Re: Creating a bootable floppy

[Greg Ward]

On 19 September 2001, Derrik Pates said:
> On Wed, 19 Sep 2001, Greg Ward wrote:
> 
> >   # grub-install --root-dir=/floppy '(fd0)'
> 
> Um. You have to type it _exactly_ - --root-dir isn't going to work, you
> have to type --root-directory.

Sigh.  I have been spoiled by command-line parsers that handle
abbrevations.

<rant disclaimer="I do like GRUB, really I do">
This is the kind of simple, silly usability glitch that causes people to
turn their backs on a program pretty quickly.  I'm not referring to the
fact that the option parser doesn't handle abbreviations; that's just a
feature.  What is really key here is the fact that grub-install failed
to give me a clear, simple error message like "Unrecognized option:
--root-dir".  If it had done that, I would have slapped my forehead,
tried --root-directory, and not had to bother the list.  Accurately
complaining about unrecognized command-line options is not glamorous,
sexy programming.  It is, however, utterly essential if people are going
to be able to *use* the software in the real world.
</rant>

OK, this time I ran
  # grub-install --root-directory=/floppy '(fd0)'

and it's not entirely clear to me if the operation failed or succeeded.
(I'll know in a few minutes, when I try to boot off this floppy.)
Here's the output I got:

  Probing devices to guess BIOS drives. This may take a long time.
  expr: non-numeric argument

      GRUB  version 0.5.96.1  (640K lower / 3072K upper memory)

   [ Minimal BASH-like line editing is supported.  For the first word, TAB
     lists possible command completions.  Anywhere else TAB lists the possible
     completions of a device/filename. ]

  grub>                                                                         
 root (fd0,)

  Error 12: Invalid device requested

  grub>                                                                         
 setup  --stage2=/floppy/boot/grub/stage2 --prefix=/boot/grub (fd0)

  Error 12: Invalid device requested

  grub>                                                                         
 quit

What the heck is going on here?  Why all the error messages -- have I
done something wrong, or is there something wrong with grub-install?

See above rant.  Generalize to all sorts of error-handling.  Sigh...

        Greg
-- 
Greg Ward - Unix nerd                                   address@hidden
http://starship.python.net/~gward/
"What do you mean -- a European or an African swallow?"