Grubinstall is software that installs GRUB boot loader on a fixed disk. It summarizes the installation of GRUB for better boot management.
Grubinstall has a particular method of installation that is straightforward, easy to grasp, and difficult to get wrong. In contrast, the GRUB package comes with multiple tools to install in various ways, and these tools are confusing and challenging to understand, partly because of poor documentation.
One of the significant differences between using grubinstall and standard methods is that grubinstall puts the entire loader in a special contiguous boot area at the beginning of the boot disk - a unique characteristic. On the other hand, most of the loader resides in a filesystem in conventional methods, which can lead to confusion and mistakes.
Using grubinstall helps avoid confusion at GRUB install time versus boot time as part of the loader remains in the filesystem. It also helps prevent making the system unbootable if certain files in the filesystem are not in the same backing blocks, a violation of the purpose of the filesystem.
One disadvantage of using grubinstall is that it requires a reserved area on the boot disk that may already be in use by the system. Therefore, it is not trivial to switch to grubinstall on an existing system as you will need to relocate the contents of the first partition on the boot disk, which can be complicated.
The creator of grubinstall designed the tool to simplify the process of switching to using GRUB instead of LILO to boot Linux systems. The complexity and poor documentation of the standard GRUB installation tools made him develop a clear understanding of the complete process of the boot. Grubinstall helps him avoid the accidental unbooting of the system, understand the effects of various system changes, and enable additional recovery options.
Overall, grubinstall is a simple yet robust tool for installing GRUB that meets all requirements without the unnecessary features that make it complex.
Version 1.00: N/A