[workaround] GRUB2 scripts not giving me background or resolution

[doctordruidphd]

Has anyone managed to navigate the maze of GRUB2 scripts well enough to help with this?

In Karmic, I am able to set the grub menu resolution, and get a background image. Works fine. Exactly the same scripts fail to give me anything above the default resolution, and no background image. One alternative is to just manually make a grub.cfg, but I would like to get it sorted out.

Here is what the header for grub.cfg in Karmic looks like (the one that works right):

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/00_header ###
if [ -s /boot/grub/grubenv ]; then
 have_grubenv=true
 load_env
fi
set default="0"
if [ ${prev_saved_entry} ]; then
 saved_entry=${prev_saved_entry}
 save_env saved_entry
 prev_saved_entry=
 save_env prev_saved_entry
fi
insmod ext2
set root=(hd1,2)
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set a09aa7df-f040-4186-9bd6-6c99f1ed0208
if loadfont /usr/share/grub/unicode.pf2 ; then
 set gfxmode=1024x768x16
 # set gfxpayload=
 insmod gfxterm
 insmod vbe
 if terminal_output gfxterm ; then true ; else
  # For backward compatibility with versions of terminal.mod that don't
  # understand terminal_output
  terminal gfxterm
 fi
fi
if [ ${recordfail} = 1 ]; then
 set timeout=-1
else
 set timeout=10
fi
### END /etc/grub.d/00_header ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/05_debian_theme ###
insmod ext2
set root=(hd1,2)
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set a09aa7df-f040-4186-9bd6-6c99f1ed0208
insmod tga
if background_image /boot/grub/alienware.tga ; then
 set color_normal=green/black
 set color_highlight=light-red/black
else
 set menu_color_normal=green/black
 set menu_color_highlight=light-red/black
fi
### END /etc/grub.d/05_debian_theme ###

And here is the same part of the file in Lucid, that doesn't work:

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/00_header ###
if [ -s $prefix/grubenv ]; then
 load_env
fi
set default="0"
if [ ${prev_saved_entry} ]; then
 set saved_entry=${prev_saved_entry}
 save_env saved_entry
 set prev_saved_entry=
 save_env prev_saved_entry
 set boot_once=true
fi

function savedefault {
 if [ -z ${boot_once} ]; then
  saved_entry=${chosen}
  save_env saved_entry
 fi
}

function recordfail {
 set recordfail=1
 if [ -n ${have_grubenv} ]; then if [ -z ${boot_once} ]; then save_env recordfail; fi; fi
}
if [ ${recordfail} = 1 ]; then
 set timeout=-1
else
 set timeout=10
fi
### END /etc/grub.d/00_header ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/05_debian_theme ###
set menu_color_normal=green/black
set menu_color_highlight=light-red/black
### END /etc/grub.d/05_debian_theme ###

There is quite a bit of stuff missing from the 00_header and 05_debian_theme parts, namely everything that specifies what the menu should look like. There are a bunch of "tests" throughout the 00 and 05 scripts, one or more of which is failing, and therefore not giving me the menu I am trying to get.

It would appear that this is the part of 00_header that is failing:

case ${GRUB_TERMINAL_INPUT}:${GRUB_TERMINAL_OUTPUT} in
 serial:* | *:serial)
  if ! test -e ${grub_prefix}/serial.mod ; then
   echo "Serial terminal not available on this platform." >&2 ; exit 1
  fi

  if [ "x${GRUB_SERIAL_COMMAND}" = "x" ] ; then
   grub_warn "Requested serial terminal but GRUB_SERIAL_COMMAND is unspecified. Default parameters will be used."
   GRUB_SERIAL_COMMAND=serial
  fi
  echo "${GRUB_SERIAL_COMMAND}"
 ;;
esac

case x${GRUB_TERMINAL_INPUT} in
 x)
  # Just use the native terminal
 ;;
 x*)
  cat << EOF
if terminal_input ${GRUB_TERMINAL_INPUT} ; then true ; else
 # For backward compatibility with versions of terminal.mod that don't
 # understand terminal_input
 terminal ${GRUB_TERMINAL_INPUT}
fi
EOF
 ;;
esac

