Re: [PATCH] Mandatory install device check for PowerPC

[avnish]

Hi Michal,
Thank you so much for a response!

We'll work on to figure out the type of machine.

On no_prep, as per my analysis. Even with no install device given while 
installing. We observe boot corruption on some specific setups (mostly 
where we have multiple valid PReP partition available on the machine. 
And corruption probably due to wrong PReP picked up by installer. And as 
the installer picked the valid PReP available, we don't get any errors.
Thank you!


Regards,
Avnish Chouhan

On 2024-05-27 19:44, Michal Suchánek wrote:
> Hello,
>
> On Mon, May 27, 2024 at 07:07:19PM +0530, Avnish Chouhan wrote:
> > This patch adds a check on install_device while installing grub for 
> > PowerPC.
> > If install_device is not mentioned in grub2-install, the error will be 
> > thrown.
> > Running grub2-install on PowerPC without the install_device may
> > result in boot corruption.
> >
> > Signed-off-by: Avnish Chouhan <avnish@linux.ibm.com>
> > ---
> >  util/grub-install.c | 2 ++
> >  1 file changed, 2 insertions(+)
> >
> > diff --git a/util/grub-install.c b/util/grub-install.c
> > index 5babc7a..192d2a8 100644
> > --- a/util/grub-install.c
> > +++ b/util/grub-install.c
> > @@ -970,6 +970,8 @@ main (int argc, char *argv[])
> >      case GRUB_INSTALL_PLATFORM_POWERPC_IEEE1275:
> >        if (install_device)
> >         is_prep = 1;
> > +      else
> > +        grub_util_error ("%s", _("install device isn't specified"));
> >        break;
>
> As far as I understand this is fine for us (support for pSeries and
> powernv platform).
>
> However, this is not acceptable for upstream. Upstream also supports
> Apple hardawre, and there the grub binary is installed as a file on the
> filesystem rather than copied to a device.
>
> Or to put it differently, there is the PReP sub-platform of
> GRUB_INSTALL_PLATFORM_POWERPC_IEEE1275 and currently the code does not
> detect that is running on such platform (eg. by examining the device
> tree) but rather it infers is_prep solely based on user input (the
> device to install to) and in absence of the user input non-PReP 
> platform
> is assumed, leading to bootlist corruption when no boot device is given
> on a PReP platform.
>
> To fix this the logic should be inverted: Set is_prep should be set
> based on what system is detected, and require an install device for
> PReP platform.
>
> Thanks
>
> Michal
>
> >      case GRUB_INSTALL_PLATFORM_MIPS_ARC:
> >      case GRUB_INSTALL_PLATFORM_MIPSEL_ARC:
> > --
> > 2.39.3