Bug 79896 - grubby --bootloader-probe fails to find lilo with software raid
Summary: grubby --bootloader-probe fails to find lilo with software raid
Keywords:
Status: CLOSED RAWHIDE
Alias: None
Product: Red Hat Linux
Classification: Retired
Component: mkinitrd
Version: 8.0
Hardware: i386
OS: Linux
medium
low
Target Milestone: ---
Assignee: Erik Troan
QA Contact: David Lawrence
URL:
Whiteboard:
Depends On:
Blocks:
TreeView+ depends on / blocked
 
Reported: 2002-12-17 21:31 UTC by Philip Ross
Modified: 2007-04-18 16:49 UTC (History)
0 users

Fixed In Version:
Clone Of:
Environment:
Last Closed: 2003-01-14 22:19:33 UTC
Embargoed:


Attachments (Terms of Use)
My /etc/raidtab (891 bytes, text/plain)
2003-01-14 21:55 UTC, Philip Ross
no flags Details

Description Philip Ross 2002-12-17 21:31:55 UTC
From Bugzilla Helper:
User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.0; en-US; rv:1.2.1) Gecko/20021130

Description of problem:
Versions 21.4.3 and up of lilo have support for automatically working out where
to install the bootloader in RAID 1 setups. This allows you to set boot=/dev/mdX
(where mdX is the /boot partition) and have lilo automatically install the
bootloader to the boot sectors of the drives making up the RAID array. See
http://www.elliott-turbo.com/lilo/.

When lilo.conf includes the line boot=/dev/mdX, 'grubby --bootloader-probe' will
fail to return 'lilo' as expected since the bootloader has been installed to
/dev/hdX instead of /dev/mdX. If the lilo.conf file is changed so boot=/dev/hdX,
'grubby --bootloader-probe' works as expected (returning 'lilo').

This problem prevents kernel and other upgrades from reinstalling lilo when
required.

Version-Release number of selected component (if applicable):


How reproducible:
Always

Steps to Reproduce:
1. Install Red Hat with a RAID 1 mirrored /boot partition.
2. Setup lilo using boot=/dev/mdX and install.
3. Run grubby --bootloader-probe which will not return anything.
4. Setup lilo using boot=/dev/hdX and reinstall.
5. Run grubby --bootloader-probe. This will now return 'lilo'.
    

Actual Results:  Step 3:

#grubby --bootloader-probe

<returns nothing>

Expected Results:  Step 3:

#grubby --bootloader-probe
lilo


Additional info:

Comment 1 Philip Ross 2002-12-17 22:23:35 UTC
I've just done a little investigation into the source for grubby and the problem
is that bootSect is read from the first 512 bytes of /dev/mdX, whereas lilo
actually installs itself to the boot sectors of the drives making up /dev/mdX
(e.g. /dev/hda and /dev/hdb). When boot is set to /dev/hda in lilo.conf, grubby
works correctly as bootSect is read from the first 512 bytes of /dev/hda.

Comment 2 Erik Troan 2003-01-14 21:36:16 UTC
do you have a correct /etc/raidtab sitting around?

Comment 3 Philip Ross 2003-01-14 21:55:05 UTC
Created attachment 89363 [details]
My /etc/raidtab

I've attached my current /etc/raidtab. With this RAID 1 setup 'grubby
--bootloader-probe' fails.

Comment 4 Erik Troan 2003-01-14 22:19:33 UTC
this should be fixed in mkinitrd > 3.4.43 -- want me to send you an rpm to test?

Comment 5 Philip Ross 2003-01-14 22:39:56 UTC
Yes please.

Comment 6 Jeremy Katz 2003-01-14 22:48:32 UTC
http://people.redhat.com/~katzj/mkinitrd/ has the newer package.

Comment 7 Philip Ross 2003-01-14 23:04:13 UTC
Thanks. The new version returns the correct result on my RAID 1 setup using lilo.

Will this fix be made available as an errata package for Redhat 8.0?


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