsSMUV7Vwq-CkjWba3vKSVRbEjQQ9_SHUWpx-0QY=jePbBQ@mail.gmail.com>
     Content-Type: text/plain; charset="UTF-8"

     I mean use a package manager in the usual way, to install a grub-efi
     package in your chroot.

     In the absence of a package manager, I suggest verifying that your
     vfat-formatted efi partition is mounted in your chroot at /boot/efi,
     and
     using a more explicit grub-install command:

     grub-install --target=x86_64-efi --efi-directory=/boot/efi
     --bootloader-id=<up to you> --recheck --no-floppy --debug

     On Wed, Mar 27, 2024 at 10:53 AM Eduardo Suarez
     <esuarez@itccanarias.org>
     wrote:

     > On Wed, Mar 27, 2024 at 09:55:42AM -0700, Randy Goldenberg wrote:
     > > On Wed, Mar 27, 2024 at 8:09 AM Eduardo Suarez
     <esuarez@itccanarias.org>
     > > wrote:
     > >
     > > >
     > > > To me it seems that it is using the GPT module to open the LVM
     volume
     > > > directly.
     > > > Maybe GPT and LVM do not fit together for grub.
     > > >
     > >
     > > I use grub on systems with storage managed with LVM, including
     /boot, and
     > > have no issues.
     > >
     > > Why don't you just use your distro's package manager to install
     > grub-efi?
     >
     > Do you mean to use the package manager to install a grub efi image
     > directly on
     > the EFI partition? I use a source code based distribution (exherbo
     linux),
     > so I
     > think there is no such thing.
     >
     > https://www.exherbolinux.org/docs/install-guide.html
     >
     >

     ------------------------------

     Message: 4
     Date: Wed, 27 Mar 2024 13:14:07 -0700
     From: Randy Goldenberg <randy.goldenberg@gmail.com>
     To: Marek Marczykowski-Górecki  <marmarek@invisiblethingslab.com>
     Cc: help-grub@gnu.org
     Subject: Re: Get/set UEFI variables or NVMe driver?
     Message-ID:
     <CAMOQsSO9dtX87jJW6iviMKrND81X-zfHKx2n1WwOLbPoTsiYGw@mail.gmail.com>
     Content-Type: text/plain; charset="UTF-8"

     In the firmware of the computer with the NVMe drive that grub does
     not
     "see", is there an option to set the SATA mode of the drive?  If so,
     does
     grub see the drive when SATA mode is set to AHCI?

     On Tue, Mar 26, 2024 at 6:01 PM Marek Marczykowski-Górecki <
     marmarek@invisiblethingslab.com> wrote:

     > Hi,
     >
     > Is there a command for getting/setting UEFI variables? I see
     > grub_efi_{get,set}_variable functions in the source code, but
     can't find
     > if it's connected to any command. Alternatively, is there an NVMe
     driver
     > for grub?
     >
     > I know the alternative looks a bit weird, so let me explain. I use
     > grub2-efi loaded over PXE to boot different systems depending on
     some
     > external settings (a config file loaded over network too). One of
     the
     > boot paths is booting Linux that is installed on the local disk.
     With
     > SATA it's simple - I can load grub.cfg from the local disk and
     jump
     > there. But for NVMe, grub doesn't see the disk when it's loaded
     from
     > network (my guess is that firmware doesn't load its NVMe driver
     when
     > booting from network). The same grub can access the disk when
     loaded
     > from local disk. My current workaround is booting Linux (loaded
     > from network too) that sets BootNext variable to local system and
     > reboot. Booting whole Linux kernel just for that feels silly...
     > So, I'd like to set the BootNext from grub directly.
     >
     > An NVMe driver would solve the problem for me too, but I guess
     that's
     > much more work (for a rather niche use case, I realise). And the
     BootNext
     > approach is more reliable anyway, because it ensures the grub
     version
     > matching its config, and would work with non-grub bootloader too.
     >
     > --
     > Best Regards,
     > Marek Marczykowski-Górecki
     > Invisible Things Lab
     >

