A rant regarding LILO and various other related issues

[Jeff Spaleta]

On 4/13/05, John Morris <jmorris at beau.org> wrote:
> Ok all you brainiacs at RH, could you tell me what dark magic I need to
> incant to get "grub-install" to 'just work(tm)' on a RHEL3 system
> running software RAID1 on a pair of IDE drives?  So far the only ways I
> know is to either let anaconda wizardry deal with it when initially
> installing or use the grub shell and a string of rather newbie
> unfriendly commands I got from a GRUB+RAID Howto I Googled up.

Users of this list.. should be primarily concerned about testing the
grub in rawhide and in the fc4 test releases... fc4t2 being the most
recent. How grub in rhel3 or rhel4 or rhl behaved is somewhat
irrevelent.. unless you are drawing a direct comparison to the
currently available grub that needs testing.

If in the past you had problems using grub in a raid setup.. please..
pretty pretty please...
try to install fc4t2 and see if the version of grub available now 
handles the situation better.
And please.. pretty pretty please.. file a bugreport in bugzilla with
details and be prepared to test subsequent update grub packages that
appear in the fedora core development tree.
The best way for raid users to make sure fc4 works adequately for them
is to particpate in testing now and try the new grub out.

> Once you have been burned a couple
> of times by the unreliability of the modern IDE hard drive, RAID1
> becomes a routine item.  For us RAID isn't an advanced feature for
> servers, it is an essential item that any serious workstation needs
> right along with a good UPS.  But for years every time anyone has filed
> a bugzilla or complained on a list that grub ain't cutting it out in the
> real world they either get ignored or blown off and get the party line
> again; 

Again, lilo has been removed ..completely removed... once already in
the testing cycle leading up to fc1. The developers put it back in
part because they got enough feedback about the raid problems with the
grub in those test releases. Now.. the core developers believe they
have the raid issues fixed. Now its time for raid users to step up and
test the newest grub again and report back. The fact that developers
responded once already and placed lilo back into fc1 after it was
removed in test releases.. proves that testers are not completely
ignored and blown off. Anyone who believes raid users are being
ignored... is ignoring the fact that lilo was removed and then added
back in response to raid users in fc1.

I think everyone realizes you are bitter... if the extent of your
gaols was to communicate your bitterness, consider the mission a
success. Now if you want to actually effect change, you have a choice.
 You can become an active participant in the testing of the lastest
grub package focusing on the raid configurations that have caused you
problems in the past, or you can move on to another distributrion.  
If the grub in test2 works as the developers expect.. all of this
drama seems a bit silly. People in your position need to test fc4t2 in
raid situations and report back details about failures to move the
issue forward.

-jef"by the way.. the sky _is_ falling"spaleta