MX-23 beta 2 feedback thread

[wizardfromoz]

Hello. I downloaded and installed the XFCE version.

My situation is rather unique in that I run 76 Linux Distros on this Dell rig.

My practice with other Distros is to modify or add a line in /etc/default/grub to show

Code: Select all

GRUB_DISABLE_OS_PROBER=true

but I cannot do that here, and have it work, in MX-23 Beta2.

Why is this so important? Because os-prober takes, as per my document

MX-23 Beta 2 - HDD

real 130m2.718s

NOTE - when os-prober disabled (moved /etc/grub.d/30_os-prober to Documents)

real 4m41.887s , saved 2hr 5min 20sec !!

System Info as follows

Code: Select all

[CODE]System:
  Kernel: 6.1.0-9-amd64 [6.1.27-1] arch: x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 12.2.0
    parameters: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-6.1.0-9-amd64 root=UUID=<filter> ro noquiet nosplash
  Desktop: Xfce v: 4.18.1 tk: Gtk v: 3.24.36 info: xfce4-panel wm: xfwm v: 4.18.0 vt: 7
    dm: LightDM v: 1.26.0 Distro: MX-23_beta2_x64 Libretto June 15  2023 base: Debian GNU/Linux 12
    (bookworm)
Machine:
  Type: Laptop System: Dell product: Inspiron 5770 v: N/A serial: <superuser required> Chassis:
    type: 10 serial: <superuser required>
  Mobo: Dell model: 0XH3XD v: A00 serial: <superuser required> UEFI: Dell v: 1.1.5
    date: 04/03/2018
Battery:
  ID-1: BAT0 charge: 39.9 Wh (100.0%) condition: 39.9/42.0 Wh (95.0%) volts: 12.6 min: 11.4
    model: SMP DELL Y3F7Y6B type: Li-ion serial: <filter> status: full
CPU:
  Info: model: Intel Core i7-8550U bits: 64 type: MT MCP arch: Coffee Lake gen: core 8 level: v3
    note: check built: 2017 process: Intel 14nm family: 6 model-id: 0x8E (142) stepping: 0xA (10)
    microcode: 0xF2
  Topology: cpus: 1x cores: 4 tpc: 2 threads: 8 smt: enabled cache: L1: 256 KiB
    desc: d-4x32 KiB; i-4x32 KiB L2: 1024 KiB desc: 4x256 KiB L3: 8 MiB desc: 1x8 MiB
  Speed (MHz): avg: 800 min/max: 400/4000 scaling: driver: intel_pstate governor: powersave
    cores: 1: 800 2: 800 3: 800 4: 800 5: 800 6: 800 7: 800 8: 800 bogomips: 31999
  Flags: avx avx2 ht lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 vmx
  Vulnerabilities: <filter>
Graphics:
  Device-1: Intel UHD Graphics 620 vendor: Dell driver: i915 v: kernel arch: Gen-9.5
    process: Intel 14nm built: 2016-20 ports: active: eDP-1 empty: DP-1,HDMI-A-1,HDMI-A-2
    bus-ID: 00:02.0 chip-ID: 8086:5917 class-ID: 0300
  Device-2: AMD Topaz XT [Radeon R7 M260/M265 / M340/M360 M440/M445 530/535 620/625 Mobile]
    vendor: Dell driver: amdgpu v: kernel arch: GCN-3 code: Volcanic Islands process: TSMC 28nm
    built: 2014-19 pcie: gen: 1 speed: 2.5 GT/s lanes: 4 link-max: gen: 3 speed: 8 GT/s lanes: 8
    bus-ID: 01:00.0 chip-ID: 1002:6900 class-ID: 0380 temp: 53.0 C
  Device-3: Realtek Integrated Webcam type: USB driver: uvcvideo bus-ID: 1-5:3 chip-ID: 0bda:568a
    class-ID: 0e02 serial: <filter>
  Display: x11 server: X.Org v: 1.21.1.7 compositor: xfwm v: 4.18.0 driver: X:
    loaded: amdgpu,modesetting unloaded: fbdev,vesa dri: iris gpu: i915 display-ID: :0.0 screens: 1
  Screen-1: 0 s-res: 1920x1080 s-dpi: 96 s-size: 508x285mm (20.00x11.22") s-diag: 582mm (22.93")
  Monitor-1: eDP-1 model: AU Optronics 0x139d built: 2017 res: 1920x1080 hz: 60 dpi: 128
    gamma: 1.2 size: 381x214mm (15x8.43") diag: 437mm (17.2") ratio: 16:9 modes: 1920x1080
  API: OpenGL v: 4.6 Mesa 22.3.6 renderer: Mesa Intel UHD Graphics 620 (KBL GT2)
    direct-render: Yes
Audio:
  Device-1: Intel Sunrise Point-LP HD Audio vendor: Dell driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel
    alternate: snd_soc_skl,snd_sof_pci_intel_skl bus-ID: 00:1f.3 chip-ID: 8086:9d71 class-ID: 0403
