making your system robust

[Yoshinori K. Okuji]

Hello,

I've checked in a big patch to the CVS right now. This is related to the 
frequently asked feature "boot only-once" and robust systems. I did 
this myself, since I was very frustrated by the fact that there was no 
good patch for this feature. All patches looked like quick hacks, 
although I proposed a better design several times in this mailing list.

My work was inspired by the project Resumo 
<http://developer.osdl.jp/projects/resumo/>, but I believe that my 
implementation is better and a natural extension to existing GRUB 
features. My patch is written only by me, and is not derived from any 
previous work.

With this patch, you can now specify multiple fallback entries and 
"savedefault fallback". Also, you can specify "savedefault NUM" where 
NUM is the number of next boot entry. It includes a new utility 
"grub-set-default" with which you can set the default entry to an 
arbitrary entry. This default information is stored in a plain-text 
file "/boot/grub/default" instead of binary form in Stage 2. This is 
ultra safe, compared to modifying Stage 2 in a running operating 
system.

If you are interested in this new feature, get the latest version from 
the CVS, and read the new section "Making your system robust" in the 
manual. This section must be improved, but it should be rather useful 
already.

Testing is necessary. I want feedbacks about this new feature. If you 
test it, please send a report to this list, regardless of the result.

Chao,
Okuji