mawk 1.33 of Ubuntu 10.10 still has problems with RS="\0". Part of boot info script where RS="\0" is used: ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ get_embedded_menu () { local source=$1 titlename=$2; # Check if magic bytes that go before the embedded menu, are present. offset_menu=$(dd if="${source}" count=4 bs=128k 2>> ${Trash} | hexdump -v -e '/1 "%02x"' | grep -b -o 'b0021ace000000000000000000000000'); if [ -n ${offset_menu} ] ; then # Magic found. titlebar_gen "${titlename}" " embedded menu"; echo '--------------------------------------------------------------------------------' >> "${Log1}"; # Calcutate the exact offset to the embedded menu. offset_menu=$(( ( ${offset_menu%:*} / 2 ) + 16 )); dd if="${source}" count=1 skip=1 bs=${offset_menu} 2>> ${Trash} | ${AWK} 'BEGIN { RS="\0" } { if (NR == 1) print $0 }' >> "${Log1}"; echo '--------------------------------------------------------------------------------' >> "${Log1}"; fi } ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ I found a version of mawk, maintained by a new developer: http://invisible-island.net/mawk/ New mawk changelog (debian patches included + new things): http://invisible-island.net/mawk/CHANGES How to reproduce: ----------------- Download the development version of boot_info_script: wget -O boot_info_script-gawk.sh 'http://bootinfoscript.git.sourceforge.net/git/gitweb.cgi?p=bootinfoscript/bootinfoscript;a=blob_plain;f=boot_info_script.sh;hb=2cc05957ff2c1ac777be114514e57ed54fb22989' Replace gawk with mawk: sed -e 's|gawk|mawk|' boot_info_script-gawk.sh > boot_info_script-mawk-1.3.3.sh Copy grldr (grub4dos) file to the root of a partition: http://code.google.com/p/grub4dos-chenall/downloads/list Compile the new version of mawk and do: sed -e 's|gawk|/home/user/mawk-1.3.4-20100625/mawk|' boot_info_script-gawk.sh > boot_info_script-mawk-1.3.4.sh Run boot_info_script-gawk.sh and boot_info_script-mawk-1.3.3.sh: sudo bash boot_info_script-gawk.sh RESULT-gawk.txt sudo bash boot_info_script-mawk-1.3.3.sh RESULT-mawk-1.3.3.txt sudo bash boot_info_script-mawk-1.3.4.sh RESULT-mawk-1.3.4.txt Compare the output files: diff -u RESULT-mawk-1.3.3.txt RESULT-gawk.txt ==> a lot of differences diff -u RESULT-mawk-1.3.4.txt RESULT-gawk.txt ==> no difference For mawk-1.3.3, you will see something like this: ========================== sdb1/grldr embedded menu: =========================== -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- pxe detect configfile default 0 timeout 1 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- For gawk and mawk-1.3.4, you will see something like this (correct): ========================== sdb1/grldr embedded menu: =========================== -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- pxe detect configfile default 0 timeout 1 title find /menu.lst, /boot/grub/menu.lst, /grub/menu.lst errorcheck off configfile /menu.lst || configfile /MENU.LST configfile /boot/grub/menu.lst || configfile /BOOT/GRUB/MENU.LST configfile /grub/menu.lst || configfile /GRUB/MENU.LST find --set-root --ignore-floppies --ignore-cd /menu.lst && configfile /menu.lst find --set-root --ignore-floppies --ignore-cd /boot/grub/menu.lst && configfile /boot/grub/menu.lst find --set-root --ignore-floppies --ignore-cd /grub/menu.lst && configfile /grub/menu.lst errorcheck on commandline title commandline commandline title reboot reboot title halt halt -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Another bug in mawk is also solved in the mawk 0.3.4 version: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/mawk/+bug/716920 Can this mawk binary be upgraded or can the default awk been set to gawk if mawk can't be updated? Shipping a broken awk (mawk v1.33) as default is wrong, IMHO. mawk 0.3.4 probably solves a lot of other reported bugs too.