WOW indeed. This bug highlighted a legitimate problem, and all the attention it got was abusive.
Finally, it got closed five years later with a useless and incomplete comment.

WHERE grub gets installed is a legitimate issue, and the default is completely unrelated to
where the BIOS goes looking for boot candidates. The numbering system for grub's drives
is unique to itself, unrelated to the numbering/naming that Ubuntu gives to drives after
bootstrapping. Without further assistance, grub will frequently make an inappropriate choice
and fails to communicate that choice to the user at a time when the user could have any
useful control over it. For myself, I've taken to installing Ubunutu on a non-raid drive and
physically removing all raid drives at the time of installation because otherwise grub
may choose one of the raid drives to install grub, rather than the drive to which I'm
installing the system.

Unfortunately, the treatment of this bug report is typical.

----- Original Message -----
From: Richard Friday
Sent: 01/12/14 02:42 PM
To: <email address hidden>
Subject: Re: [Bug 389194] Re: Poor choice of device for installing GRUB

WOW, I filed 389194 a loooooong time ago. I didn't think anyone would ever look at it again. After thinking about this again I realize that ANY default location for GRUB is going to be wrong for someone. Perhaps the best solution is to force the user to explicitly choose where to put GRUB. At 04:54 PM 1/12/2014, you wrote: >Defaulting to the device you are installing to isn't good either since >it will pick the wrong drive for anyone installing to their secondary >internal drive. > > >** Changed in: ubiquity (Ubuntu) > Status: New => Won't Fix > >-- >You received this bug notification because you are subscribed to the bug >report. >https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/389194 > >Title: > Poor choice of device for installing GRUB > >Status in One Hundred Papercuts: > Invalid >Status in "ubiquity" package in Ubuntu: > Won't Fix > >Bug description: > My laptop runs Windows. But I booted up a Ubuntu LiveCD and > installed to a Flash Drive. Surprisingly, GRUB got put onto my > Windows hard drive instead of my Flash Drive. This was absolutely > not what I'd expect, because one reason for installing to a USB device is to be > able to have a portable Ubuntu installation. After Googling for a > while I found out that I had to use the "Advanced" button to select > a different location for installing GRUB. > > It would be much more new-user-friendly if the step where you > choose the device on which to install Ubuntu would > (1) automatically select the device you're installing to as the > place to put GRUB > AND > (2) Output a message something like "GRUB will be installed on > <your device>. Use the "Advanced" button to specify > a different location." > >To manage notifications about this bug go to: >https://bugs.launchpad.net/hundredpapercuts/+bug/389194/+subscriptions -- You received this bug notification because you are subscribed to the bug report. https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/389194 Title: Poor choice of device for installing GRUB Status in One Hundred Papercuts: Invalid Status in “ubiquity” package in Ubuntu: Won't Fix Bug description: My laptop runs Windows. But I booted up a Ubuntu LiveCD and installed to a Flash Drive. Surprisingly, GRUB got put onto my Windows hard drive instead of my Flash Drive. This was absolutely not what I'd expect, because one reason for installing to a USB device is to be able to have a portable Ubuntu installation. After Googling for a while I found out that I had to use the "Advanced" button to select a different location for installing GRUB. It would be much more new-user-friendly if the step where you choose the device on which to install Ubuntu would (1) automatically select the device you're installing to as the place to put GRUB AND (2) Output a message something like "GRUB will be installed on <your device>. Use the "Advanced" button to specify a different location." To manage notifications about this bug go to: https://bugs.launchpad.net/hundredpapercuts/+bug/389194/+subscriptions