  API: ALSA v: k6.1.0-9-amd64 status: kernel-api tools: alsamixer,amixer
  Server-1: PipeWire v: 0.3.65 status: active with: 1: pipewire-pulse status: active
    2: wireplumber status: active 3: pipewire-alsa type: plugin 4: pw-jack type: plugin
    tools: pactl,pw-cat,pw-cli,wpctl
Network:
  Device-1: Realtek RTL810xE PCI Express Fast Ethernet vendor: Dell driver: r8169 v: kernel pcie:
    gen: 1 speed: 2.5 GT/s lanes: 1 port: d000 bus-ID: 02:00.0 chip-ID: 10ec:8136 class-ID: 0200
  IF: eth0 state: up speed: 100 Mbps duplex: full mac: <filter>
  Device-2: Qualcomm Atheros QCA9377 802.11ac Wireless Network Adapter vendor: Dell
    driver: ath10k_pci v: kernel modules: wl pcie: gen: 1 speed: 2.5 GT/s lanes: 1 bus-ID: 03:00.0
    chip-ID: 168c:0042 class-ID: 0280
  IF: wlan0 state: down mac: <filter>
Bluetooth:
  Device-1: Qualcomm Atheros type: USB driver: btusb v: 0.8 bus-ID: 1-7:5 chip-ID: 0cf3:e009
    class-ID: e001
  Report: hciconfig ID: hci0 rfk-id: 1 state: up address: <filter> bt-v: 2.1 lmp-v: 4.2
    sub-v: 25a hci-v: 4.2
  Info: acl-mtu: 1024:8 sco-mtu: 50:8 link-policy: rswitch hold sniff
    link-mode: peripheral accept service-classes: rendering, capturing, object transfer, audio,
    telephony
RAID:
  Hardware-1: Intel 82801 Mobile SATA Controller [RAID mode] driver: ahci v: 3.0 port: f060
    bus-ID: 00:17.0 chip-ID: 8086:282a rev: N/A class-ID: 0104
Drives:
  Local Storage: total: 5.69 TiB used: 44.76 GiB (0.8%)
  SMART Message: Unable to run smartctl. Root privileges required.
  ID-1: /dev/sda maj-min: 8:0 vendor: Seagate model: ST2000LM007-1R8174 size: 1.82 TiB
    block-size: physical: 4096 B logical: 512 B speed: 6.0 Gb/s type: HDD rpm: 5400 serial: <filter>
    rev: SDM2 scheme: GPT
  ID-2: /dev/sdb maj-min: 8:16 vendor: Micron model: 1100 SATA 256GB size: 238.47 GiB block-size:
    physical: 4096 B logical: 512 B speed: 6.0 Gb/s type: SSD serial: <filter> rev: L022 scheme: GPT
  ID-3: /dev/sdc maj-min: 8:32 type: USB vendor: Western Digital model: WD40EZRZ-00GXCB0
    size: 3.64 TiB block-size: physical: 4096 B logical: 512 B type: HDD rpm: 5400 serial: <filter>
    rev: 4004 scheme: GPT
Partition:
  ID-1: / raw-size: 20 GiB size: 19.52 GiB (97.59%) used: 12.06 GiB (61.8%) fs: ext4
    dev: /dev/sda30 maj-min: 259:14
  ID-2: /boot/efi raw-size: 1023.3 MiB size: 1021.3 MiB (99.80%) used: 505.9 MiB (49.5%) fs: vfat
    dev: /dev/sda1 maj-min: 8:1
Swap:
  Kernel: swappiness: 15 (default 60) cache-pressure: 100 (default)
  ID-1: swap-1 type: file size: 4 GiB used: 0 KiB (0.0%) priority: -2 file: /swapfile
Sensors:
  System Temperatures: cpu: 54.0 C pch: 49.5 C mobo: 48.0 C sodimm: SODIMM C gpu: amdgpu
    temp: 54.0 C
  Fan Speeds (RPM): cpu: 2775
Repos:
  Packages: pm: dpkg pkgs: 2150 libs: 1116 tools: apt,apt-get,aptitude,nala,synaptic pm: rpm
    pkgs: 0 pm: flatpak pkgs: 0
  No active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/debian-stable-updates.list
    1: deb http://deb.debian.org/debian bookworm-updates main contrib non-free
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/debian.list
    1: deb http://deb.debian.org/debian bookworm main contrib non-free non-free-firmware
    2: deb http://security.debian.org/debian-security bookworm-security main contrib non-free
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/mx.list
    1: deb http://mxrepo.com/mx/repo/ bookworm main non-free
Info:
  Processes: 293 Uptime: 1h 20m wakeups: 105 Memory: 15.52 GiB used: 3.72 GiB (23.9%)
  Init: SysVinit v: 3.06 runlevel: 5 default: graphical tool: systemctl Compilers: gcc: 12
  Client: shell wrapper v: 5.2.15-release inxi: 3.3.26
Boot Mode: UEFI

