Bug 424343 – sys-boot/grub-0.97: Cannot install boot loader to /dev/xvda. /dev/xvda does not have a corresponding BIOS drive.

• Product: Gentoo Linux
• Status: RESOLVED WONTFIX

[Description Fred Newtz 2012-07-01 08:11:56 UTC]

Created attachment 316835 [details]
Patch to add in identification of /dev/xvd? devices (Xen)

Here's an example of trying to install grub on a Xen VBD:

# grub-install /dev/xvdg
expr: non-integer argument
/dev/xvda1 does not have any corresponding BIOS drive.
#

The problem is a goofy regular expression in grub-install, which accounts for 'sd*', 'hd*', and several other block device types, but doesn't handle 'xvd*'.

This change resolves the issue:

diff -ur grub-0.97/util/grub-install.in grub-0.97/util/grub-install.in
--- grub-0.97/util/grub-install.in 2004-07-24 18:57:31.000000000 +0000
+++ grub-0.97/util/grub-install.in 2012-06-10 13:51:18.771960189 +0000
@@ -97,11 +97,13 @@
case "$host_os" in
linux*)
tmp_disk=`echo "$1" | sed -e 's%\([sh]d[a-z]\)[0-9]*$%\1%' \
+ -e 's%\(xvd[a-z]\)[0-9]*$%\1%' \
-e 's%\(d[0-9]*\)p[0-9]*$%\1%' \
-e 's%\(fd[0-9]*\)$%\1%' \
-e 's%/part[0-9]*$%/disc%' \
-e 's%\(c[0-7]d[0-9]*\).*$%\1%'`
tmp_part=`echo "$1" | sed -e 's%.*/[sh]d[a-z]\([0-9]*\)$%\1%' \
+ -e 's%.*/xvd[a-z]\([0-9]*\)$%\1%' \
-e 's%.*d[0-9]*p%%' \
-e 's%.*/fd[0-9]*$%%' \
-e 's%.*/floppy/[0-9]*$%%' \

I have not tested this on Gentoo.  I found this in a bug report for Arch Linux.  Linked here:  https://bugs.archlinux.org/task/30241

To be fair I have not tested the above patch at all.  This patch is directly from the Arch Linux website so I am not 100% certain if anything needs to be changed to make this compatible with Gentoo.

[Comment 1 Fred Newtz 2012-07-01 08:24:01 UTC]

