Grub2 Kcm

System Software

Source (link to git-repo or to original if based on someone elses unmodified work): Add the source-code for this project on opencode.net

3
7.5
Description:

This Kcm module manages the most common settings of Grub2 .
It uses the KAuth authorization system to gain root privilegies and is thus well integrated in system settings, under startup/shutdown.

Grub features supported/general:
Default item
Timeout
Hidden timeout
Force menu
Countdown
Background image
Linux quiet and splash parameters
Text and background colors

Grub features supported/advanced:
Distributor
Default commandline
Gfx resolution (with video card probe support)
Disable recovery
Disable memtest
Disable uuid
Disable gfx
Disable OS prober
Init tune (with presets)

Grub features supported/security:
Enable security
Manage users
Manage groups
Crypt passwords

Grub features supported/tools:
Package name
Package version
Host OS
(Re)install grub on device

BUILD INSTRUCTIONS:
Grub2 Kcm requires cmake, make, g++, kdelibs-dev, pyqt, pykde and gettext.
Starting from version 1.3, python-xlib will be used if available to display the current screen resolution.
Move in the build directory and issue the following commands:
cmake .. -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=/usr
make
sudo make install

You can follow the development on kde git: https://projects.kde.org/projects/playground/sysadmin/kcmgrub2/repository

It is available in many languages. Since it is a kde playground project, you should use the kde translation system if you want to help with translations.

Starting from version 1.1, full names will be used instead of numbers when the default boot item is not Linux. This ensures that the default item doesn't change when new Linux kernels (which usually come first) are installed/removed. We still use numbers for Linux entries since you will usually want the latest version to be the default, and not a specific kernel.
Last changelog:

9 years ago

v1.3 - 2011/04/04
Translations (thanks to the respective KDE translation teams):
* New: Czech, German, Low Saxon, Portuguese, Brazilian Portuguese, Ukrainian, Danish, Spanish, Hungarian
* Updated: Lithuanian, Italian, Dutch, Russian
Functionality:
* Add support for GRUB_INIT_TUNE, including presets
* Add support for probing the video card for VBE resolutions (largely based on vbespy/vbetest)
* Add support for changing text and background colors
* Add tips to explain non-obvious settings
Ui:
* Rework the General tab
Code:
* Minor fixes
v1.2 - 2011/03/12
Translations:
* Add Russian translation (thanks to Yuri Efremov)
* Update Italian translation
Functionality:
* Add full support for Grub security features (users, groups, crypted passwords)
* Add support for installing/reinstalling Grub
* Add Grub version reporting
* Add support for GRUB_DISABLE_OS_PROBER option
* Display useful error messages instead of generic ones
Fixes:
* Gracefully handle wrong grub.cfg permissions
Code:
* Rework the helper to make it cleaner

v1.1 - 2011/02/03
Translations:
* Add French translation (thanks to Bruno Patri)
* Add Dutch translation (thanks to Ronald Stroethoff)
* Add Lithuanian translation (thanks to Andrius Å tikonas)
Fixes:
* Fix a bug that prevented the gfx mode and and the distributor from being edited
Functionality:
* Add support for NetBSD/OpenBSD directory structure
* Reload configuration files after applying changes
* Use full name instead of number if the default item is not Linux
* Add button to restore default values
* Disable "Show menu" and "Show countdown" options if timeout is not enabled
* Disable memtest option if no memtest has been found
* Disable "Graphical mode" input if "disable graphical mode" is enabled
* Show the "updating configuration" progress dialog only after the user has entered the password
Code:
* Use fputs() instead of fprintf() in the backend
* Port everything to new-style signals/slots method
Other:
* Update license to GPLv3

v1.0 - 2011/01/26
* First public release

35 comments
Comments/Ratings

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shaumux

8 years ago

Hi,
I am on Funtoo/Gentoo.
I get a message No valid GRUB2/BURG installation could be detected.

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3

artemisfowl2007

8 years ago

"Grub2 Kcm" is different software from "GRUB2 Editor".

Since this question refers to "GRUB2 Editor", I have answered it in the appropriate place (http://kde-apps.org/content/show.php?content=139643&forumpage=4).

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jakebpg

8 years ago

I'm trying to build this package on Fedora 17 and it keeps failing when I run make.
Here is the error that make fails with:

/usr/src/kcmgrub2-1.3/helper/helper.cpp:25:27: error: ‘chdir’ was not declared in this scope

and shows the following 2 errors:

make[2]: *** [helper/CMakeFiles/kcmgrub2helper.dir/helper.o] Error 1
make[1]: *** [helper/CMakeFiles/kcmgrub2helper.dir/all] Error 2
make: *** [all] Error 2

Any help to get this working would be greatly appreciated.

My system is an x86_64 system. I've installed it through apper and fedora repos but when it tries to update it fails with a file conflict between an i686 and x86_64 file conflict!

Please help!

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C

kbios

8 years ago

Hi jakepbg, and sorry for the delay. Does it help if you add

#include <unistd.h>

at the top of helper.cpp?