case x${GRUB_TERMINAL_OUTPUT} in
 xgfxterm)
  # Make the font accessible
  prepare_grub_to_access_device `${grub_probe} --target=device ${GRUB_FONT_PATH}`

  cat << EOF
if loadfont `make_system_path_relative_to_its_root ${GRUB_FONT_PATH}` ; then
 set gfxmode=${GRUB_GFXMODE}
 set gfxpayload=${GRUB_GFXPAYLOAD}
 insmod gfxterm
 insmod ${GRUB_VIDEO_BACKEND}
 if terminal_output gfxterm ; then true ; else
  # For backward compatibility with versions of terminal.mod that don't
  # understand terminal_output
  terminal gfxterm
 fi
fi
EOF
 ;;
 x)
  # Just use the native terminal
 ;;
 x*)
  cat << EOF
if terminal_output ${GRUB_TERMINAL_OUTPUT} ; then true ; else
 # For backward compatibility with versions of terminal.mod that don't
 # understand terminal_output
 terminal ${GRUB_TERMINAL_OUTPUT}
fi
EOF
 ;;
esac

the third "case" is the part that needs to succeed to write the proper header. Any ideas how I can force it to do so?

And the 05_debian_theme:

#!/bin/bash -e

source /usr/lib/grub/grub-mkconfig_lib

# this allows desktop-base to override our settings
f=/usr/share/desktop-base/grub_background.sh
if test -e ${f} ; then
 source ${f}
else
 WALLPAPER="/boot/grub/alienware.tga"
 COLOR_NORMAL="green/black"
 COLOR_HIGHLIGHT="light-red/black"
fi

set_mono_theme()
{
 cat << EOF
set menu_color_normal=green/black
set menu_color_highlight=light-red/black
EOF
}

# check for usable backgrounds
use_bg=false
if [ "$GRUB_TERMINAL_OUTPUT" = "gfxterm" ] ; then
 for i in /boot/grub/`basename ${WALLPAPER}` ${WALLPAPER} ; do
  if is_path_readable_by_grub $i ; then 
   bg=$i
   case ${bg} in
    *.png)     reader=png ;;
    *.tga)     reader=tga ;;
    *.jpg|*.jpeg)  reader=jpeg ;;
   esac
   if test -e /boot/grub/${reader}.mod ; then
    echo "Found background image: `basename ${bg}`" >&2
    use_bg=true
    break
   fi
  fi
 done
fi

# set the background if possible
if ${use_bg} ; then
 prepare_grub_to_access_device `${grub_probe} --target=device ${bg}`
 cat << EOF
insmod ${reader}
if background_image `make_system_path_relative_to_its_root ${bg}` ; then
 set color_normal=${COLOR_NORMAL}
 set color_highlight=${COLOR_HIGHLIGHT}
else
EOF
fi

# otherwise, set a monochromatic theme for Ubuntu
if ${use_bg} ; then
 set_mono_theme | sed -e "s/^/ /g"
 echo "fi"
else
 set_mono_theme
fi

OK, this is a bash script, and the whole part about setting WALLPAPER, COLOR_NROMAL and COLOR_HIGHLIGHT is failing. Maybe something about this doesn't like my system? Tough, any ideas how I can force the scripts to succeed?

Thanks, I know this is probably a bash scripting issue, any help would be instructive.

[doctordruidphd]

Re: GRUB2 scripts not giving me background or resolution

Workaround:

Since I gave up trying to figure out the scripts, here's what I did:

copied 40_custom to 06_custom

chmod'd 05_debian_theme to a-x

chmod'd 06_custom to a+x

Copied the (working) parts of the debian-theme generated scripts from grub.cfg from my karmic system to 06_custom.

In addition, added entries in 06_custom to boot the various systems I have from the symbolic links, which will boot the latest kernels, irrespective of updates.

ran update-grub

What I get is the boot menu, background image, and resolution I want. I also get a short menu of the systems I have, that can boot them to their latest kernels. the 10_linux script then inserts its usual stuff after that, which gets really ugly because the update-grub's on the other systems pick up the 06_custom entries and start adding them on top of each other. So the rest of the grub menu is a major mess, but I suppose if I ever need to use it, I could find what I needed.

Well maybe someday I'll spend the bucks for a bash scripting book (I <flame=nuclear> hate <flame=off> "on-line" books and references) and figure out how to do it right.