Bug#689710: grub-pc: Setting up grub-pc (1.99-23) ... very slow, with /boot mounted -o sync

[Thorsten Glaser]

Package: grub-pc
Version: 1.99-23
Severity: minor

Apparently, grub-pc deletes and copies every file by file
on /boot instead of batched: “ps ax” shows things like
“rm -f /boot/grub/videotest.mod” and
“cp -f /usr/lib/grub/i386-pc/help.mod /boot/grub”

This is very slow when /boot is an ext2fs with -o sync,noatime
as usual in older installations when the filesystem for / was
not quite as trusted or considered less safe.

-- Package-specific info:

*********************** BEGIN /proc/mounts
/dev/disk/by-uuid/9c0002f4-7824-4790-8891-e684482e0433 / reiserfs rw,relatime 0 0
/dev/vda1 /boot ext2 rw,sync,noatime,errors=continue 0 0
*********************** END /proc/mounts

*********************** BEGIN /boot/grub/device.map
(hd0)	/dev/vda
*********************** END /boot/grub/device.map

*********************** BEGIN /boot/grub/grub.cfg
#
# DO NOT EDIT THIS FILE
#
# It is automatically generated by grub-mkconfig using templates
# from /etc/grub.d and settings from /etc/default/grub
#

### 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 load_video {
  insmod vbe
  insmod vga
  insmod video_bochs
  insmod video_cirrus
}

insmod part_msdos
insmod reiserfs
set root='(hd0,msdos3)'
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root 9c0002f4-7824-4790-8891-e684482e0433
if loadfont /usr/share/grub/unicode.pf2 ; then
  set gfxmode=640x480
  load_video
  insmod gfxterm
  insmod part_msdos
  insmod ext2
  set root='(hd0,msdos1)'
  search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root 8bd93405-542c-41f7-a8e3-761a3775bb7c
  set locale_dir=($root)/grub/locale
  set lang=en_GB
  insmod gettext
fi
terminal_output gfxterm
set timeout=5
### END /etc/grub.d/00_header ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/05_debian_theme ###
set menu_color_normal=cyan/blue
set menu_color_highlight=white/blue
### END /etc/grub.d/05_debian_theme ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/10_linux ###
menuentry 'Debian GNU/Linux, with Linux 3.2.0-3-686-pae' --class debian --class gnu-linux --class gnu --class os {
	insmod gzio
	insmod part_msdos
	insmod ext2
	set root='(hd0,msdos1)'
	search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root 8bd93405-542c-41f7-a8e3-761a3775bb7c
	echo	'Loading Linux 3.2.0-3-686-pae ...'
	linux	/vmlinuz-3.2.0-3-686-pae root=UUID=9c0002f4-7824-4790-8891-e684482e0433 ro  quiet
	echo	'Loading initial ramdisk ...'
	initrd	/initrd.img-3.2.0-3-686-pae
}
menuentry 'Debian GNU/Linux, with Linux 3.2.0-3-686-pae (recovery mode)' --class debian --class gnu-linux --class gnu --class os {
	insmod gzio
	insmod part_msdos
	insmod ext2
	set root='(hd0,msdos1)'
	search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root 8bd93405-542c-41f7-a8e3-761a3775bb7c
	echo	'Loading Linux 3.2.0-3-686-pae ...'
	linux	/vmlinuz-3.2.0-3-686-pae root=UUID=9c0002f4-7824-4790-8891-e684482e0433 ro single 
	echo	'Loading initial ramdisk ...'
	initrd	/initrd.img-3.2.0-3-686-pae
}
### END /etc/grub.d/10_linux ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/20_linux_xen ###
### END /etc/grub.d/20_linux_xen ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/30_os-prober ###
### END /etc/grub.d/30_os-prober ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/40_custom ###
# This file provides an easy way to add custom menu entries.  Simply type the
# menu entries you want to add after this comment.  Be careful not to change
# the 'exec tail' line above.
### END /etc/grub.d/40_custom ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/41_custom ###
if [ -f  $prefix/custom.cfg ]; then
  source $prefix/custom.cfg;
fi
### END /etc/grub.d/41_custom ###
*********************** END /boot/grub/grub.cfg

*********************** BEGIN /proc/mdstat
cat: /proc/mdstat: No such file or directory
*********************** END /proc/mdstat

*********************** BEGIN /dev/disk/by-id
ls: cannot access /dev/disk/by-id: No such file or directory
*********************** END /dev/disk/by-id

*********************** BEGIN /dev/disk/by-uuid
total 0
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 10 Sep  7 17:55 2bf2ce8f-680a-4f0a-a480-a4498a2486a1 -> ../../vda2
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 10 Sep  7 17:55 8bd93405-542c-41f7-a8e3-761a3775bb7c -> ../../vda1
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 10 Sep  7 17:55 9c0002f4-7824-4790-8891-e684482e0433 -> ../../vda3
*********************** END /dev/disk/by-uuid

-- System Information:
Debian Release: wheezy/sid
  APT prefers testing
  APT policy: (500, 'testing')
Architecture: i386 (i686)

Kernel: Linux 3.2.0-3-686-pae (SMP w/1 CPU core)
Locale: LANG=C, LC_CTYPE=en_GB.UTF-8 (charmap=UTF-8)
Shell: /bin/sh linked to /bin/mksh-static

Versions of packages grub-pc depends on:
ii  debconf [debconf-2.0]  1.5.46
ii  grub-common            1.99-23
ii  grub-pc-bin            1.99-23
ii  grub2-common           1.99-23
ii  ucf                    3.0025+nmu3

grub-pc recommends no packages.

grub-pc suggests no packages.

-- debconf information:
  grub-pc/kopt_extracted: false
  grub2/kfreebsd_cmdline:
  grub2/device_map_regenerated:
* grub-pc/install_devices: /dev/vda
  grub-pc/postrm_purge_boot_grub: false
  grub-pc/install_devices_failed_upgrade: true
  grub-pc/disk_description:
* grub2/linux_cmdline:
  grub-pc/install_devices_empty: false
  grub2/kfreebsd_cmdline_default: quiet
  grub-pc/partition_description:
  grub-pc/install_devices_failed: false
  grub-pc/install_devices_disks_changed:
* grub2/linux_cmdline_default: quiet
  grub-pc/chainload_from_menu.lst: true
  grub-pc/mixed_legacy_and_grub2: true