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jakebpg

8 years ago

OK, that fixed the build problem, but now when I run it it says the configuration file has the wrong permissions and pops up a couple of error dialogs and finally grays out the window for this addon in system setting.

I was able to build the older version which worked flawlessly on my old system.

So what do I need to do to fix the errors. I really don't know what file it's talking about but I believe it is talking about grub.cfg.

I really liked this app, hope there's a fix for it.

Thanks for your response on how to get it to build.

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C

kbios

8 years ago

Ok, the latest git version contains lots of fixes targeted specifically at Fedora 17, plus some other improvements. I tested it quickly in a VM, but the feedback of a day-to-day user would be useful.

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C

kbios

8 years ago

Ah, just noticed that Fedora no more provides update-grub :-(
So you will also need to create /usr/sbin/update-grub with the following contents:

#!/bin/sh
set -e
exec grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub2/grub.cfg

and set it executable (chmod 0755 /usr/sbin/update-grub)

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C

kbios

8 years ago

Just tried Fedora 17 in a virtual machine. The problem is that Fedora now installs grub.cfg under /boot/grub2 instead of /boot/grub, and grub-mkconfig as grub2-mkconfig. I will fix this in the next version, for now you can do (in a terminal as root)

cd /boot/grub
ln -s ../grub2/grub.cfg grub.cfg
cd /usr/sbin
ln -s grub2-mkconfig grub-mkconfig

The first time you will still be prompted about wrong permissions, but after entering your password it will work.

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3

artemisfowl2007

9 years ago

Nice effort but I dropped by to let you know that setting permissions for grub.cfg is not that graceful. grub-mkconfig changes its permissions to -r-------- (only owner -root- can read) every time it runs:

Quote:chmod 400 ${grub_cfg}.new || grub_warn "Could not make ${grub_cfg}.new readable by only root.\
This means that if the generated config contains a password it is readable by everyone"

Plus, system administrators wouldn't really like messing with their file permissions.

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C

kbios

9 years ago

Hi, thanks for your constructive comment. I'll try to explain what's behind this decision.
First of all, I think setting grub.cfg to 0400 is useless anyway, since
1) one can simply read the password directly from the scripts in grub.d
2) if you have direct access to the machine, you can easily get the password with a bunch of techniques, it won't be a 400 to stop you (and crypting the disk will be useless in this case, since /boot cannot be crypted).
Second, that's why I added support for sha512 crypted passwords: anyone considering security so important would never use cleartext ones.
Fixperm is designed to avoid to annoy the user with UAC-style messsages, and since you probably won't be running grub-mkconfig manually everyday (probably just when installing a new kernel) I think it does its job.
That said, since kde it's all about giving the user the power to judge and decide, I'm likely going to add an option to disable it in version 1.4 (1.3 is in string freeze now).
Alberto

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3

artemisfowl2007

9 years ago

Well, it's not all about passwords or security, it's about breaking upstream stuff. grub-mkconfig chmods grub.cfg to 0400 for some reason and this is where permissions should change, if need be.

I'm also working on a GRUB2 KCModule, in case you haven't noticed (http://kde-apps.org/content/show.php/GRUB2+Bootloader+KCModule?content=139643) and I encounter the same issues with you. If you want my opinion, go for a separate read-slot in your helper and set it's permissions to "yes" (invoked without asking password). This mechanism is designed like this to allow administrators easily tweak such options and it doesn't break stuff whatsoever.

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C

kbios

9 years ago

The automatic read slot seems a really good idea, although it would probably need some checks to avoid potential security risks. It may be good also for the other part of the module requiring root access: vbetest (currently in git). I'll work on it for v1.4.
I have seen your work, that's very good, Linux is all about choice.

Alberto

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YAFU

9 years ago

@artemisfowl2007, kbios: You could join in one single project and do something really great for KDE!
Thank you both!

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Lang

9 years ago

Hi, very useful tool!

Russian translation:
http://ubuntuone.com/p/gZz/

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C

kbios

9 years ago

Thanks!

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morphy81

9 years ago

I have created a package for Slackware/Salix, but when I try to save the settings I receive always the error:
"Unable to authenticate/execute the action." even if I use kdesu or the root user.
I don't understandy why... can someone help me, please?

Many thanks in advance to all!

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C

kbios

9 years ago

Hi, could you please execute it with "kcmshell4 kcmgrub2" from the command line, try to save the settings and post the output here? The module shouldn't be executed as root, and that error message usually means that the c++ helper has not been properly installed.

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morphy81

9 years ago

What I see on the kcmgrub2 window is "You are not allowed to save the configuration" above the tabs General and Advanced.
$ kcmshell4 kcmgrub2
true
"Launch helper exited with unknown return code 255"

The word "true" appears when the app starts and the error appears when I click on "Apply" button.

