[SOLVED] have to manually tweak Grub.cfg after each update

[darkduck]

Hi,
I made a search in the forum, but have not found anything answering my question.

I have 4 systems on the HDD: WinXP, Ubuntu, Kubuntu and PuppyLinux.
Grub2 is controlled by Kubuntu. I manually tweak grub.cfg to re-sort items there, decrease waiting time.
After each serious update of Kubuntu (where new kernel gets installed), grub.cfg file get re-written. I have to do sorting exercise again.
Also, Puppy is never found by update-grub, so I need to add record into grub.cfg manually. This step is rather annoying.
Question: is there any way to keep records and order of them in grub.cfg during update? Or add new records to the top/bottom of grub.cfg, so I can re-arrange them later?

[Detonate]

Re: have to manually tweak Grub.cfg after each update

In Grub2 you don't edit the grub.cfg file directly. This file is automatically created by the settings in the the /etc/default/grub and in the files in etc/grub.d when sudo update-grub is run. See this post for more info.
http://kubuntuforums.net/forums/inde...opic=3106368.0

[claydoh]

Re: have to manually tweak Grub.cfg after each update

you shouldn't edit grub.cfg directly, you would probably want to read this:

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Grub2
basically, you edit things in /etc/default/grub (various bootup options) and /etc/grub.d (custom boot entries)

there are a variety of files that can be edited to do different things. I don't see how to customize the OS listing order, but if you can add the puppy entry to the
/etc/grub.d/40_custom
and it will added each time you run update-grub, or install an updated kernel.

The only way I know to reduce the number of Ubuntu kernel entries is to uninstall any unused ones.

BUT
I just found this
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/StartUpManager
which can graphically do some tasks for you (but not all). I do not see an easy way to customize the actual order of the OS's in the grub window without disabling the os-prober and having 100% custom grub entries added to the 40_custom file

[darkduck]

Re: have to manually tweak Grub.cfg after each update

I do not see an easy way to customize the actual order of the OS's in the grub window without disabling the os-prober and having 100% custom grub entries added to the 40_custom file

I read link in Detonate's post. Understand that I can manually add Puppy via 40_custom file. Looks OK for me.

I also understand I cannot re-arrange the order of systems in grub.
What I actually need is automatic booting of WinXP during system startup, unless I manually choose Linux system in grub menu. I do this now by setting WinXP as first in the list, then SET_DEFAULT = 0.
As soon as update_grub changes grub.cfg, WinXP gets moved to the bottom of the list (os_prober section), and Kubuntu comes as first system -> boots automatically.
Is there any sensible way to get this sorted?

[claydoh]

Re: have to manually tweak Grub.cfg after each update

yes, you can
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Gr...b%20%28file%29
GRUB_DEFAULT=3 <<--- change this number to whatever entry you wish , the first being 0
or
GRUB_DEFAULT="windows os entry" <<--whatever the exact title is listed for windows (with the quotes)
You can set this using StartupManager as well

[Detonate]

Re: have to manually tweak Grub.cfg after each update

StartupManager is a handy dandy little program.

[kubicle]

Re: have to manually tweak Grub.cfg after each update

I also understand I cannot re-arrange the order of systems in grub.

Well...you can if you change the order of the scripts in /etc/grub.d, the scripts are run in numerical order when generating grub.cfg.

claydoh's suggestion is usually better, though.

[darkduck]

Re: have to manually tweak Grub.cfg after each update

Claydoh, thanks for you GRUB_DEFAULT="Windows name" idea. It works!
I also tried StartupManager. Not sure it is useful though... There is not much you can do actually with it.
I also copied os-prober from 30 to 06, and added Puppy into 40.
I now get all the systems I want, and in order I want. WinXP comes first with all Linuxes follow.

Another point, which I absolutely forgot first time. As I said, I have both Ubuntu and Kubuntu. GRUB recognizes all of them as Ubuntu. So, I can only guess by partition ID which system is actually meant there. Is there any way to automatically name Kubuntu as Kubuntu and Ubuntu as Ubuntu?

[Snowhog]

Re: have to manually tweak Grub.cfg after each update

Is there any way to automatically name Kubuntu as Kubuntu and Ubuntu as Ubuntu?

Automatically? No. All the *buntus are running on the same kernel - Ubuntu. Kubuntu just denotes the DE (Desktop Environment) being used - KDE.

One has to modify the Grub2 user config files.

[darkduck]

Re: have to manually tweak Grub.cfg after each update

One has to modify the Grub2 user config files.

Does it mean "edit the grub.cfg file directly"?

[Snowhog]

Re: have to manually tweak Grub.cfg after each update

No. The 'user' configuration files for Grub2. The ones in /etc/grub.d/ that kubicle already mentioned.

[darkduck]

Re: have to manually tweak Grub.cfg after each update

Ok, got it.
Did not find how to rename Ubuntu into Kubuntu, but made it another way...
In 10_linux changed into

title="$(gettext_quoted "%s, KDE with Linux %s")"

from

title="$(gettext_quoted "%s, with Linux %s")"

No such change in 30_os-prober.
That's enough for me. Now I can see where Kubuntu is.

[Snowhog]

Re: [SOLVED] have to manually tweak Grub.cfg after each update

Oh the ways of Linux!

[oshunluvr]

Re: [SOLVED] have to manually tweak Grub.cfg after each update

Researching something from a similar thread, I discovered the name given in the grub menu comes from /etc/lsb-release. Editing this file does indeed change the output of grub-update.

However, it also changes the menuentry in grub.cfg --class= to kubuntu also.

I cannot find any documentation as to what this variable does.