[bug #60805] 'grub-install -v' can report an unusable grub-mkimage command

[Corey Hickey]

URL:
  <https://savannah.gnu.org/bugs/?60805>

                 Summary: 'grub-install -v' can report an unusable
grub-mkimage command
                 Project: GNU GRUB
            Submitted by: bugfood
            Submitted on: Sun 20 Jun 2021 07:49:49 PM UTC
                Category: User Interface
                Severity: Major
                Priority: 5 - Normal
              Item Group: None
                  Status: None
                 Privacy: Public
             Assigned to: None
         Originator Name: 
        Originator Email: 
             Open/Closed: Open
                 Release: 
                 Release: Git master
         Discussion Lock: Any
         Reproducibility: Every Time
         Planned Release: None

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Details:

Note: I am reporting this based on the Debian package version 2.04-19, but the
relevant code appears present in upstream git.

If I run a verbose-grub-install, that reports a grub-mkimage command:

$ sudo grub-install -v /dev/sda 2>&1 | grep grub-mkimage
grub-install: info: grub-mkimage --directory '/usr/lib/grub/i386-pc' --prefix
'(mduuid/90aa34c17bd7b3502690763c289ebaf1)/boot/grub' --output
'/boot/grub/i386-pc/core.img'  --dtb '' --sbat '' --format 'i386-pc'
--compression 'auto'  'ext2' 'part_msdos' 'part_msdos' 'diskfilter' 'mdraid1x'
'biosdisk' 


...yet that command cannot be run:

$ sudo grub-mkimage --directory '/usr/lib/grub/i386-pc' --prefix
'(mduuid/90aa34c17bd7b3502690763c289ebaf1)/boot/grub' --output
'/boot/grub/i386-pc/core.img'  --dtb '' --sbat '' --format 'i386-pc'
--compression 'auto'  'ext2' 'part_msdos' 'part_msdos' 'diskfilter' 'mdraid1x'
'biosdisk'
grub-mkimage: error: cannot open `': No such file or directory.


The problem is the "--dtb ''" and "--sbat ''" parts. When grub-install runs,
it calls grub_install_generate_image() directly and passes NULL pointers for
those options, yet when grub-mkimage is run from the command line, those
options are pointers to empty strings. grub_install_generate_image() checks
for NULL pointers, but not for empty strings.

I do not know the best solution; either grub-install should omit those options
when they are unset or grub-mkimage should accept them and consider empty
strings to mean "disabled".

Thanks,
Corey




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