GRUB menu.lst entry questions (boot splash verbosity)

Philip Amadeo Saeli

28 Dec 2003 28 Dec '03

06:51

Under SuSE Linux 9.0 (freshly installed), though I've edited an entry in the GRUB menu.lst, setting "splash=verbose", I still have to hit the "F2" key to get the boot messages, otherwise only the progress bar shows. After the system boots, looking at the contents of /proc/cmdline shows "splash=silent" in the cmdline!?! Where does that come from??? I've looked everywhere and haven't been able to solve this one! For reference, I've included relevant lines from my menu.lst. The first entry is the default one created by YaST during installation. The second one is the one I modified. The problem is that when I select the second entry, the boot splash is still silent. Also, I have some questions about some of the entries in the GRUB menu.lst to which I've not been able to find answers. Any help would be appreciated: 1. What does the "native" splash option mean (e.g., "splash=native")? I assume the other two ("silent" and "verbose") are as their names would suggest. 2. What does "showopts" mean??? I've looked everywhere and googled extensively and still can find no documentation on this one (I'even grepped the entire kernel source tree and "string"ed all the grub binaries looking for it!). I only found -one- message (on the web) that even addressed the term, but I couldn't really make sense of the explanation. I really wish that stuff like this would be at least minimally documented! Thanks, Phil ----- Begin included menu.lst entries ----- gfxmenu (hd0,1)/message color white/blue black/light-gray default 0 timeout 10 ###Don't change this comment - YaST2 identifier: Original name: linux### title Linux kernel (hd0,1)/vmlinuz root=/dev/hda8 vga=0x31A splash=silent desktop showop ts initrd (hd0,1)/initrd title SuSE Linux 9.0 Prof kernel (hd0,1)/vmlinuz root=/dev/hda8 vga=0x31A splash=verbose desktop showo pts initrd (hd0,1)/initrd ----- End included menu.lst entries ----- -- Philip Amadeo Saeli SuSE Linux 8.2 (soon 9.0, if I can get it working correctly ...) psaeli@zorodyne.com

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Philip Amadeo Saeli

28 Dec 28 Dec

08:50

New subject: [SLE] GRUB menu.lst entry questions (boot splash verbosity)

Shortly after I sent this message, I found more info WRT my questions, including an earlier (essentially unanswered) question to SLE: From: Donn Washburn Subject: [SLE] /boot/message problem Date: Mon, 26 May 2003 22:18:56 -0500 Message-ID: <3ED2D920.2080102@hal-pc.org> However, my main question remains unanswered. Comments below. * Philip Amadeo Saeli [2003.12.28 06:52]:

...

1. What does the "native" splash option mean (e.g., "splash=native")? I assume the other two ("silent" and "verbose") are as their names would suggest.

Native = non-graphical boot, i.e., the normal linux boot screen. (Found this by looking at the text strings inside the /boot/messge file, in a help section.)

...

2. What does "showopts" mean??? I've looked everywhere and googled extensively and still can find no documentation on this one (I'even grepped the entire kernel source tree and "string"ed all the grub binaries looking for it!). I only found -one- message (on the web) that even addressed the term, but I couldn't really make sense of the explanation.

I also found this string, several instances, in the /boot/message file. More scrounging about in my system revealed the gfxboot-devel RPM pkg which contains the files necessary to develop a graphical boot splash theme. A couple of files contained in that pkg shed some light on the issue: 1. /usr/share/gfxboot/SuSE/SuSE.config contains the code defining the usage of "showopts". 2. /usr/share/doc/packages/gfxboot/README details the syntax of the language used in the above gfxboot config file. So, basically, it looks like "showopts", if present, splits the kernel arg line into two parts, a hidden and shown part. Apparently, only the args following "showopts" are shown (whatever that means). I'm going to muck about with grub and see what I can come up with via trial and error. Still wish there were some real dox on this out there, though! Phil -- Philip Amadeo Saeli SuSE Linux 8.2 (9.0 soon? ...) psaeli@zorodyne.com

Joe Morris (NTM)

08:57

New subject: [SLE] GRUB menu.lst entry questions (boot splash verbosity)

On 12/28/2003 02:51 PM, Philip Amadeo Saeli wrote:

...