[/code]

I have a rather cumbersome workaround for this at the moment

Workaround for now to disable os-prober

1. Modify /etc/default/grub to comment out last three of four lines, ie edit to

#if [ -e /etc/default/grub.mx-defaults ]; then
# . /etc/default/grub.mx-defaults
#fi

2. Move grub.mx-defaults from /etc/default to Documents

3. Move 30_os-prober script from /etc/grub.d to Documents.

This then, reduces updating grub by time 2 hours.

Output, then, is

Generating grub configuration file ...
Found theme: /boot/grub/themes/mx_linux/mytheme.txt
Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-6.1.0-9-amd64
Found initrd image: /boot/initrd.img-6.1.0-9-amd64
Found mtest-64.efi image: /boot/uefi-mt/mtest-64.efi
Adding boot menu entry for EFI firmware configuration
done

To re-enable, reverse the steps.

I also wonder why the change from previous versions, on this subject.

Thanks

Chris Turner
wizardfromoz

[pbear]

There's a much simpler way to disable OS prober: sudo chmod -x /etc/grub.d/30_os-prober. Put a comment in /etc/default/grub so you will remember what you've done. If you prefer to move it, I suggest /root (the home folder of user-root) makes more sense than Documents. What changed, by the way, is a perception by the Grub developers (about a year ago?) that os-prober is a potential security risk.

[asqwerth]

I know exactly how @wizardfromoz feels, though I "only" have 15 distros instead of 76. I find the time to generate grub.cfg for 15 distros is already long, so it must be an eternity for you.

As for why the change, it's because Debian decided for Bookworm that even if you manually enabled os-prober, they would disable that again at the next update of the grub package.

Unfortunately MX Devs' solution is to make the exact opposite: even if a user manually disabled os_prober with that line, it would be ignored. That was done, presumably, because many newcomers use MX and they would keep asking after every update of grub, "where is my Windows menu entry?" or "where are my other distros?"

So for the sake of a general solution that suits the majority of use cases, I'm doing what the devs advised and have made a note in my MX install notes going forward to simply make the op-prober script unexecutable.

The thing is that in Arch-based distros, os_prober is not enabled by default (has been like this for ages) but the expectation is that users have to be more proactive and knowledgeable and sort out their own boot setups.

[ADDED] It may not be that helpful to move that os_prober script to Documents. When an update to grub package is installed, that script could be re-added back to /etc/grub.d/

It happens all the time to me in my Manjaro install (which controls my grub), because I rename the 41_custom script to 09 in order that my custom entries appear before those in grub.cfg. However after every update of grub package, 41_custom is restored and I get a super-long grub menu with custom entries, then grub.cfg entries, then custom entries again (until I delete 41_custom yet again).

[AK-47]

Unfortunately MX Devs' solution is to make the exact opposite: even if a user manually disabled os_prober with that line, it would be ignored. That was done, presumably, because many newcomers use MX and they would keep asking after every update of grub, "where is my Windows menu entry?" or "where are my other distros?"

As a Windows user, I can honestly say that the os-prober hasn't been useful, so I agree. You can add custom menus by adding them to /etc/grub.d/40_custom which is what I do and I like that predictability.
I hope this decision is reconsidered. If a "newbie" is sextuple booting multiple distros, I dare say they already know what they're doing. Even someone like me who jumped straight from Windows, enough googling got me where I needed, and it was even easier than dealing with the silly bcdedit nonsense in Windows.

