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List:       gentoo-dev
Subject:    [gentoo-dev] default to syslinux instead of grub, was Re: About gcc-4.6 unmasking
From:       Chí-Thanh Christopher Nguyễn <chithanh () gentoo ! org>
Date:       2012-02-22 10:26:11
Message-ID: 4F44C2C3.40708 () gentoo ! org
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James Cloos schrieb:
> B> I would hesitate to say it's the *sanest* thing to do, but we 
> should at B> least get it into ~arch and make sure our 
> documentation is up to date.
> 
> Actually, given grub2's crazy config, the real upgrade from grub1 
> is sys-boot/syslinux's extlinux(1).
> 
> The configuration and operation styles are much more comfortable 
> for those who are familiar with grub1.
> 
> It would make a better default for x86/amd64 than grub1 or grub2.

Speaking as sys-boot/syslinux maintainer, I would like to see it
included in the official installation documentation. However there are
some differences between grub{,2} and syslinux/extlinux that could
block universal adoption.

Installation:
Syslinux installs into a partition which means that /boot must be on
one of the supported filesystems. Currently these are btrfs, ext2/3/4
and vfat (ntfs support will come in the next release). Also this means
that /boot cannot reside on a logical partition. To my knowledge,
there are no plans to allow booting from LVM either.

Dual-booting:
Telling users to create GPT instead of MBR partitions could address
the logical partition issue, however this would make dual-booting
Windows difficult. And Windows has been observed to behave strangely
when its BCD is not on a partition which has the boot flag set. There
are workarounds but documenting them would increase the complexity of
the handbook.

EFI:
Syslinux does not boot on EFI yet. Not a big problem as UEFI will fall
back to BIOS mode but this can bite users on Apple hardware.

Xen:
Booting Xen generally works, but some specialties like Mini-OS aren't
supported and likely won't be in the near future.

tl;dr
Syslinux/extlinux can replace grub in many if not most cases. But for
a number of setups it is not well-suited. So a documented and stable
grub2 will still be needed.


Best regards,
Chí-Thanh Christopher Nguyễn
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