Updating from grub -> grub-pc does not properly write out a transition menu.lst

[Mario Limonciello]

Binary package hint: grub2

Version: 1.96+20080724-12ubuntu2

When installing grub-pc, the postinst goes and rewrites out your /boot/grub/menu.lst in preparation for chainloading into grub2. Unfortunately, this doesn't do the trick properly because the menu.lst doesn't boot into grub2 or back into the OS properly since it doesn't account for UUIDs as it should.

The attached patch should allow the menu.lst to be properly written out. Unfortunately, it does not account for the case where someone may have defined a grub root device.

[Marco Ciampa (ciampix)]

I confirm this behaviour.
I think this should be fixed quick because grub2 is necessary for booting from an ext4 partition.

[Marco Ciampa (ciampix)]

Sorry, last statement is obviously wrong since ext4 is compatible to ext3, it isn't necessary to upgrade to grub2 to boot on a ext4 partition and I can confirm that grub is actually able to boot a 9.04 ubuntu freshly formatted to ext4.

[ariel cornejo (arielco)]

Besides the proposed patch, it's still possible to specify the root device via UUID. In my case, the postinstall script only wrote "root $UUID" where my original menu.lst said "uuid $UUID", so in the command-line editor I changed this:
  root 34717cad-31f4-491a-bcc3-2df67a04bbda
  kernel /boot/grub/core.img
into
  uuid 34717cad-31f4-491a-bcc3-2df67a04bbda
  kernel /boot/grub/core.img

Then I just hit 'b', and chainloaded into grub 1.96.