grub ignores GRUB_TIMEOUT_STYLE when on efi+btrfs

[Niklas Sombert]

I'm using grub2, but with a configuration that may be a bit special:
1) I'm using native UEFI boot.
2) I have / formatted using btrfs (and no external /boot).
3) / is contained inside a LUKS volume with just grub on the ESP. (with GRUB_ENABLE_CRYPTODISK=y)

Everything works so far, but what I'm seeing on boot is this:
1) the vendor logo
2) a password prompt beneath
3) a grub menu with a countdown
4) a bootsplash with the vendor logo

I'd like 3) to be gone, so I've set GRUB_TIMEOUT_STYLE to countdown, but it does not seem to have any effect.

My /etc/default/grub looks like this:

GRUB_DEFAULT=0
# GRUB_HIDDEN_TIMEOUT=0
# GRUB_HIDDEN_TIMEOUT_QUIET=true
GRUB_RECORDFAIL_TIMEOUT=5
GRUB_TIMEOUT=3
GRUB_TIMEOUT_STYLE=countdown
GRUB_DISTRIBUTOR=`lsb_release -i -s 2> /dev/null || echo Debian`
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash kaslr i915.alpha_support=1"
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX=""
GRUB_ENABLE_CRYPTODISK=y

My generated grub.cfg contains those two snippets which I guess are the cause:

function recordfail {
  set recordfail=1
  # GRUB lacks write support for btrfs, so recordfail support is disabled.
}

which is generated by the following lines in /etc/grub.d/00_header:

 131 │ if [ "$quick_boot" = 1 ]; then
 132 │ cat <<EOF
 133 │ function recordfail {
 134 │ set recordfail=1
 135 │ EOF
 136 │
 137 │ check_writable () {
 138 │ abstractions="$(grub-probe --target=abstraction "${grubdir}")"
 139 │ for abstraction in $abstractions; do
 140 │ case "$abstraction" in
 141 │ diskfilter | lvm)
 142 │ cat <<EOF
 143 │ # GRUB lacks write support for $abstraction, so recordfail support is disabled.
 144 │ EOF
 145 │ return 1
 146 │ ;;
 147 │ esac
 148 │ done
 149 │
 150 │ FS="$(grub-probe --target=fs "${grubdir}")"
 151 │ case "$FS" in
 152 │ btrfs | cpiofs | newc | odc | romfs | squash4 | tarfs | zfs)
 153 │ cat <<EOF
 154 │ # GRUB lacks write support for $FS, so recordfail support is disabled.
 155 │ EOF
 156 │ return 1
 157 │ ;;
 158 │ esac
 159 │
 160 │ cat <<EOF
 161 │ if [ -n "\${have_grubenv}" ]; then if [ -z "\${boot_once}" ]; then save_env recordfail; fi; fi
 162 │ EOF
 163 │ }
 164 │
 165 │ if ! check_writable; then
 166 │ recordfail_broken=1
 167 │ fi
 168 │
 169 │ cat <<EOF
 170 │ }
 171 │ EOF
 172 │ fi

and

if [ "${recordfail}" = 1 ] ; then
  set timeout=5
else
  if [ x$feature_timeout_style = xy ] ; then
    set timeout_style=countdown
    set timeout=3
  # Fallback hidden-timeout code in case the timeout_style feature is
  # unavailable.
  elif sleep --interruptible 3 ; then
    set timeout=0
  fi
fi
if [ $grub_platform = efi ]; then
  set timeout=5
  if [ x$feature_timeout_style = xy ] ; then
    set timeout_style=menu
  fi
fi

which is generated by:

