Bug#475718: Bug #475718 grub gets confused by hybrid apple/pc partmap

[Chris Knadle]

On Friday 25 July 2008, Robert Millan wrote:
> On Fri, Jul 25, 2008 at 07:36:25PM -0400, Chris Knadle wrote:
> >    If you ask me, I think this unfortunately looks like a complex
> > detection problem -- which I think is eventually going to start with a
> > *successful* detection of the Apple partition (because Apple + PC
> > partitions can co-exist), followed by somehow *rejecting* that based on
> > not finding any Apple HFS+ partitions (avoiding scanning partition 0),
> > re-detecting partmaps (avoiding the failed Apple detection), and then
> > going from there.  :-/  I've been thinking about that problem.  No matter
> > how I look at this issue, it's messy.
>
> It can't be so complicated;  your layout is properly detected on Linux,
> isn't it?

   Ah.  Yes I suppose that's true, and it gives me a thought -- I suspect it 
may be due to the Linux kernel being built on the PC architecture.  I *think* 
all of the Apple boxes that run a PC architecture use EFI and the GPT 
partition scheme rather than the Apple one -- so it might be possible to 
simply not include Apple detection based on a decision at compile time.  And 
that's likely to be much easier to code.

> Maybe we just need to give preference to MSDOS partitions.

   Hmm.  If we do that, will that avoid the problem if the hybrid disk is in 
an Apple?  [I haven't tested it.]

> Btw, adding grub-devel to CC.  Let's try to have discussions in upstream
> list..

   Sounds good to me.

   -- Chris

-- 

Chris Knadle
Chris.Knadle at coredump.us