Portage 2.1.10.65 (default/linux/amd64/10.0/server, gcc-4.5.3, glibc-2.14.1-r3, 3.2.12-gentoo x86_64)
=================================================================
System uname: Linux-3.2.12-gentoo-x86_64-Intel-R-_Xeon-R-_CPU_E5649_@_2.53GHz-with-gentoo-2.1
Timestamp of tree: Sun, 01 Jul 2012 02:45:01 +0000
app-shells/bash:          4.2_p20
dev-lang/python:          3.2.3
dev-util/pkgconfig:       0.26
sys-apps/baselayout:      2.1-r1
sys-apps/openrc:          0.9.8.4
sys-apps/sandbox:         2.5
sys-devel/autoconf:       2.68
sys-devel/automake:       1.11.1
sys-devel/binutils:       2.21.1-r1
sys-devel/gcc:            4.5.3-r2
sys-devel/gcc-config:     1.6
sys-devel/libtool:        2.4-r1
sys-devel/make:           3.82-r1
sys-kernel/linux-headers: 3.1 (virtual/os-headers)
sys-libs/glibc:           2.14.1-r3
Repositories: gentoo
ACCEPT_KEYWORDS="amd64"
ACCEPT_LICENSE="* -@EULA"
CBUILD="x86_64-pc-linux-gnu"
CFLAGS="-O2 -march=nocona -pipe -fomit-frame-pointer"
CHOST="x86_64-pc-linux-gnu"
CONFIG_PROTECT="/etc /usr/share/gnupg/qualified.txt"
CONFIG_PROTECT_MASK="/etc/ca-certificates.conf /etc/env.d /etc/gconf /etc/gentoo-release /etc/sandbox.d /etc/terminfo"
CXXFLAGS="-O2 -march=nocona -pipe -fomit-frame-pointer"
DISTDIR="/usr/portage/distfiles"
FCFLAGS="-O2 -pipe"
FEATURES="assume-digests binpkg-logs config-protect-if-modified distlocks ebuild-locks fixlafiles news parallel-fetch parse-eapi-ebuild-head protect-owned sandbox sfperms strict unknown-features-warn unmerge-logs unmerge-orphans userfetch"
FFLAGS="-O2 -pipe"
GENTOO_MIRRORS="http://gentoo.cites.uiuc.edu/pub/gentoo/ http://gentoo.mirrors.easynews.com/linux/gentoo/ http://www.gtlib.gatech.edu/pub/gentoo http://chi-10g-1-mirror.fastsoft.net/pub/linux/gentoo/gentoo-distfiles/ http://gentoo.netnitco.net"
LANG="en_US.UTF-8"
LDFLAGS="-Wl,-O1 -Wl,--as-needed"
MAKEOPTS="-j5"
PKGDIR="/usr/portage/packages"
PORTAGE_CONFIGROOT="/"
PORTAGE_RSYNC_OPTS="--recursive --links --safe-links --perms --times --compress --force --whole-file --delete --stats --human-readable --timeout=180 --exclude=/distfiles --exclude=/local --exclude=/packages"
PORTAGE_TMPDIR="/var/tmp"
PORTDIR="/usr/portage"
PORTDIR_OVERLAY=""
SYNC="rsync://rsync.us.gentoo.org/gentoo-portage"
USE="3dnow acl acpi amd64 apm bash-completion bzip2 cli cracklib crypt cxx gmp gzip hardened iconv ipv6 lzma lzo memlimit mmap mmx modules mudflap multilib ncurses nls nptl offensive openmp pam pcre pppd python readline session sharedmem smp sockets sse sse2 ssl syslog tcpd threads unicode vim-syntax xml xorg zlib" ALSA_CARDS="ali5451 als4000 atiixp atiixp-modem bt87x ca0106 cmipci emu10k1x ens1370 ens1371 es1938 es1968 fm801 hda-intel intel8x0 intel8x0m maestro3 trident usb-audio via82xx via82xx-modem ymfpci" ALSA_PCM_PLUGINS="adpcm alaw asym copy dmix dshare dsnoop empty extplug file hooks iec958 ioplug ladspa lfloat linear meter mmap_emul mulaw multi null plug rate route share shm softvol" APACHE2_MODULES="actions alias auth_basic authn_alias authn_anon authn_dbm authn_default authn_file authz_dbm authz_default authz_groupfile authz_host authz_owner authz_user autoindex cache cgi cgid dav dav_fs dav_lock deflate dir disk_cache env expires ext_filter file_cache filter headers include info log_config logio mem_cache mime mime_magic negotiation rewrite setenvif speling status unique_id userdir usertrack vhost_alias" CALLIGRA_FEATURES="kexi words flow plan sheets stage tables krita karbon braindump" CAMERAS="ptp2" COLLECTD_PLUGINS="df interface irq load memory rrdtool swap syslog" ELIBC="glibc" GPSD_PROTOCOLS="ashtech aivdm earthmate evermore fv18 garmin garmintxt gpsclock itrax mtk3301 nmea ntrip navcom oceanserver oldstyle oncore rtcm104v2 rtcm104v3 sirf superstar2 timing tsip tripmate tnt ubx" INPUT_DEVICES="keyboard mouse evdev" KERNEL="linux" LCD_DEVICES="bayrad cfontz cfontz633 glk hd44780 lb216 lcdm001 mtxorb ncurses text" LIBREOFFICE_EXTENSIONS="presenter-console presenter-minimizer" PHP_TARGETS="php5-3" PYTHON_TARGETS="python3_2 python2_7" RUBY_TARGETS="ruby18 ruby19" USERLAND="GNU" VIDEO_CARDS="fbdev glint intel mach64 mga neomagic nouveau nv r128 radeon savage sis tdfx trident vesa via vmware dummy v4l" XTABLES_ADDONS="quota2 psd pknock lscan length2 ipv4options ipset ipp2p iface geoip fuzzy condition tee tarpit sysrq steal rawnat logmark ipmark dhcpmac delude chaos account"
Unset:  CPPFLAGS, CTARGET, EMERGE_DEFAULT_OPTS, INSTALL_MASK, LC_ALL, LINGUAS, PORTAGE_BUNZIP2_COMMAND, PORTAGE_COMPRESS, PORTAGE_COMPRESS_FLAGS, PORTAGE_RSYNC_EXTRA_OPTS, USE_PYTHON

[Comment 2 Doug Goldstein (RETIRED) 2013-02-04 03:52:44 UTC]

You probably want xen-pvgrub with Xen instead of grub.

[Comment 3 Mikle Kolyada (RETIRED) 2019-02-08 15:27:07 UTC]

grub:0 is gone