Under SuSE Linux 9.0 (freshly installed), though I've edited an entry in the GRUB menu.lst, setting "splash=verbose", I still have to hit the "F2" key to get the boot messages, otherwise only the progress bar shows.

How did you edit it? I believe you must still need to rewrite these changes to the MBR. It would be best to make these changes via Yast Bootloader Configuration.

...

After the system boots, looking at the contents of /proc/cmdline shows "splash=silent" in the cmdline!?! Where does that come from???

Original settings???

...

1. What does the "native" splash option mean (e.g., "splash=native")?

Don't know that one.

...

2. What does "showopts" mean???

From trial and error it means everything to its left is hidden, and everything to its right is shown on the bottom of the Grub boot screen. -- Joe Morris New Tribes Mission Email Address: Joe_Morris@ntm.org Web Address: http://www.mydestiny.net/~joe_morris Registered Linux user 231871 God said, I AM that I AM. I say, by the grace of God, I am what I am.

Philip Amadeo Saeli

09:30

New subject: [SLE] GRUB menu.lst entry questions (boot splash verbosity)

* Joe Morris (NTM) [2003.12.28 08:52]:

...

On 12/28/2003 02:51 PM, Philip Amadeo Saeli wrote:

...
Under SuSE Linux 9.0 (freshly installed), though I've edited an entry in the GRUB menu.lst, setting "splash=verbose", I still have to hit the "F2" key to get the boot messages, otherwise only the progress bar shows.

How did you edit it? I believe you must still need to rewrite these changes to the MBR. It would be best to make these changes via Yast Bootloader Configuration.

FWIK, with GRUB one does not have to update the boot blk (usually in the MBR) after changing the menu.lst file (as has to be done with lilo after modifying the lilo.conf). I'm used to editing config files by hand and still have a hard time trusting those newfangled GUI system config tools such as YaST, esp when you consider how complex they really are and how difficult it can be for their developer to get them correct, esp WRT boundary conditions.

...

...
After the system boots, looking at the contents of /proc/cmdline shows "splash=silent" in the cmdline!?! Where does that come from???

Original settings???

Right. Where are they specified? They are not in the menu.lst file, or any other grub-related file I can find. I still have to do some trial-and-error and see what else I can find out (probably sometime tomorrow, though, it's now after my [prudent] bedtime!).

...

...
2. What does "showopts" mean???

From trial and error it means everything to its left is hidden, and everything to its right is shown on the bottom of the Grub boot screen.

Ok, this is consistent with the code I found in the gfxboot-devel pkg. I guess that means that you can see and edit the non-hidden part there in the bottom of the GRUB boot screen prior to booting? Thanks! -- Philip Amadeo Saeli SuSE Linux 8.2 (9.0 soon?) psaeli@zorodyne.com

Ken Schneider

14:06

New subject: [SLE] GRUB menu.lst entry questions (boot splash verbosity)

-----Original Message----- From: Philip Amadeo Saeli To: suse-linux-e@suse.com Date: Sun, 28 Dec 2003 01:30:33 -0800 Subject: Re: [SLE] GRUB menu.lst entry questions (boot splash verbosity)

...

* Joe Morris (NTM) [2003.12.28 08:52]:

...
On 12/28/2003 02:51 PM, Philip Amadeo Saeli wrote:

...
Under SuSE Linux 9.0 (freshly installed), though I've edited an entry in the GRUB menu.lst, setting "splash=verbose", I still have to hit the "F2" key to get the boot messages, otherwise only the progress bar shows.

Have a look at: /usr/share/doc/packages/suselinux-adminguide_en/html It has a rather large section on grub. Ken

Felix Miata

18:50

New subject: [SLE] GRUB menu.lst entry questions (boot splash verbosity)

Ken Schneider wrote:

...

Have a look at:

...

/usr/share/doc/packages/suselinux-adminguide_en/html

...

It has a rather large section on grub.

