grub-customizer for Debian

[djohnston]

I've created a .deb package for Wheezy. As far as I can tell, the only prerequisite is having GRUB2 installed. You can download the package here. Install it using either the graphical GDebi Package installer or using CLI dpkg. You'll need root privileges.

Code: [Sélectionner]

dpkg -i grub-customizer_3.0.4-1_i386.deb
Here's a screenshot of part of the configuration interface:



And here's the result:



I've found only one potential problem, which is easily overcome. If you used remastersys's facility to set the default GRUB boot splash, the file /etc/default/grub will have the line:

GRUB_BACKGROUND="/etc/remastersys/grub.png"

grub-customizer will add its content at the end of the /etc/default/grub file, and will look similar to this:

export GRUB_COLOR_NORMAL="brown/black"
export GRUB_COLOR_HIGHLIGHT="black/light-green"
export GRUB_MENU_PICTURE="/usr/share/wallpapers/my_wallpaper.png"

As root, simply edit the file /etc/default/grub and comment remastersys's added line so the end of the file looks like this:

#GRUB_BACKGROUND="/etc/remastersys/grub.png"
export GRUB_COLOR_NORMAL="brown/black"
export GRUB_COLOR_HIGHLIGHT="black/light-green"
export GRUB_MENU_PICTURE="/usr/share/wallpapers/my_wallpaper.png"

Or, you can delete the line GRUB_BACKGROUND="/etc/remastersys/grub.png" completely. Then either rerun grub-customizer or open a terminal, and as user root:

Code: [Sélectionner]

update-grub

[melodie]

Hi,
Creating a package is quite a job, at least it seems to me. Wouldn't one of the packages done by the Launchpad build server have fit the purpose ?

https://launchpad.net/~danielrichter2007/+archive/grub-customizer/+packages

https://launchpad.net/~danielrichter2007/+archive/grub-customizer/+files/grub-customizer_3.0.4-0ubuntu1%7Eppa1r_amd64.deb

https://launchpad.net/~danielrichter2007/+archive/grub-customizer/+files/grub-customizer_3.0.4-0ubuntu1%7Eppa1r_i386.deb

I have tried "openbox-menu" built for Ubuntu in Debian and that worked well. It seems also when no depends are involved, that the two distros are still close enough to allow using one's package in the other.

[djohnston]

Creating a package is quite a job, at least it seems to me. Wouldn't one of the packages done by the Launchpad build server have fit the purpose ?

This one was surprisingly simple to create. And it's already done... The last time I tried a PPA, it called for Ubuntu packages which weren't and could not be installed. Why not let sleeping dogs lie?

[patrick013]

@dj

Nice program overall, works well.

One thing about the fonts.    We need to find some different
fonts other than unifont.ttf for the menu.     Most or all fonts
I have won't draw the outside box right, or a way to remove
the box.

My unifont.ttf won't go bigger than about 10 either, thought I could
get it up to 15 or 16 and bold, but no go.    Actually got a decent size
font using webdings but it defaulted to text mode, but that's not
too bad.

regards,

Patrick

[djohnston]

@dj

Nice program overall, works well.

Thanks.

One thing about the fonts. We need to find some different fonts other than unifont.ttf for the menu. Most or all fonts I have won't draw the outside box right, or a way to remove the box.

My unifont.ttf won't go bigger than about 10 either, thought I could get it up to 15 or 16 and bold, but no go. Actually got a decent size font using webdings but it defaulted to text mode, but that's not too bad.

regards,

Patrick

The fonts are one part I haven't looked at or even tried to change. I'll look into it and see what I can find out. I'll start by looking at Ubuntu's build and see what they have.

 

[melodie]

Hi,

Deja Vu Sans and Dejavu Serif is one of the best imo. The Ubuntu fonts are… ubuntuish and "playschool like", although I like this font alright. Deja vu goes best with most needs.

[patrick013]

Hi,

Deja Vu Sans and Dejavu Serif is one of the best imo. The Ubuntu fonts are… ubuntuish and "playschool like", although I like this font alright. Deja vu goes best with most needs.

I can't get DejaVu to draw the outside box right.   Unifont does but it
still needs some adjustment.    It has 30,000+ characters and 5,900
glyphs to display numerous shapes.   DejaVu only has a few thousand
and doesn't do the box right.    Or get rid of the outside box and use any
graphical font there is then.     Unifont is the only free font with 30,000
characters and is the font grub2 uses as the default screen font.

When I use the grub2 make font utility I can get unifont bigger and
bold but it didn't look too good.   So right now I'm using webdings size
12 which defaults it to text mode with gray and blue lettering,  black
background.

Pretty darn good program.

Patrick

[melodie]

Hi,

What do you can "the outside box" and could you show a screen-shot?

[patrick013]

Hi,

What do you can "the outside box" and could you show a screen-shot?

In dj's screen-shot of his menu it's the brown line around the menu
entries inside the brown box.     I'm saying without that brown box
any font would work, whatever file that brown outline comes from.
I can't do a screen-shot of the grub2 screen.

[melodie]

Ok, you are having trouble with the font displayed by Grub2 then. I have tried to configure it once or twice and didn't succeed. I confess I have not found why I could not change the font with the grub-customizer tool. I have not retried since some time and perhaps some newer versions would have improved it.

