Bug#601093: grub-common: wrong pathnames in linux menu entry in grub.cfg if kernel on separate filesystem

[Martin Dickopp]

Package: grub-common
Version: 1.98+20100804-6
Severity: important

Severity justification: Fails to boot the linux kernel.


/boot is an ext3 filesystem on /dev/sda1

/ is an ext3 filesystem on an LVM logical volume (/dev/mapper/vg-root)

When update-grub creates /boot/grub/grub.cfg, it writes the following
section for the linux kernel:

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/10_linux ###
menuentry 'Debian GNU/Linux, with Linux 2.6.32-5-amd64' --class debian --class gnu-linux --class gnu --class os {
        insmod part_msdos
        insmod ext2
        set root='(hd0,msdos1)'
        search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set 9d53cdf2-13b4-4bc5-beb2-c0e681f1af13
        echo    'Loading Linux 2.6.32-5-amd64 ...'
        linux   /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.32-5-amd64 root=/dev/mapper/vg-root ro  
        echo    'Loading initial ramdisk ...'
        initrd  /boot/initrd.img-2.6.32-5-amd64
}
### END /etc/grub.d/10_linux ###

Instead of /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.32-5-amd64, the pathname
/vmlinuz-2.6.32-5-amd64 should be used; likewise for the initrd image.

It seems the issue lies either in how the grub-mkrelpath program
behaves or how it is invoked in /etc/grub.d/10_linux. 10_linux calls
'grub-mkrelpath /boot', which outputs '/boot'. I would have expected
an empty string.

The commands

  grub-mkrelpath /boot
  grub-mkrelpath /boot/
  grub-mkrelpath /boot/.

all output '/boot' while e.g.

  grub-mkrelpath /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.32-5-amd64

outputs '/vmlinuz-2.6.32-5-amd64'.

Thanks,
Martin


-- System Information:
Debian Release: squeeze/sid
  APT prefers testing
  APT policy: (500, 'testing'), (200, 'unstable')
Architecture: amd64 (x86_64)

Kernel: Linux 2.6.32-5-amd64 (SMP w/4 CPU cores)
Locale: LANG=C, LC_CTYPE=en_US.UTF-8 (charmap=UTF-8)
Shell: /bin/sh linked to /bin/dash

Versions of packages grub-common depends on:
ii  base-files              5.9              Debian base system miscellaneous f
ii  dpkg                    1.15.8.5         Debian package management system
ii  gettext-base            0.18.1.1-3       GNU Internationalization utilities
ii  install-info            4.13a.dfsg.1-5   Manage installed documentation in
ii  libc6                   2.11.2-6         Embedded GNU C Library: Shared lib
ii  libdevmapper1.02.1      2:1.02.48-3      The Linux Kernel Device Mapper use
ii  libfreetype6            2.4.2-1          FreeType 2 font engine, shared lib
ii  zlib1g                  1:1.2.3.4.dfsg-3 compression library - runtime

Versions of packages grub-common recommends:
pn  os-prober                     <none>     (no description available)

Versions of packages grub-common suggests:
pn  grub-emu                      <none>     (no description available)
pn  multiboot-doc                 <none>     (no description available)
pn  xorriso                       <none>     (no description available)

-- no debconf information