Typical hard to use Linux documentation. I looked in that page's index. Between groups and gs|seeGhostscript there is no grub to be found. -- "You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free." John 8:32 NIV Team OS/2 ** Reg. Linux User #211409 Felix Miata *** http://members.ij.net/mrmazda/

Patrick Shanahan

19:03

New subject: [SLE] GRUB menu.lst entry questions (boot splash verbosity)

* Felix Miata [12-28-03 13:50]:

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Ken Schneider wrote:

...
Have a look at:

...
/usr/share/doc/packages/suselinux-adminguide_en/html

...
It has a rather large section on grub.

Typical hard to use Linux documentation. I looked in that page's index. Between groups and gs|seeGhostscript there is no grub to be found.

then try: file:///usr/share/doc/packages/suselinux-adminguide_en/html/node8.html#SECTION03230000000000000000 -- Patrick Shanahan Registered Linux User #207535 http://wahoo.no-ip.org @ http://counter.li.org

Sid Boyce

20:16

New subject: [SLE] GRUB menu.lst entry questions (boot splash verbosity)

Felix Miata wrote:

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Ken Schneider wrote:

...
Have a look at:

...
/usr/share/doc/packages/suselinux-adminguide_en/html

...
It has a rather large section on grub.

Typical hard to use Linux documentation. I looked in that page's index. Between groups and gs|seeGhostscript there is no grub to be found.

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmm..... I brought up SuSEhelp, searched on grub and there it was, no more difficult than on anything else, some things are in sub-headings. Regards Sid. -- Sid Boyce .... Hamradio G3VBV and keen Flyer Linux Only Shop.

Paul W. Abrahams

29 Dec 29 Dec

00:58

New subject: [SLE] GRUB menu.lst entry questions (boot splash verbosity)

On Sunday 28 December 2003 13:50, Felix Miata wrote:

...

Ken Schneider wrote:

...
Have a look at:

...
/usr/share/doc/packages/suselinux-adminguide_en/html

...
It has a rather large section on grub.

Typical hard to use Linux documentation. I looked in that page's index. Between groups and gs|seeGhostscript there is no grub to be found.

Grub documentation can be gotten with "info grub", I believe. It's part of the GNU tradition to use Info for such things. The dichotomy between Gnu documentation and other documentation is not well handled in SuSE Linux (or any other Linux as far as I know). Paul Paul

Bruce Marshall

01:12

New subject: [SLE] GRUB menu.lst entry questions (boot splash verbosity)

On Sun December 28 2003 07:58 pm, Paul W. Abrahams wrote:

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On Sunday 28 December 2003 13:50, Felix Miata wrote:

...
Ken Schneider wrote:

...
Have a look at:

/usr/share/doc/packages/suselinux-adminguide_en/html

It has a rather large section on grub.

Typical hard to use Linux documentation. I looked in that page's index. Between groups and gs|seeGhostscript there is no grub to be found.

Grub documentation can be gotten with "info grub", I believe. It's part of the GNU tradition to use Info for such things.

Which is why most of us don't bother looking at it. 'info' is an abomination.

...

The dichotomy between Gnu documentation and other documentation is not well handled in SuSE Linux (or any other Linux as far as I know).

So let's do away with 'info'... -- +----------------------------------------------------------------------------+ + Bruce S. Marshall bmarsh@bmarsh.com Bellaire, MI 12/28/03 20:11 + +----------------------------------------------------------------------------+ Churchill's Commentary on Man: "Man will occasionally stumble over the truth," "but most of the time he will pick himself up and continue on"

Paul W. Abrahams

02:40

New subject: [SLE] GRUB menu.lst entry questions (boot splash verbosity)

On Sunday 28 December 2003 8:12 pm, Bruce Marshall wrote:

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On Sun December 28 2003 07:58 pm, Paul W. Abrahams wrote:

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'info' is an abomination.

So let's do away with 'info'...

I find the Info format reasonably easy to work with -- easier, in fact, than the alternative, HTML. (Man pages break down for documenting large and complex programs like, say, bash or tar.) You can move continuously through an Info document just by pressing the spacebar. For HTML, you have to switch back and forth between mouse and keyboard (or manipulate the scrollbar); the human factors are most unpleasant. (The problem is that you can't select the Next link easily with the keyboard as far as I know.) But like so many things, it's a matter of personal preference. Paul

Philipp Thomas

2 Jan 2 Jan

05:48

New subject: [SLE] GRUB menu.lst entry questions (boot splash verbosity)

Bruce Marshall [Sun, 28 Dec 2003 20:12:32 -0500]:

...

