From mboxrd@z Thu Jan  1 00:00:00 1970
From: ludo@gnu.org (Ludovic =?UTF-8?Q?Court=C3=A8s?=)
Subject: bug#30311: efi-less grub install fails
Date: Thu, 01 Feb 2018 00:55:29 +0100
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To: Ricardo Wurmus <ricardo.wurmus@mdc-berlin.de>
Cc: 30311@debbugs.gnu.org

Heya,

Ricardo Wurmus <ricardo.wurmus@mdc-berlin.de> skribis:

> =E2=80=9Cguix system init=E2=80=9D fails with a configuration file that s=
pecifies
> grub-bootloader (not grub-efi-bootloader).
>
> =E2=80=9Cgrub-install=E2=80=9D reports an error about =E2=80=9Clib/grub/x=
86_64-efi/modinfo.sh=E2=80=9D
> not being available.  It suggests passing =E2=80=9C--target=E2=80=9D or =
=E2=80=9C--device=E2=80=9D.
>
> Our invocation of grub-install does not include a =E2=80=9C--target=E2=80=
=9D argument.
> Only after I edited it to pass =E2=80=9C--target=3Di386-pc=E2=80=9D did =
=E2=80=9Cguix system init=E2=80=9D
> pass.
>
> This is on an x86_64 laptop where =E2=80=9Clegacy=E2=80=9D BIOS booting i=
s enabled.

To complement from what we=E2=80=99ve discussed on IRC:

  =E2=80=A2 It=E2=80=99s a UEFI laptop with legacy-BIOS enabled, but UEFI s=
till.

  =E2=80=A2 AIUI the installation image boots in UEFI mode on UEFI machines=
, and
    then =E2=80=98grub-install=E2=80=99 (probably via =E2=80=98efivar=E2=80=
=99 or /sys or similar)
    detects that it=E2=80=99s UEFI, decides that the target is thus
    =E2=80=9Cx86_64-efi=E2=80=9D, and fails because it lacks the EFI files.

I can think of two possible workarounds:

  1. Default to =E2=80=98grub-hybrid=E2=80=99.  But in that case, you=E2=80=
=99d have done a UEFI
     install unconditionally.

  2. For =E2=80=98grub-bootloader=E2=80=99 (not EFI), always pass =E2=80=98=
--target=3Di386-pc=E2=80=99.

Danny, Marius, thoughts?  :-)

Ludo=E2=80=99.