On Thu, Dec 15, 2011 at 4:55 AM, Thomas Bächler <thomas@archlinux.org> wrote:
Am 15.12.2011 10:40, schrieb Dieter Plaetinck:
Why exactly don't we list partitions anymore? (see https://github.com/Dieterbe/aif/commit/55190c0c81fc76f8b2b3983e790f2c7aacf4e...) IIRC you said it shouldn't be really needed, but turns out it is: https://bugs.archlinux.org/task/25726 see also http://mailman.archlinux.org/pipermail/arch-releng/2011-March/001557.html
so we should probably list again all blockdevices (partitions and devices themselves)
Last time I tried installing grub into a partition (which is a while ago), it kept complaining a lot and refusing to install. Grub is weird that way.
My rationale is this:
1.) You want to chainload grub: There is no need to chainload grub. If you want to use grub from a different system, you can just add Arch to that grub instance manually.
2.) You don't want to chainload grub: Put it in the MBR then.
More importantly: Don't use grub, use syslinux (which will always install in the /boot partition).
Chainloading is useful because it allows each distribution to manage its menu.lst separately. Consider a user running Debian, Ubuntu, and Arch. Debian and Ubuntu both include several past kernels in their menus as well as a handful of other recovery options. By installing one system-wide GRUB instance to the MBR and distribution-specific instances to each partition, the upgrade procedure is greatly simplified. When booting, this user first selects their desired distribution, then selects their desired kernel/fallback/recovery mode. Combining all three into one menu causes clutter. Yes, there are other (better and worse) ways to handle this, but why _remove_ functionality? I never experienced trouble installing GRUB to a partition. -- Des