'info' is an abomination.

Why so? OK, it's very different from man, but besides that I really don't see a reason to call it an abomination. Philipp

mjt

13:28

New subject: [SLE] GRUB menu.lst entry questions (boot splash verbosity)

On Fri, 02 Jan 2004 06:48:20 +0100, Philipp Thomas wrote:

...

...
'info' is an abomination.

Why so? OK, it's very different from man, but besides that I really don't see a reason to call it an abomination.

.... use 'pinfo' instead :) -- << http://michaeljtobler.homelinux.com/ >> F u cn rd ths u cnt spl wrth a dm!

Hylton Conacher (ZR1HPC)

3 Jan 3 Jan

09:34

New subject: [SLE] GRUB menu.lst entry questions (boot splash verbosity)

mjt wrote:

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On Fri, 02 Jan 2004 06:48:20 +0100, Philipp Thomas wrote:

...
...
'info' is an abomination.

Why so? OK, it's very different from man, but besides that I really don't see a reason to call it an abomination.

.... use 'pinfo' instead :)

~> man pinfo No manual entry for pinfo

Avtar Gill

10:37

New subject: [SLE] GRUB menu.lst entry questions (boot splash verbosity)

Hylton Conacher (ZR1HPC) wrote:

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~> man pinfo No manual entry for pinfo

yast -i pinfo OR apt-get install pinfo

Paul W. Abrahams

16:17

New subject: [SLE] GRUB menu.lst entry questions (boot splash verbosity)

On Saturday 03 January 2004 4:34 am, Hylton Conacher (ZR1HPC) wrote:

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~> man pinfo No manual entry for pinfo

That's because it wasn't installed by default, I'd guess. You'll need to retrieve and install it either from your CDs or, if that fails, from the SuSE ftp site. Paul Abrahams

Bruce Marshall

2 Jan 2 Jan

13:35

New subject: [SLE] GRUB menu.lst entry questions (boot splash verbosity)

On Fri January 2 2004 12:48 am, Philipp Thomas wrote:

...

Bruce Marshall [Sun, 28 Dec 2003 20:12:32 -0500]:

...
'info' is an abomination.

Why so? OK, it's very different from man, but besides that I really don't see a reason to call it an abomination.

Philipp

It is far from intuitive... I haven't found very many people that like it and every time I give it a whirl, I get the same opinion. -- +----------------------------------------------------------------------------+ + Bruce S. Marshall bmarsh@bmarsh.com Bellaire, MI 01/02/04 08:34 + +----------------------------------------------------------------------------+ "The only way to amuse some people is to slip and fall on an icy pavement."

Ralph Sanford

28 Dec 28 Dec

18:53

New subject: [SLE] GRUB menu.lst entry questions (boot splash verbosity)

On Sun, 2003-12-28 at 07:06, Ken Schneider wrote:

...

-----Original Message----- From: Philip Amadeo Saeli To: suse-linux-e@suse.com Date: Sun, 28 Dec 2003 01:30:33 -0800 Subject: Re: [SLE] GRUB menu.lst entry questions (boot splash verbosity)

...
* Joe Morris (NTM) [2003.12.28 08:52]:

...
On 12/28/2003 02:51 PM, Philip Amadeo Saeli wrote:

...
Under SuSE Linux 9.0 (freshly installed), though I've edited an entry in the GRUB menu.lst, setting "splash=verbose", I still have to hit the "F2" key to get the boot messages, otherwise only the progress bar shows.

Have a look at:

/usr/share/doc/packages/suselinux-adminguide_en/html

It has a rather large section on grub.

