[Bug 857548] [NEW] no longer possible to select GRUB Legacy by preseeding

[Colin Watson]

Public bug reported:

Some systems still require the use of GRUB Legacy; a notable one is Xen
guests where the host is using PV-GRUB configured to read from
/boot/grub/menu.lst, a not uncommon hosting company setup.  It used to
be possible to force the installer to do this by preseeding grub-
installer/grub2_instead_of_grub_legacy=false, and this was supported up
to grub-installer 1.59.  Unfortunately, in 1.60, Debian stopped the
warning message attached to that debconf template from being displayed
even in expert mode, but forgot to preserve the ability to preseed that
template.

I fixed this in grub-installer 1.68 in Debian unstable, and have
proposed a suitable patch for Debian squeeze (http://lists.debian.org
/debian-release/2011/09/msg00394.html).  I intend to merge this into
Oneiric.  Natty is also affected, so I will upload a suitable patch
there as well.

As usual for installer changes, testing this fix before it reaches
natty-updates will require using the boot parameter apt-
setup/proposed=true.

** Affects: grub-installer (Ubuntu)
     Importance: High
     Assignee: Colin Watson (cjwatson)
         Status: Triaged

** Affects: grub-installer (Ubuntu Natty)
     Importance: High
     Assignee: Colin Watson (cjwatson)
         Status: Triaged

** Affects: grub-installer (Ubuntu Oneiric)
     Importance: High
     Assignee: Colin Watson (cjwatson)
         Status: Triaged

** Also affects: grub-installer (Ubuntu Natty)
   Importance: Undecided
       Status: New

** Also affects: grub-installer (Ubuntu Oneiric)
   Importance: Undecided
       Status: New

** Changed in: grub-installer (Ubuntu Natty)
       Status: New => Triaged

** Changed in: grub-installer (Ubuntu Oneiric)
       Status: New => Triaged

** Changed in: grub-installer (Ubuntu Natty)
   Importance: Undecided => High

** Changed in: grub-installer (Ubuntu Oneiric)
   Importance: Undecided => High

** Changed in: grub-installer (Ubuntu Natty)
     Assignee: (unassigned) => Colin Watson (cjwatson)

** Changed in: grub-installer (Ubuntu Oneiric)
     Assignee: (unassigned) => Colin Watson (cjwatson)

** Changed in: grub-installer (Ubuntu Oneiric)
    Milestone: None => ubuntu-11.10

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https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/857548

Title:
  no longer possible to select GRUB Legacy by preseeding

Status in “grub-installer” package in Ubuntu:
  Triaged
Status in “grub-installer” source package in Natty:
  Triaged
Status in “grub-installer” source package in Oneiric:
  Triaged

Bug description:
  Some systems still require the use of GRUB Legacy; a notable one is
  Xen guests where the host is using PV-GRUB configured to read from
  /boot/grub/menu.lst, a not uncommon hosting company setup.  It used to
  be possible to force the installer to do this by preseeding grub-
  installer/grub2_instead_of_grub_legacy=false, and this was supported
  up to grub-installer 1.59.  Unfortunately, in 1.60, Debian stopped the
  warning message attached to that debconf template from being displayed
  even in expert mode, but forgot to preserve the ability to preseed
  that template.

  I fixed this in grub-installer 1.68 in Debian unstable, and have
  proposed a suitable patch for Debian squeeze (http://lists.debian.org
  /debian-release/2011/09/msg00394.html).  I intend to merge this into
  Oneiric.  Natty is also affected, so I will upload a suitable patch
  there as well.

  As usual for installer changes, testing this fix before it reaches
  natty-updates will require using the boot parameter apt-
  setup/proposed=true.

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