     ------------------------------

     Message: 5
     Date: Wed, 27 Mar 2024 19:37:48 -0500
     From: JZB <jzb@z2zcorp.com>
     To: help-grub@gnu.org
     Subject: Re: Get/set UEFI variables or NVMe driver?
     Message-ID: <1db39123-cbff-417a-a7bf-853b5f713245@z2zcorp.com>
     Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8; format=flowed

     On 3/26/24 20:00, Marek Marczykowski-Górecki wrote:
     > Hi,
     >
     > Is there a command for getting/setting UEFI variables? I see
     > grub_efi_{get,set}_variable functions in the source code, but
     can't find
     > if it's connected to any command. Alternatively, is there an NVMe
     driver
     > for grub?
     >
     > I know the alternative looks a bit weird, so let me explain. I use
     > grub2-efi loaded over PXE to boot different systems depending on
     some
     > external settings (a config file loaded over network too). One of
     the
     > boot paths is booting Linux that is installed on the local disk.
     With
     > SATA it's simple - I can load grub.cfg from the local disk and
     jump
     > there. But for NVMe, grub doesn't see the disk when it's loaded
     from
     > network (my guess is that firmware doesn't load its NVMe driver
     when
     > booting from network). The same grub can access the disk when
     loaded
     > from local disk. My current workaround is booting Linux (loaded
     > from network too) that sets BootNext variable to local system and
     > reboot. Booting whole Linux kernel just for that feels silly...
     > So, I'd like to set the BootNext from grub directly.
     >
     > An NVMe driver would solve the problem for me too, but I guess
     that's
     > much more work (for a rather niche use case, I realise). And the
     BootNext
     > approach is more reliable anyway, because it ensures the grub
     version
     > matching its config, and would work with non-grub bootloader too.
     >

     Try this in your PXE grub.cfg:

     menuentry 'Local Boot'
     {
        exit
     }

     BIOS will interpret this as a failure and move on to the next device
     after PXE boot.  Arrange that in your boot order, and you should get
     your local NVMe boot.  Granted, its not very flexible, but the
     better
     solution would be more work and require that grub tell the BIOS to
     "reconnect" its partition driver (long story).

     --jzb

     ------------------------------

     Message: 6
     Date: Thu, 28 Mar 2024 10:55:05 +0000
     From: "Mathias Radtke" <m.radtke@uib.de>
     To: help-grub@gnu.org<help-grub@gnu.org>
     Subject: Problem with vmnext and grub2.12
     Message-ID:
     <kcEE.yho7g5jjQPW826rQL5yoOw.gAoVZP6A2gE@groupware.mz.uib.gmbh>
     Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8

     Hi
     Some of our vSphere VMs are using vmnext3 network cards.
     Grub2.12 is downloaded via TFTP onto the VMs. An embedded grub.cfg
     downloads a grub.cfg placed on a TFTP server.
     However since Grub 2.12 this doesn't work anymore.

     When executing the embeeded cfg the cursor stalls for a couple of
     seconds and returns to a grub shell.
     Using debug=all I see a lot of malloc calls and:
     kern/verifiers.c:212:verify:stringconfigfile
     (tftp,192.168.1.1)/path/grub.cfg, type: 2

     On the server side we do not see any TFTP requests.

     Switching to an E1000e or UEFI Mode fixes the issue and the embedded
     cfg succeeds in getting the requested file.
     But switching to E1000e gives other issues sometimes in the OS, so
     staying at vmnext would be greatly appreciated.

     Grub 2.06 works fine with vmnext3 in the same VM configuration.

     Any suggestion/idea where this might come from?

     Mathias Radtke
     Software Developer

     uib GmbH
     Bonifaziusplatz 1B
     55118 Mainz

     E-Mail: m.radtke@uib.de <mailto:m.radtke@uib.de>
     Telefon: +49 6131 27561 0

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     End of Help-grub Digest, Vol 193, Issue 9
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