 358 │ make_timeout ()
 359 │ {
 360 │ cat << EOF
 361 │ if [ "\${recordfail}" = 1 ] ; then
 362 │ set timeout=${GRUB_RECORDFAIL_TIMEOUT:-30}
 363 │ else
 364 │ EOF
 365 │ if [ "x${3}" != "x" ] ; then
 366 │ timeout="${2}"
 367 │ style="${3}"
 368 │ elif [ "x${1}" != "x" ] && \
 369 │ ([ "$quick_boot" = 1 ] || [ "x${1}" != "x0" ]) ; then
 370 │ # Handle the deprecated GRUB_HIDDEN_TIMEOUT scheme.
 371 │ timeout="${1}"
 372 │ if [ "x${2}" != "x0" ] ; then
 373 │ grub_warn "$(gettext "Setting GRUB_TIMEOUT to a non-zero value when GRUB_HIDDEN_TIMEOUT is set
       │ is no longer supported.")"
 374 │ fi
 375 │ if [ "x${GRUB_HIDDEN_TIMEOUT_QUIET}" = "xtrue" ] ; then
 376 │ style="hidden"
 377 │ verbose=
 378 │ else
 379 │ style="countdown"
 380 │ verbose=" --verbose"
 381 │ fi
 382 │ else
 383 │ # No hidden timeout, so treat as GRUB_TIMEOUT_STYLE=menu
 384 │ timeout="${2}"
 385 │ style="menu"
 386 │ fi
 387 │ cat << EOF
 388 │ if [ x\$feature_timeout_style = xy ] ; then
 389 │ set timeout_style=${style}
 390 │ set timeout=${timeout}
 391 │ EOF
 392 │ if [ "x${style}" = "xmenu" ] ; then
 393 │ cat << EOF
 394 │ # Fallback normal timeout code in case the timeout_style feature is
 395 │ # unavailable.
 396 │ else
 397 │ set timeout=${timeout}
 398 │ EOF
 399 │ else
 400 │ cat << EOF
 401 │ # Fallback hidden-timeout code in case the timeout_style feature is
 402 │ # unavailable.
 403 │ elif sleep${verbose} --interruptible ${timeout} ; then
 404 │ set timeout=0
 405 │ EOF
 406 │ fi
 407 │ cat << EOF
 408 │ fi
 409 │ fi
 410 │ EOF
 411 │ if [ "$recordfail_broken" = 1 ]; then
 412 │ cat << EOF
 413 │ if [ \$grub_platform = efi ]; then
 414 │ set timeout=${GRUB_RECORDFAIL_TIMEOUT:-30}
 415 │ if [ x\$feature_timeout_style = xy ] ; then
 416 │ set timeout_style=menu
 417 │ fi
 418 │ fi
 419 │ EOF
 420 │ fi
 421 │ }

I realize that I'm running into a combination of #425979, #1878107, and #1964719 here, but the timeout style was never really mentioned in any of those (and supporting at least countdown would not interfere with either uefi or btrfs support), so I thought I'd open a new bug. Feel free to mark as a duplicate of any of them. :)

Regarding the root cause, I guess saving the recordfail value in the ESP or a UEFI variable would probably work?

$ lsb_release -rd
Description: Ubuntu 20.04.4 LTS
Release: 20.04
$ apt-cache policy grub2-common
grub2-common:
  Installed: 2.04-1ubuntu26.15
  Candidate: 2.04-1ubuntu26.15
  Version table:
 *** 2.04-1ubuntu26.15 500
        500 http://de.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal-updates/main amd64 Packages
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status
     2.04-1ubuntu26.12 500
        500 http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal-security/main amd64 Packages
     2.04-1ubuntu26 500
        500 http://de.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal/main amd64 Packages

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 20.04
Package: grub2 (not installed)
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 5.13.0-40.45~20.04.1-generic 5.13.19
Uname: Linux 5.13.0-40-generic x86_64
ApportVersion: 2.20.11-0ubuntu27.23
Architecture: amd64
CasperMD5CheckResult: skip
CurrentDesktop: KDE
Date: Thu Apr 7 11:01:59 2022
InstallationDate: Installed on 2015-12-11 (2308 days ago)
InstallationMedia: Kubuntu 14.04.3 LTS "Trusty Tahr" - Beta amd64 (20150805)
SourcePackage: grub2
UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to focal on 2020-05-15 (691 days ago)