Re: Grub2 almost does what I want

[Richard Owlett]

Andrey Borzenkov wrote:
> В Sat, 02 Feb 2013 08:47:37 -0600
> Richard Owlett <address@hidden> пишет:
>
> > I'm making a series of almost identical installs of Debian
> > Squeeze (6.0.5)
> > [Grub menu identifies itself as version 1.98+20100804+squeeze1]
> >
> > Using the Debian installer and Grub with their defaults
> > leaves me me with problems with the Grub menu for boot options.
> >
> > The latest installation goes to the top of the displayed
> > list and is also selected as the default OS to boot.
> > That is unsatisfactory as the first OS will will always be
> > closest to a standard install - i.e. most likely to run.
> > Also, when I have an install that I don't like, I would like
> > to eliminate it by simply deleting that partition and go on
> > to my next try.
>
> I am not sure what you mean. Do you mean installing new kernel or
> making completely separate installation in different partition?

I am making nearly identical instals to separate partitions.
All of them use the same kernel. Therefore the lines 
displayed on
the grub menu menu are identical except for partition 
information at
the end of the line.

> > Because all the installs are from the same DVD set, all
> > lines on the Grub menu are nearly identical. I'd like to
> > replace the kernel information with meaningful text.
>
> Could you show example of how entries looks like now and how you would
> change them?

All lines are of the form:

Debian GNU/Linux, with Linux 2.6.32-5-686 (on /dev/sda1)

I wish to replace "Debian GNU/Linux, with Linux 
2.6.32-5-686" with a
descriptive phrase entered after that particular install has 
been completed.
I want that descriptive phrase to remain associated with 
that install instance.

> > Each install adds an associated "recovery mode" option. I'd
> > like to eliminate those. For what I'm doing, if "recovery"
> > required it is time to wipe disk and start over again.
>
> GRUB_DISABLE_RECOVERY=yes in /etc/default/grub. I do not know whether
> this was available with 1.98 already.

I will check. It would be primarily an aesthetic improvement.

> > Do I have any options except following full manual edit of
> > grub.cfg?
>
> If you have ideas how to improve generation of grub.cfg that are generic
> enough, it is always possible to submit patch (or attract someone to
> write patch to implement them :) )

I suspect that whatever I'd come up with would be tied too 
tightly to how I think AND
my current project.

> > [my reading of
> > http://www.gnu.org/software/grub/manual/grub.html suggests I
> > don't.]
> >
> > TIA