Ken

I found that attempting to directly edit the grub menu did not work. Go to YaST -> System -> Boot Loader Configuration -> Edit Configuration Files and then change the Linux entry from splash=silent to splash=verbose. This makes the change stick. HTH -- Ralph Sanford - If your government does not trust you, rsanford@telusplanet.net - should you trust your government? DH/DSS Key - 0x7A1BEA01

Philip Amadeo Saeli

29 Dec 29 Dec

05:31

New subject: [SLE] GRUB menu.lst entry questions (boot splash verbosity)

* Ralph Sanford [2003.12.28 18:52]:

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I found that attempting to directly edit the grub menu did not work.

Go to YaST -> System -> Boot Loader Configuration -> Edit Configuration Files and then change the Linux entry from splash=silent to splash=verbose. This makes the change stick.

If this is the case, I'd like to know exactly what YaST is doing - it -must- be editing some other config file somewhere. I'm one of those guys that just -has- to know how [and why, if possible] it works. I've been editing config files on quite a few different UN*X variants and derivatives for quite a while now and feel most comfortable in that mode. That having been said, I must say that SuSE's YaST combined with SuSEconfig are quite ingenious at addressing the quite thorny problem of keeping a very complex system consistent and manageable, esp when arbitrary pkgs are added and/or removed from the system. BTW, thanks, everyone, for all the info & suggestions! I'll figure this out eventually (and will document it somewhere for later reference for when I end up in a similar situation and have all but forgotten this experience ;> ). Phil -- Philip Amadeo Saeli SuSE Linux 8.2 psaeli@zorodyne.com

Philip Amadeo Saeli

05:22

New subject: [SLE] GRUB menu.lst entry questions (boot splash verbosity)

* Ken Schneider [2003.12.28 14:07]:

...

Have a look at:

/usr/share/doc/packages/suselinux-adminguide_en/html

It has a rather large section on grub.

I've looked extensively through all the GRUB dox, including those on the GNU site without finding -any- reference to this. Seems that at least some of this may be SuSE specific? However, I have discovered two pkgs related to the graphical boot scheme: 1. gfxboot* - GRUB (and LILO?) graphical boot scheme. 2. bootsplash* - Linux kernel graphical boot scheme. One appears to control the boot menu and the other the actual kernel boot messages display. I still haven't had a chance to make some boot tests to see exactly how things work, though (been playing with the kids & their new toys). I'm wondering if the GRUB default is set at the time the GRUB boot block is installed? This would seem to be inconsistent with the dynamic nature of GRUB, being able to simply edit the menu.lst file to change things, etc. [Sigh ...] Phil -- Philip Amadeo Saeli SuSE Linux 8.2 psaeli@zorodyne.com

Felix Miata

28 Dec 28 Dec

09:11

New subject: [SLE] GRUB menu.lst entry questions (boot splash verbosity)

Philip Amadeo Saeli wrote:

...

Under SuSE Linux 9.0 (freshly installed), though I've edited an entry in the GRUB menu.lst, setting "splash=verbose", I still have to hit the "F2" key to get the boot messages, otherwise only the progress bar shows. After the system boots, looking at the contents of /proc/cmdline shows "splash=silent" in the cmdline!?! Where does that come from??? I've looked everywhere and haven't been able to solve this one!

You don't see a splash= parameter on the failsafe kernel line do you? You don't need it at all. I took it out entirely, and automatically see the boot messages scroll too fast to read. ;-)

...

2. What does "showopts" mean??? I've looked everywhere and googled extensively and still can find no documentation on this one (I'even grepped the entire kernel source tree and "string"ed all the grub binaries looking for it!). I only found -one- message (on the web) that even addressed the term, but I couldn't really make sense of the explanation.

Dunno, but my guess is it's the display of the input box to supply arguments and the Fx keys below it. This is not standard Grub behavior, which is to display a message that you need to strike the e key in order to edit before booting. -- "You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free." John 8:32 NIV Team OS/2 ** Reg. Linux User #211409 Felix Miata *** http://members.ij.net/mrmazda/

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participants (13)

Avtar Gill
Bruce Marshall
Felix Miata
Hylton Conacher (ZR1HPC)
Joe Morris (NTM)
Ken Schneider
mjt
Patrick Shanahan
Paul W. Abrahams
Philip Amadeo Saeli
Philipp Thomas
Ralph Sanford
Sid Boyce