Grub and Kubuntu (Post-Install)

[void]

Hello everyone,

As a first time Kubuntu Dapper user, let me preface this post by commending the entire Kubuntu/Ubuntu community and Canonical for putting out the best damn "just works" Linux distro ever. To use the slogan of a certain successful corporation, "I'm loving it".

Now the problem. I'm not sure what exactly the installer did for the bootloader. I installed Kubuntu alongside pre-existing installations of WinXP and Gentoo 2.6.17, so the MBR already had a copy of GRUB on it. All evidence points to the conclusion that Kubuntu's installer clobbered the previous GRUB install. That's fine.
I would like your suggestions on which distro's grub to use. Since kernel upgrades are quite common in Gentoo, I would think the old grub (modified to accommodate Kubuntu, of course). But does Kubuntu rely on Kubuntu-specific grub features to coexist in harmony with other OSes, or is it safe to simply modify grub.conf on my Gentoo partition and grub-install away? Which method will lead to the least number of things breaking?

Thanks

[askrieger]

Re: Grub and Kubuntu (Post-Install)

The issue is compatibilty. As you may know, Grub forked recently(?) with the announcement of the "Grub2" line. Ubuntu uses Grub 0.93, aka "Grub-Legacy" in the current GNU parlance. Accordingly, if Gentoo is using a Grub2 bootloader, it may or may not be loadable with the Kubuntu version of grub and vice versa. Before doing anything, I would try to load both distros with your current bootloader. Then, I'd worry about the future.

[void]

Re: Grub and Kubuntu (Post-Install)

Thanks askrieger. I'm fairly certain my Gentoo install uses Grub1 but I have not yet booted into Gentoo since installing Kubuntu. I'm guessing it's safe to simply edit menu.lst and do "grub-install /dev/sda", or are there intermediate steps?

[askrieger]

Re: Grub and Kubuntu (Post-Install)

All you have to do is to add another stanza or two to menu.lst. I'd don't see any need to replace Grub.