Grub - Boot Loader

# Modified by YaST2. Last modification on Sun Aug 17 19:17:07 2003


color white/blue black/light-gray
default 0
timeout 8

title linux
* * kernel (hd0,0)/vmlinuz root=/dev/hdb6 vga=0x31a* splash=silent showopts
* * initrd (hd0,0)/initrd

title floppy
* * root (fd0)
* * chainloader +1

title failsafe
* * kernel (hd0,0)/vmlinuz.shipped root=/dev/hdb6 showopts ide=nodma apm=off acpi=off vga=normal nosmp noapic maxcpus=0 3
* * initrd (hd0,0)/initrd.shipped

You can also add other options to the end of these kernel lines for example.

I tried editing this menu but it's inaccessable. Which program should I open with?

you should be able to edit it with any text editor. Vi, VIM, Nano, kwrite should work. This file can only be edited by root or superuser I believe.

I'm in the SuperUser and or Root in the Terminal. It wont let me open it. Permission Denied.

I use YaST to configure it. System > Boot Loader Configuration.

Toniee, try this. Open a terminal or shell prompt. Use "su" to become root. Now do "cd /boot/grub" to get to the location of the file. Now type "cat menu.lst". This will dump the contents of the file to the terminal, if you just want to look at it.

If you want to edit it, one way is "pico menu.lst" but be careful!

Originally posted by catphish+Apr 10 2004, 13:06--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (catphish @ Apr 10 2004, 13:06)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'>strictly, this file should be called 'grub.conf' not 'menu.lst' although both work at the present time.[/b]

Why do you say that?

The GRUB documentation states that the configuration file should be called menu.lst and be located under '/boot/', it doesn't even mention 'grub.conf' (or even 'conf '). The only time I seem to remember seeing a GRUB configuration called grub.conf was in Red Hat. SUSE has a file called 'grub.conf' but this lives in '/etc/' and is SUSE configuration file for GRUB, which tells SUSE what GRUB commands to use to install it (the file is not used directly buy GRUB).

<!--QuoteBegin-mgardener
If you want to edit it, one way is "pico menu.lst" but be careful![/quote]

Be careful, and make a backup too. I find any easy way to make a backup of file is to create a copy appended with the date and time e.g. 'cp /boot/grub/menu.lst /boot/grub/menu.list.$(date +%Y%d%m%H%M)'. It is a bit much too much type every time I want to back up a file so I have added a bash function to root's ~/.bashrc :

function backup ()
{
 *datestamp=$(date +%Y%m%d%H%M);
 *if [[ ! -f $1 ]]; then
 * *echo "backup: \`$1' does not exist or is not a regular file";
 *elif [[ -e $1.$datestamp ]]; then
 * *echo "backup: \`$1.$datestamp' already exists";
 *else
 * *cp $1 $1.$datestamp;
 *fi;
}

Yes, I can confirm the above post as I come from the Red Hat background (where they do all
kinds of weird stuff that I'm going to try to get away from and migrate to SuSE). Having
built GRUB from source and installed it several times on distro's that only provide LILO (which
I just don't like that much), the "official" name of the file is "menu.lst" and this comes
directly from the source documentation.

By the way, Grub 2 is in development and might be interesting.

Here is my question, being new to SuSE.

On Kernel updates. First, when YaST updates a Kernel, does it install the new kernel alongside
the old kernel, or does it replace the kernel. Second: When YaST updates the kernel, it looks
as if GRUB is automatically updated (menu.lst). If the TWO or MORE kernels are there (not
replaced, but added) will the GRUB list include the choice of accumulated kernels?

Third: I was in the habit previously, when I wanted to dump an old kernel (I like to keep at
least the LAST one alongside the CURRENT one...but dump the really old ones), of using
and rpm -qa | grep kernel command to check current status. After seeing the list I would
MANUALLY with rpm, remove the old kernels and GRUB would also be updated automatically.
Will this work in SuSE?

I really like the YaST thing, but old habits will die hard, and I will continue to do many
things directly from the command line, so I need answers to these questions, if available.

Thanks for your input

I ****ing hate Lilo with a passion. Sorry for the French, but Linspire uses Lilo as the default, and it completely makes life hell when it is set to rewrite on reboot.

I'm only using LILO here as grub isn't even able to boot my system. LILO is just a bit simpler but works almost exactly the same way as grub does