[Bug 872244] Re: grub2 recordfail logic prevents headless system from rebooting after power outage

[heckheck]

Here is a better diff of the change I made to /etc/grub.d/00_header to
work around the problem

jheck at twilightzone:/etc/grub.d$ diff -Naur 00_header.orig 00_header
--- 00_header.orig      2011-10-10 19:23:44.000000000 -0400
+++ 00_header   2011-10-10 19:24:43.000000000 -0400
@@ -229,11 +229,11 @@
 make_timeout ()
 {
     cat << EOF
-if [ "\${recordfail}" = 1 ]; then
-  set timeout=-1
-else
+#if [ "\${recordfail}" = 1 ]; then
+#  set timeout=-1
+#else
   set timeout=${2}
-fi
+#fi
 EOF
 }

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https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/872244

Title:
  grub2 recordfail logic prevents headless system from rebooting after
  power outage

Status in “grub2” package in Ubuntu:
  New

Bug description:
  With the move to grub2 I recently discovered that my headless Natty
  server running as a NAS device will not reboot following a power
  failure.  I was able to track this down to the behavior of the
  'recordfail' logic in grub2.  This logic prevents grub from booting
  following an event such as a power failure.  The system boots to the
  grub2 menu and waits with no timeout (-1).

  While this feature may be completely appropriate for an attended
  desktop system, there should be an optional override for this behavior
  in the '/etc/default/grub' defaults file so that systems (such as
  headless ones) that need to boot following such a failure can boot
  without intervention.  I was able to work around the problem by
  commenting the following lines in /etc/grub.d/00_header

  #if [ ${recordfail} = 1 ]; then
   # set timeout=-1
  #else
    set timeout=10
  #fi

  An optional grub2 default parameter that emulates this logic in the
  defaults would be a nice addition so people who want the "always boot"
  behavior don't have to hack the grub scripts by hand.

  Additional info:
  jheck at twilightzone:/etc/grub.d$ lsb_release -rd
  Description:    Ubuntu 11.04
  Release:        11.04

  jheck at twilightzone:/etc/grub.d$ apt-cache policy grub2
  grub2:
    Installed: (none)
    Candidate: 1.99~rc1-13ubuntu3
    Version table:
       1.99~rc1-13ubuntu3 0
          500 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ natty/universe amd64 Packages

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