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 * Filesystems haven't been proof-tested with 64-bit offsets (2 TiB disks). Not really a regression (Legacy GRUB has the same problem), but it'll become critical in the future. There's a task for this in upstream: http://savannah.gnu.org/task/?7667

This page is about migrating GRUB Legacy to GRUB 2.

Initial proposal sent by Otavio: http://lists.debian.org/debian-release/2007/04/msg00328.html

Improvements we already have

This list skips the obvious about cleaner design, etc etc. Only tangible improvements here.

  • update-grub rewrite. Modular design, extensibility, etc. Will now be part of the upstream package.
  • UTF-8 in menu.
  • grub.cfg is scriptable.
  • 64-bit detection on x86 ("cpuid" command): needed for multi-arch DVDs.
  • GPT (also for non-EFI systems).

  • Integrated win32 boot (grub4dos-like) functionality (see grubutil-win32 and win32-loader packages).

Improvements that still need some work

  • EFI: Mandatory for Intel-Mac. Probably others during lenny life period.

  • LinuxBIOS: Merged in upstream. Still not mature (see [http://grub.enbug.org/LinuxBIOS]).

  • pATA driver: Merged upstream. Missing PCI support.
  • gettext: Not implemented, should be trivial though.

  • powerpc: New port. No support yet for loading Mac OS X, so not yet usable to multiboot [PowerMacs:PowerMac] and PowerBooks.

  • CDROM support. Not really important since Debian isn't using GRUB for CD boot atm, but it might be an interesting option for lenny. Upstream has an ongoing SoC project about it.

Regressions

  • splash screen: mostly completed. see bug 459352

  • XFS is implemented, but doesn't work too well: much like GRUB Legacy. Not really a regression in fact ;-).
  • grub-reboot
  • "hiddenmenu" option
  • Weird hardware RAID paths (e.g. /dev/fubar/bazXsY). Check for regressions there (see [grub]/lib/device.c)
  • lock / password mechanism.

  • LVM / software RAID: too buggy :-(

  • No documentation!

  • Filesystems haven't been proof-tested with 64-bit offsets (2 TiB disks). Not really a regression (Legacy GRUB has the same problem), but it'll become critical in the future. There's a task for this in upstream: http://savannah.gnu.org/task/?7667