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Author Topic:  New grub disabled OS_PROBER by default  (Read 3647 times)

Offline hendrikL

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New grub disabled OS_PROBER by default
« on: 2021/11/29, 11:43:46 »
So if you're doing a full-upgrade/dist-upgrade be careful!
Grub changes his behavior.

Code: [Select]
zcat /usr/share/doc/grub-common/NEWS.Debian.gz
grub2 (2.06-1) UNRELEASED; urgency=medium

  * Boot menu entries for other operating systems are no longer generated by
    default.  To re-enable this, set GRUB_DISABLE_OS_PROBER=false in
    /etc/default/grub.

 -- Colin Watson <cjwatson@debian.org>  Wed, 18 Aug 2021 13:03:23 +0100

So if you are getting trouble because of this, do the following (maybe best before rebooting)
  • Become root
  • edit /etc/default/grub and insert GRUB_DISABLE_OS_PROBER=false
  • run update-grub

Or do following, it's the same but faster:
Code: [Select]
su
echo -e '\n# enable OS_PROBER\nGRUB_DISABLE_OS_PROBER=false' >> /etc/default/grub
update-grub


Offline michaa7

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Re: New grub disabled OS_PROBER by default
« Reply #1 on: 2021/11/29, 14:22:03 »
Danke für die Warnung und die Lösung . Funktioniert.

Thanks, Works fine.
Ok, you can't code, but you still might be able to write a bug report for Debian's sake

Offline tranquil

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Re: New grub disabled OS_PROBER by default
« Reply #2 on: 2021/11/29, 23:00:08 »
Since the OS prober was enabled by default, I wonder why the decision was made to disable it by default with the new release. Not a good way to implement such a change in my opinion.
Dual-booting Debian Stable and Unstable with Openbox window manager and Tint2 panel.

Offline der_bud

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Re: New grub disabled OS_PROBER by default
« Reply #3 on: 2021/11/30, 11:47:50 »
+1, I thought the same, found that some on IRC #debian-next pointed to https://salsa.debian.org/grub-team/grub/-/blob/master/ChangeLog, especially lines 467-472 and 625-630
Quote from: 467-472
     The default was GRUB_DISABLE_OS_PROBER=false if you don't set
     GRUB_DISABLE_OS_PROBER at all. To prevent os-prober from starting we
     have to set it by default to true and shuffle GRUB_DISABLE_OS_PROBER to
     code section, which is executed by the script. However we still give an
     option to the user to overwrite it with false, if he wants to execute
     os-prober after all.

   Fixes: e3464147

Quote from: 625-634
     The os-prober is enabled by default what may lead to potentially
   dangerous use cases and borderline opening attack vectors. This
   patch disables the os-prober, adds warning messages and updates
   GRUB_DISABLE_OS_PROBER configuration option documentation. This
   way we make it clear that the os-prober usage is not recommended.

   Simplistic nature of this change allows downstream vendors, who
   really want os-prober to be enabled out of the box in their
   relevant products, easily revert to it's old behavior.

Quote from: IRC#
'... "This way we make it clear that the os-prober usage is not recommended." -- which I also agree with, one should manually make an entry for other oses vs try to auto detect them ...'

(just FYI to see other opinions)
                       
Du lachst? Wieso lachst du? Das ist doch oft so, Leute lachen erst und dann sind sie tot.

Offline orinoco

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Re: New grub disabled OS_PROBER by default
« Reply #4 on: 2021/11/30, 14:33:59 »
This might be an issue for not skilled dual-boot users who want to migrate softly from one to the better os. Installers should handle this with a proper dialog.

Bad persons will say that this is the late revenge from overriding the bootblock...

Just my 2c

Offline Mister00X

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Re: New grub disabled OS_PROBER by default
« Reply #5 on: 2021/11/30, 16:08:22 »
Imho manually creating boot entries is too difficult for lesser skilled users as orinoco already mentioned.

If auto-detection of other OSes is a security risk a good middle ground between auto-detection and manual creation of boot entries would be some kind of interactive tool/script to create a boot entry file to put it into /etc/grub.d/ maybe something similar to a debconf dialogue.

Just my 2 cents ;-)
Arguing that you don't care about the right to privacy because you have nothing to hide is no different than saying you don't care about free speech because you have nothing to say. – Edward Snowden

Offline tranquil

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Re: New grub disabled OS_PROBER by default
« Reply #6 on: 2021/12/16, 03:38:31 »
It's such a security risk that Debian Stable still allows the OS prober to function...okay, got it (sarcasm).

Englisch-Deutsch mit freundlicher Genehmigung von Google Translate:
Es ist ein solches Sicherheitsrisiko, dass Debian Stable dem OS-Prober immer noch erlaubt zu funktionieren ... okay, verstanden (Sarkasmus).
Dual-booting Debian Stable and Unstable with Openbox window manager and Tint2 panel.

Offline ben

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Re: New grub disabled OS_PROBER by default
« Reply #7 on: 2021/12/21, 22:24:41 »
Just looking for a place to thank you for this distro.  I have done a few installs on both intel and AMD machines with good results.  I used to use a rolling distro and KDE some years ago but kde seemed to move in a direction I was not interested in and the distros offering a rolling testing seemed to dry up.  Then I found this distro through distrowatch and decided to try it with kde to see where things have gone.  Boy what a great surprise.  I work in radio with media files and do a lot of bash scripting etc.  This has been a god send for me.  I have been careful with repositories (a lesson hard learned) using only debian multimedia testing as extra repos and have had zero problems thus far.   Thanks again.

Ben

Offline devil

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Re: New grub disabled OS_PROBER by default
« Reply #8 on: 2021/12/21, 23:07:52 »
Hi ben, glad you like it.