[i_ri]

hello dolphin_oracle
mx-installer
On the --oem switch is that a circumstance where
on the installation complete dialog
"Automatically Reboot ..." is deselected by default?
or without checkbox.(?)

[fehlix]

My practice with other Distros is to modify or add a line in /etc/default/grub to show

Code: Select all

GRUB_DISABLE_OS_PROBER=true

but I cannot do that here, and have it work, in MX-23 Beta2.

Why is this so important? Because os-prober takes, as per my document

I have a rather cumbersome workaround for this at the moment

Workaround for now to disable os-prober


This then, reduces updating grub by time 2 hours.

I also wonder why the change from previous versions, on this subject.

Thanks

Debian did some changes to always have disabled os prober during GRUB upgrade by default.
The way to disable / enabled OS prober have been changed in MX-23.
Instead of adjusting GRUB_DISABLE_OS_PROBER with /etc/default/grub,
one would set flag within the debconf-database.
One way todo this:

Code: Select all

sudo dpgk-reconfigure grub-pc

and select/de-select the correspoding os-prober related option.
+++EDIT+++
Or just set the os-prober related flag within debconf db directly:
E.g here with disabled os-prober:

Code: Select all

echo "grub-pc grub2/enable_os_prober boolean false" | sudo debconf-set-selections 

or here with enabled os-pober

Code: Select all

echo "grub-pc grub2/enable_os_prober boolean true" | sudo debconf-set-selections 

[asqwerth]

Unfortunately MX Devs' solution is to make the exact opposite: even if a user manually disabled os_prober with that line, it would be ignored. That was done, presumably, because many newcomers use MX and they would keep asking after every update of grub, "where is my Windows menu entry?" or "where are my other distros?"

As a Windows user, I can honestly say that the os-prober hasn't been useful, so I agree. You can add custom menus by adding them to /etc/grub.d/40_custom which is what I do and I like that predictability.
I hope this decision is reconsidered. If a "newbie" is sextuple booting multiple distros, I dare say they already know what they're doing. Even someone like me who jumped straight from Windows, enough googling got me where I needed, and it was even easier than dealing with the silly bcdedit nonsense in Windows.

creating a /boot/grub/custom.cfg file and depending on 41_custom script is better than editing 40_custom script , in my opinion. No need to run sudo update-grub after any change to custom.cfg ! Unlike when you edit 40_custom.

[fehlix]

Unfortunately MX Devs' solution is to make the exact opposite: even if a user manually disabled os_prober with that line, it would be ignored. That was done, presumably, because many newcomers use MX and they would keep asking after every update of grub, "where is my Windows menu entry?" or "where are my other distros?"

As mentioned the way to disable os-prober has been changed.
Instead of changing with /etc/default/grub,
adjust the os-prober related flag within debconf.

[asqwerth]

Unfortunately MX Devs' solution is to make the exact opposite: even if a user manually disabled os_prober with that line, it would be ignored. That was done, presumably, because many newcomers use MX and they would keep asking after every update of grub, "where is my Windows menu entry?" or "where are my other distros?"

As mentioned the way to disable os-prober has been changed.
Instead of changing with /etc/default/grub,
adjust the os-prober related flag within debconf.

No ordinary user will know that unless it's documented somewhere, and so far in MX23 alpha/betas, this has not been made clear.

or maybe MX Boot Options can have an added function to help us do it? It seems appropriate to have a tool to reenable the default grub behaviour, since we (MX) are forcing os_prober to be run against the latest standard behaviour of grub.

[fehlix]

Unfortunately MX Devs' solution is to make the exact opposite: even if a user manually disabled os_prober with that line, it would be ignored. That was done, presumably, because many newcomers use MX and they would keep asking after every update of grub, "where is my Windows menu entry?" or "where are my other distros?"

As mentioned the way to disable os-prober has been changed.
Instead of changing with /etc/default/grub,
adjust the os-prober related flag within debconf.

No ordinary user will know that unless it's documented somewhere, and so far in MX23 alpha/betas, this has not been made clear.

or maybe MX Boot Options can have an added function to help us do it? It seems appropriate to have a tool to reenable the default grub behaviour, since we (MX) are forcing os_prober to be run against the latest standard behaviour of grub.

Debian disabled os-prober, mentioned with Dbeian 12 news. For people relying
on other os-menu entry in grub menu, would face the sitiation to beeing locked out. Hnce the reverted adjstments made. Doesn't stop to add this information or to MX Tools to how handle os-prober in MX23.