How do I know which grub version is used and how to configure it?

[Bo Berglund]

On Wed, 18 Dec 2024 18:15:46 +0100, Ralf Mardorf via ubuntu-users
<ubuntu-users at lists.ubuntu.com> wrote:

>On Wed, 2024-12-18 at 15:24 +0100, Bo Berglund wrote:
>> [snip] I assume that I will be able during that installation to limit
>> the size of the partition it will create on the drive and also that
>> the installer will create the necessary EFI/UEFI data on the disk for
>> grub to work in a multi-boot environment. I basically want to have the
>> drive initialized for multi-boot using UEFI and to install Ubuntu
>> desktop on a limited size partition, say 30 GB or so.
>
>Hi,
>
>yes you can do the partitioning using the installer, but I recommend to
>do it already before, without the installer, but with gparted.

Does this mean that I should use GParted live and:
Create the EFI partition first on the disk:
UUID=42BE-49BB as VFAT 500M (flag:BOOT?)

And then:
- Ubuntu root partition as ext4 size 30G label="dt-root"
- Ubuntu home partition as ext4 size 50 GB label="dt-home"

>Yes, the installer automatically adds all those terrible EFI things.

Will that happen also if I created the EFI partition empty in advance of
installing Ubuntu?

>> Can one select the desktop type during install? In that case I want a
>> basic GNOME type desktop. Or else Cinnamon.
>
>Yesno or depends. However, just use Ubuntu Cinnamon,
>https://ubuntu.com/desktop/flavours for Cinnamon or Ubuntu for "a
>modified version of the GNOME desktop environment".

OK, I will go with Cinnamon and customize it later.

>Please check the downloaded ISO against the _signed_ checksum:
>https://ubuntu.com/tutorials/how-to-verify-ubuntu#1-overview

OK, will do.

>> Can the desktop type be changed later on?
>
>Yes! You can also use the server image and start without a WM/DE at all
>and then add what you want. But since you are asking this question I
>recommend to start with Ubuntu Cinnamon or Ubuntu, so that you get at
>least one DE out of the box.

So I can add some minimal desktop then like xfce and run with that?

>
>> 2) Next, after starting Ubuntu Desktop I want to copy the partitions
>> holding my newly upgraded Ubuntu Server [snip]
>
>sudo cp -Tai /path/source_mountpoint/ /path/destination_mountpoint/

Why not use GParted in Ubuntu DT to create the partitions for the migrated
server as copies of the partitions on the source disk (connected as an USB
drive)?

Then there is no risk of data being accidentally modified since they are not
mounted in such a case???

THe server mounts the partitions based on the UUID in /etc/fstab so it will get
the correct partition/mountpoint AFAICT.

>> After this the drive should contain 2 Ubuntu systems both at 24.04.1
>> level:
>> - the newly installed desktop
>> - the copied server from the now running machine
>> 
>> QUESTION:
>> ---------
>> How do I make the copied server visible on the boot menu?
>> It has settings on fstab [snip]
>
>I'll leave that to someone else.

I hope someone offers that advice....


> I make it manually, without any GRUB automation involved.

How could that be done "manually"?

There are now 2 operating systems on the disk and I want the user to select the
one to boot or in case of a timeout (5 seconds) it should choose the server.
But for this to work there must be a boot menu with both available....


>Regarding (GRUB and) fstab (yes, I'm still in
>favour of fstab) I recommend to use labels, e.g.
>
>LABEL=foo     /    ext4   rw,relatime,data=ordered 0 1

I have used the UUID which is pretty much impossible to duplicate accidentally:

UUID=ec0e8708-8a6a-4bbf-93ba-0a09b1e2ddc1 / ext4 errors=remount-ro 0 1

>On my machine the order of sda, sdb etc. is consistent, but the order of
>nvme0n1 and nvme1n1 might change with each boot.

I will not have anything on USB (=sda) after the copy is complete in GParted.
I'll remove the USB drive.

Everything will then be on the internal SSD drive.
And it should be possible to start the server from the grub menu, I hope.

AND THANKS FOR YOUR INPUT, MUCH APPRECIATED!!!


-- 
Bo Berglund
Developer in Sweden