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C

kbios

9 years ago

Ok, so the problem is within the helper. Could you check that the following files/directories are correctly installed (Assuming kde is installed in /usr)?
/usr/share/kde4/apps/kcmgrub2/kcmgrub2.py
/usr/share/kde4/apps/kcmgrub2/kcmgrub2.ui
/usr/share/kde4/services/kcmgrub2.desktop
/usr/lib/kde4/libexec/kcmgrub2helper
/etc/dbus-1/system.d/org.kde.kcontrol.kcmgrub2.conf
/usr/share/dbus-1/system-services/org.kde.kcontrol.kcmgrub2.service
/usr/share/polkit-1/actions/org.kde.kcontrol.kcmgrub2.policy

You might also try reloading dbus.

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morphy81

9 years ago

All the files are in the correct path except kcmgrub2.{py,ui} that are on /usr/share/apps instead of /usr/share/kde4/apps.
If I try to move in the second directory I receive an error that the GUI is not present or is for kde3...

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C

kbios

9 years ago

Ah, so it seems slackware is using a different directory structure. So most likely one of the other files are in a place which is different from what kde expects them to be. For example, /usr/lib/kde4/libexec/kcmgrub2helper may be /usr/lib/libexec/kcmgrub2helper. To be sure, you could search for the equivalent files in other k control modules: for example a search for all the files that begin with org.kde.kcontrol should give you the correct path for .conf, .service and .policy files.

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9

stikonas

9 years ago

Nice to see this project progressing nicely. Continue the good work! Booloader configuration was reallly missing a piece in KDE.

On the side note, wouldn't this project gain much more visibility (including more translations) if hosted in KDE infrastructure (e.g., here: https://projects.kde.org/projects/playground/sysadmin)?

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kbios

9 years ago

Hi, thanks for the kind words.
Yes, I plan doing that as soon as I have some free time, probably in a few weeks.

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kbios

9 years ago

Hi Craig
You're right - not everyone knows what Grub2 is, and I surely agree that from a distribution point of view bootloader configuration would sound better (every distribution has only one bootloader, after all). My concern, though, is from a kde point of view: there is already, for example, a module for Grub Legacy, and renaming mine "bootloader configuration" would probably sound like saying "this is official" or something like that.
However, I don't want to impose my view in any way, so I would like to hear other opinions about this and then decide in time for 1.1 (this Thursday).

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CraigD

9 years ago

The app would still be 'kcmgrub2' - just the user visible string in System Settings would change. Which I think is fair enough - why would you want/need more than 1 way to modify grub2?

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9 years ago

v1.3 - 2011/04/04
Translations (thanks to the respective KDE translation teams):
* New: Czech, German, Low Saxon, Portuguese, Brazilian Portuguese, Ukrainian, Danish, Spanish, Hungarian
* Updated: Lithuanian, Italian, Dutch, Russian
Functionality:
* Add support for GRUB_INIT_TUNE, including presets
* Add support for probing the video card for VBE resolutions (largely based on vbespy/vbetest)
* Add support for changing text and background colors
* Add tips to explain non-obvious settings
Ui:
* Rework the General tab
Code:
* Minor fixes
v1.2 - 2011/03/12
Translations:
* Add Russian translation (thanks to Yuri Efremov)
* Update Italian translation
Functionality:
* Add full support for Grub security features (users, groups, crypted passwords)
* Add support for installing/reinstalling Grub
* Add Grub version reporting
* Add support for GRUB_DISABLE_OS_PROBER option
* Display useful error messages instead of generic ones
Fixes:
* Gracefully handle wrong grub.cfg permissions
Code:
* Rework the helper to make it cleaner

v1.1 - 2011/02/03
Translations:
* Add French translation (thanks to Bruno Patri)
* Add Dutch translation (thanks to Ronald Stroethoff)
* Add Lithuanian translation (thanks to Andrius Å tikonas)
Fixes:
* Fix a bug that prevented the gfx mode and and the distributor from being edited
Functionality:
* Add support for NetBSD/OpenBSD directory structure
* Reload configuration files after applying changes
* Use full name instead of number if the default item is not Linux
* Add button to restore default values
* Disable "Show menu" and "Show countdown" options if timeout is not enabled
* Disable memtest option if no memtest has been found
* Disable "Graphical mode" input if "disable graphical mode" is enabled
* Show the "updating configuration" progress dialog only after the user has entered the password
Code:
* Use fputs() instead of fprintf() in the backend
* Port everything to new-style signals/slots method
Other:
* Update license to GPLv3

v1.0 - 2011/01/26
* First public release

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product-maker obsrv Apr 05 2011 9 excellent
product-maker glewik Apr 05 2011 9 excellent
product-maker artemisfowl2007 Mar 25 2011 3 bad
product-maker jmunin Mar 11 2011 9 excellent
product-maker stikonas Feb 14 2011 9 excellent
product-maker deabru Feb 03 2011 9 excellent
product-maker ocirne94 Jan 28 2011 9 excellent
product-maker bruno666 Jan 28 2011 9 excellent
product-maker andreduartesp Jan 27 2011 9 excellent
product-maker Alesvol Jan 26 2011 9 excellent
product-maker pejakm Jan 26 2011 9 excellent

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