grub2-themes-ubuntu-mate partially obscured submenus

[Christopher A. Chavez]

Using Ubuntu MATE, the included /etc/default/grub, and grub2-themes-ubuntu-mate (as of 0.3.6~trusty4 and 0.3.6~utopic4), sometimes the only portion of the submenus (and edit dialog, etc.) that is visible appears directly beneath where the top level menu "box" was; the rest is obscured by the "border", and the content appears "cropped"; i.e., when I use the "Advanced options for Ubuntu" submenu, I probably won't see a menu of installed kernels, unless I have enough to appear within the visible area and/or my resolution is low enough. The applicable key controls are also invisible.

As a workaround, if I hit Esc to get back to the top level menu, and go back into "Advanced…" there is no obscuring border any longer.

This could be a bug with grub2 itself, and might apply to other themes; currently using 2.02~beta2-9ubuntu1 (trusty) and 2.02~beta2-15 (utopic); will see what happens with 2.02~beta2-18.

Note that update-grub warns that "Setting GRUB_TIMEOUT to a non-zero value when GRUB_HIDDEN_TIMEOUT is set is no longer supported" for the default config file.

[nadrimajstor (ipejic)]

While I was making the grub theme I did notice this odd bug.
However, I couldn't find a path to repeat it every time and I experienced it rarely (hence I did not fill the bug report as I wasn't sure where to point the finger). To make situation even worse, as a theme provider I have zero influence on GRUB's rendering and the debugging utilities were, lets just say, designer unfriendly.

[Christopher A. Chavez (chrstphrchvz)]

I cannot reproduce the issue for grub2-2.02~beta2-18. For the default config file, the default boot behavior seems different: there is a visible 10 second timeout, rather than immediate boot. update-grub also no longer warns "Setting GRUB_TIMEOUT to a non-zero value when GRUB_HIDDEN_TIMEOUT is set is no longer supported".

[Christopher A. Chavez (chrstphrchvz)]

I can reproduce this on a physical machine with grub2-2.02~beta2-18. The workaround still applies.

[Mathieu Trudel-Lapierre (cyphermox)]

It's probably an issue with the theme itself rather than grub. Setting the grub task Incomplete; please set it back to New once there is evidence it's something to fix in grub.

Thanks!

[nadrimajstor (ipejic)]

For what it's worth, ubuntu-mate grub2's theme does not try to style terminal and fonts (being the only thing that I see as different from upstream provided example `starfield`).

[Marc (myrc)]

I can reproduce this in the current Mate. I can get the normal Mate menu to the pop in front of the other windows but the "advanced" Mate menu stays behind other windows when invoked. It is possible to raise it into view by clicking the panel itself and then clicking advanced menu again.

The default Mate menu is not affected.

[Christopher A. Chavez (chrstphrchvz)]

Marc, I think the issue you're describing might be bug 1569563 or 1560332, but it's not the one here. The issue here is regarding the grub2 boot menu theme, not mate-menu or anything else in the MATE desktop environment itself.

[Marc (myrc)]

Apologies. Mea culpa - I'm afraid I'm rather new to bug reports. I will check and update the notes there. Thanks.

[Christopher A. Chavez (chrstphrchvz)]

@ Marc: No worries, thanks for getting involved!

[Christopher A. Chavez (chrstphrchvz)]

Using the default configuration, as of grub2 2.02~beta2-36 the edit dialog seems to no longer be obscured as in the screenshot I had uploaded in 2014: it is drawn over only a centered portion of the screen (see new screenshot "unobscured edit dialog").

However, I've also found that if the GRUB_THEME="/boot/grub/themes/ubuntu-mate/theme.txt" parameter is specified in /etc/default/grub, then update-grub reports "Found theme: /boot/grub/themes/ubuntu-mate/theme.txt", and the submenus use graphical rather than console appearance, and are not obscured (see new screenshot "graphical submenu").

I'm guessing the GRUB_THEME approach for setting the theme is what grub recommends, and that the current method used (file /usr/share/plymouth/themes/ubuntu-mate-logo/ubuntu-mate-logo.grub from package plymouth-theme-ubuntu-mate-logo) is somehow insufficient, since each approach seems to have a different effect on how grub.cfg is generated.

So while there may be an issue in how grub is being configured to use the theme (whether from the right package or using the right configuration parameters), there might still be an inconsistency in how grub itself mixes graphical and console interfaces, or fails to detect improper theme configuration and fallback to providing a safe workaround for the user.

[nadrimajstor (ipejic)]

Thank you for looking at this issue.
I did have various issues with themeing grub's terminal. Being unsure am I brawling own inexperience or actual bugs I've opted for (in my mind) less damaging do-not-theme-terminal let-the-grub-apply-defaults.

Package installer should consider /etc to be the place where admin/user puts own final overrides, hence my dislike of "vendor" provided GRUB_THEME in /etc/default/grub.
On the other side, where should "vendor" put his default grub theme? Guided by example from /lib/plymouth/themes/ubuntu-logo/ubuntu-logo.grub it ended up being one of the plymouth's alternatives conf.
I do agree that changing grub's theme as a responsibility should not belong to packages outside of grub2-themes-ubuntu-mate.

Is there something like /lib/grub/default?

[Martin Wimpress  (flexiondotorg)]

There are several reported issue with grub2-themes-ubuntu-mate so we dropping the package from the images.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

This bug was fixed in the package ubuntu-mate-meta - 1.187

---------------
ubuntu-mate-meta (1.187) zesty; urgency=medium

  * Refreshed dependencies
  * Removed grub2-themes-ubuntu-mate from core [amd64 i386], desktop
    [amd64 i386] (LP: #1673845, #1525346, #1404006)

 -- Martin Wimpress <email address hidden> Sat, 18 Mar 2017 18:07:30 +0000