Bug#1056764: grub-efi-amd64: can't boot with GRUB 2.12~rc1-12

[Mate Kukri]

Hello all,

An idea for a workaround I have on such machines is to add an
environment variable (or some other option) to GRUB that let's GRUB
use the legacy-x86 kernel entry point even if the EFI stub appears
supported (of course only with UEFI Secure Boot disabled).

Based on previous discussion, it unfortunately seems that this isn't
strictly a GRUB issue, and the problem comes from GRUB switching
to booting the kernel using the method now preferred by upstream.

Mate

On Thu, Jan 25, 2024 at 2:21 AM Nicolas Haller <nicolas at boiteameuh.org> wrote:
>
> On 2024-01-23 08:15, Julian Andres Klode wrote:
> > Control: severity -1 important
> >
> > On Sat, Nov 25, 2023 at 05:36:41PM -0500, Nicolas Haller wrote:
> >> Package: grub-efi-amd64
> >> Version: 2.06-13
> >> Severity: critical
> >> Justification: breaks the whole system
> >>
> >> Dear Maintainer,
> >>
> >> My old laptop (Lenovo 11e) runs Sid and all was right before I updated
> >> it the other day (I don't do that very often). After that upgrade, GRUB
> >> wasn't able to load any kernel with the pretty much generic error
> >> "Error: can't load image". The version of GRUB was 2.12~rc1-12.
> >> If I try to boot again, GRUB tells me that I need to load the image
> >> first (I guess it somehow ignores the linux command and sends that when
> >> trying to load the initrd).
> >
> > I'm downgrading this bug severity, as a single system regressing in
> > boot ability is not release critical. It is not possible for us to
> > ensure that grub continues working on every single device out there,
> > this grub will work for more hardware than previous grubs, and blocking
> > the transition to testing because it doesn't work on your 11e is not
> > helping anyone.
> >
> > We have now also uploaded 2.12-1 and of course we welcome any patches,
> > but an old Lenovo 11e is not a priority, and we don't have any to test
> > ourselves.
> > --
> > debian developer - deb.li/jak | jak-linux.org - free software dev
> > ubuntu core developer                              i speak de, en
> >
>
> Hello Julian,
>
> I'm not sure why the aggressive tone here, I was asked if this bug
> breaks my system and it does. How you want to handle this is up to you.
> I think GRUB is a critical piece of a Linux system and I thought it was
> worth to report the issue I encounter.
>
> As I mentioned, my Lenovo isn't the newest one but it's not an esoteric
> hardware either. It's a pretty regular amd64 laptop.
>
> To be honest, I'm a bit concerned that GRUB failed where it wasn't
> before (I would called that a regression) but also that it fails without
> giving any error message or any kind of clue that could help to debug this.
>
> I'm not a debian or ubuntu core developer and I don't know the first
> thing about how to develop or debug a boot loader. Asking me for patches
> isn't helping anyone.
>
> If you have any suggestion in order to fix or just to diagnose the
> issue, feel free to share that with me. Meanwhile, I'll try 2.12.1 and
> look for an upgrade as Jeremy suggested.
>
> Have a nice day,
>
> --
> Nicolas Haller
>
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