[patrick013]

@DJ

Question for the evening.    Why do some menu entries
end up in the trash ?

For example,   I added a new kernel to Bonsai, the menu entry
does not show up in grub.cfg after running update-grub.    When
I go into your program I see the menu entry in trash and I can
restore it from there.     Then I see it in the grub2 menu at boot and
it boots.   

Is there a limit on menu entries, I can't see why it wouldn't be updated
or would end up in trash.    It's just as good as any other menu entry,  boots
and everything.

THX

Patrick

[djohnston]

Question for the evening. Why do some menu entries end up in the trash ?

That's a good question, Patrick, for which I have no answer. I didn't write the C code for this program. I just packaged it as a .deb. The man who wrote the code still develops it, as far as I know, and I'll see what I can find out. I packaged this for Debian because the developer only makes it available as an Ubuntu ppa package. But, he does provide the source code, which makes compiling it fairly easy.

Thanks for testing this. Please post anything else you find wrong with it. I haven't tried different fonts yet, so I don't know what can be done there, either.

EDIT: I should also add that Daniel, the author, campaigned for a Debian sponsor as far back as March of 2011. Evidently, nothing ever became of it.

[patrick013]

That's a good question, Patrick, for which I have no answer. I didn't write the C code for this program. I just packaged it as a .deb.

I see.    Well it appears that all new menu entries are put into
trash by design of the proxy scripts.    When taken out of
trash they become regular entries.    This it appears is a normal
operation of grub-customizer and it's proxy scripts.    Fine
with me I just couldn't fathom why my new grub2 menu entries
were put in "trash" at first waiting for me to confirm they should
be taken out.

I've activated the console option so I'm always making text menus.
Seems the font size and width is better on my netbook.

Otherwise, no bugs, just good old grub being good old grub.

Thanks for the response.

Patrick

[djohnston]

@DJ

Question for the evening. Why do some menu entries end up in the trash?

For example, I added a new kernel to Bonsai, the menu entry does not show up in grub.cfg after running update-grub. When I go into your program I see the menu entry in trash and I can restore it from there. Then I see it in the grub2 menu at boot and it boots.

Patrick,

In order to try to duplicate this, can you tell me:

(a) Which Bonsai iso did you install from?
(b) What kernels do you have installed?

I just reinstalled the DebLXDE respin, updated it, then added the liquorix kernel. After rebooting, both kernels showed in the boot menu, with the newer one selected as default. When I ran the grub-customizer, both kernels were showing and none had been moved to the trash.

Also, after reinstalling the DebLXDE respin, I had to do:

# rm /lib/live/mount/medium/live/filesystem.squashfs
# rm -rf /lib/live/mount/rootfs/filesystem.squashfs

As you pointed out quite some time ago, the remastersys live-installer is not cleaning up all the files after an installation. I'm going to look into what needs to be done there. Should be a simple fix.

[patrick013]

In order to try to duplicate this, can you tell me:

(a) Which Bonsai iso did you install from?
(b) What kernels do you have installed?

Code: [Sélectionner]

[sdc1            ] [xfs        ] [WHEEZY-3         ] [    10.15 GB] [  8] [ 33]
[sdc2            ] [swap       ] [swap             ] [   909.93 MB] [  8] [ 34]
[sdc3            ] [ext4       ] [OPENBOX1         ] [    10.15 GB] [  8] [ 35]
[sdc5            ] [ext4       ] [BONSAI           ] [    10.15 GB] [  8] [ 37]
[sdc6            ] [xfs        ] [OB-FULL          ] [    10.15 GB] [  8] [ 38]
[sdc7            ] [ext4       ] [LXDE-MINI        ] [    10.04 GB] [  8] [ 39]
[sdc8            ] [xfs        ] [KDE-MINI         ] [    10.04 GB] [  8] [ 40]
[sdc9            ] [ext4       ] [SCORPIO-2        ] [    10.04 GB] [  8] [ 41]
[sdc10           ] [ext4       ] [<unknown>        ] [    10.04 GB] [  8] [ 42]
[sdc11           ] [ext4       ] [<unknown>        ] [    10.04 GB] [  8] [ 43]
[sdc12           ] [ext4       ] [<unknown>        ] [    10.04 GB] [  8] [ 44]
[sdc13           ] [ext4       ] [<unknown>        ] [    10.09 GB] [  8] [ 45]

The above is an external hard drive.    After installing grub-customizer
to sdc1 I added a 3.4.52 kernel to Bonsai and a 3.2.46 to LXDE-MINI.
Both menu entries ended up in the trash.   The other kernels are 3.2.18
and these are PCL iso's fully updated.     Otherwise grub-customizer
is working fine like update-grub should.

About DebLXDE:   I couldn't install from the iso, the install would boot
but wouldn't startx automatically or from the console.   Can't remember
what it said but it couldn't find it to start startx.    Perhaps your 2 commands
are what it needs.     My last Scorpio ISO I made installed fine but the
darn ISO was over 1 GB.    Probably just use fsarchiver archives in the
future and just change UUID's on a new install.   The smaller remastersys
iso's are just fine though, sizewise and speedwise.

FYI

thanks for the response.

Patrick