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Idea #30081: GUI for editing Grub 2 and removing unused kernels with boot from ISO option

Written by sharicov the 24 Aug 12 at 09:24. Category: Usability. Related project: Nothing/Others. Status: New
Rationale
There is currently no usable GUI for managing GRUB.
Tags: (none)

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Solution #1: GUI with a lot of functionality
Written by sharicov the 24 Aug 12 at 09:24.
GUI should contain grub menu editing options such as removing old kernel menu entries with an option to completely remove old unused kernel images, also include wizard to create boot from iso Grub entry. Option to create bootable recovery partition with (can be also implemented by booting from ISO located in recovery partition.

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cheesehead (Brainstorm admin) wrote on the 24 Aug 12 at 12:55
The Rationale does not explain why a GUI to manage GRUB is needed.

There is an even simpler existing automatic solution for cleaning out old kernels, requiring neither a GUI nor user action at http://askubuntu.com/questions/88936/how-to-remove-old-kernel-versions-automati cally

Darwin Survivor (Brainstorm moderator) wrote on the 24 Aug 12 at 22:49
@sharicov I noticed you had a couple of other items in your solution that could possibly be solved with this idea (iso boot and recovery partition creation). If you are still concerned about those issues, you should submit them as 2 separate ideas since they both probably have other solutions to solve them (like the extra kernel removal solution cheesehead pointed out).

cheesehead (Brainstorm admin) wrote on the 29 Aug 12 at 16:16
This kind of question pops up regularly in the forums from users who are moving from beginner to intermediate users.

There are already easy ways to manage kernels, to choose default grub entries, and to boot from a live-reinstall partition. The users in the forums just generally don't know about them (synaptic, update-grub, set-grub-default, unetbootin, etc.) yet.

Is there room to create a single GUI for all this?
Sure there is. Most of the desired functionality is already available through dbus, so all (I think) it really needs are a couple community members willing to learn dbus, build the GUI, package the new control panel, and submit it to Ubuntu.

Approving for 30 days to gauge community interest.

mitcoes wrote on the 30 Aug 12 at 11:50
Great idea, a good GRUB GUI, that allows as Multisystem with USB does easily add ISO to boot.

With a /boot partition when you need to format and install a new version - sometimes better tahn upgrading - no need to use a CD/DVD or USB.

Add the new version iso to grub / burg reboot and install from ISO, also good for have 2 installations, for instance one with Ubuntu Studio low latency kernel an xubuntu and other with Ubuntu Unity for different tasks.

Or even to have rescue distros as trinity rescue or others at the /boot partition.

I posted a similar idea some time ago and was rejected inmediately, better luck this time, but I also posted an idea for a Ubuntu isntaller for Android rejected, and there are already such tools at Gplay and even Ubuntu has an Ubuntu for Android version.

PaddyLandau wrote on the 9 Sep 12 at 18:58
GRUB is on its way out. Canonical will be adopting a different standard because of Microsoft's Secure Boot feature. So, this idea, although great, will be redundant quite soon.


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