LinuxQuestions.org - Grub2 on /boot/grub auto-update?

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Grub2 on /boot/grub auto-update?

I'm new to the Linux environment. Want to get away from Windows7 but have to keep it for now for a few apps (looking into RoboLinux). I have a legacy/MBR eeePC. The plan is to have two windows primary partitions, one for windows7 and one for the hidden windows reserved/system partition. Then I will have one primary Linux /boot partition, ext3. Finally there will be an extended ext4 partition for various Linux OS, “/” root, /home, /swap, etc, all using Gparted.

Initially I want to install the most recent Lubuntu and PuppyLinux Tahr. Lubuntu will be installed first, then Puppy. Then later on I might add another distro or two.

If I create a primary "/boot" and an extended logical drive "/" root partition, will Lubuntu be smart enough to install the boot files & grub2 in the boot partition and the system OS files in the "/" root partition or logical drive?

If that is true, then when I create a "/" root logical drive partition in the extended ext4 partition for the following Puppy install, will Puppy Tahr be smart enough to install boot files and edit Grub2 in the "/boot" partition and the OS system files in it's own "/" root partition? That would be ideal. Especially if each subsequent Linux distro I may install behaved the same way. OR do I have to manually edit the Grub2 file for each new distro installed?

Do I even need a "/boot" partition to have a menu of operating systems to choose from? Keep in mind that don't want to directly edit the MBR but rather chain-load by using boot.img and core.img as described here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GNU_GR...GRUB_legacy.29

Thx.

Take it from someone who does a lot of this:
- allocate as much space as you can to the extended, and make all your Linux partitions logical.
- no /boot partition; else later (re-)installs get real complicated.
- similar for /home - no need for it. And don't even think of sharing /home.
- install lubuntu first and let it update the MBR - it will find Win7. Later installs will need a grub-update.
- puppy should probably be a frugal install, so isn't really a boot/MBR consideration.

I'll respectfully disagree with the no /boot partition. My layout looks something like this:

/dev/sda1 Windows 7
/dev/sda2 Boot partition
/dev/sda3 the extended partition
/dev/sda5 a data partition
/dev/sda6 a data partition
/dev/sda7 Windows 10
/dev/sda8 a data partition
/dev/sda9 a data partition
/dev/sda10 Ubuntu-Mate 16.04
/dev/sda11 Fedora 23
/dev/sda12 Fedora Rawhide
/dev/sda13 Ubuntu-Mate 15.10

Each Linux partition is about 20 GB; the Boot partition is 1 GB. Grub in the MBR points to the boot partition; the boot partition's grub.cfg file is set up to chainload grub on each of the Linux partitions (the Linux partitions are identified by entries like this one:

Code:

menuentry "Ubuntu 16.04-64 on sda10" {

  insmod ext2

  set root=(hd0,msdos10)

  chainloader +1

}

The disadvantage is that I have to modify this grub.cfg file each time I swap out one Linux distro for another. The advantage is that I avoid repartitioning; something I don't really trust development versions of anaconda and ubiquity to do properly. Is it worth the effort? For me, yess. YMMV.

Thanks for the info. Just wondering why no /home partition and why not share it?
One thing I want to do with Linux is compare performance of certain applications like Gimp on different distros with the same working files. I'd rather not have redundant /home directories or mount points with redundant files in them for each distro.

Any favorite links on how to update/edit Grub2 and what circumstances would require that? I thought newer versions of the most popular distros would be able to find Grub and update it automatically as required.

My response was based on making things as straightforward as possible for a new user. Anything is do-able. Not everything is easily do-able.
And some problems may not be immediately apparent. Hence the "don't share /home". A lot of "hidden" files are application/version specific - different distros may be at differing levels. Probably won't matter, but might.
For the photos, create a data partition as @RockDoctor shows, and share that. Much safer. Personally I have a RAID5 array for mine - just the shots, nothing else.

Grub will do what you want - just be careful what you ask for. By default each distro will want to update the MBR - can get surprising when you delete the distro that "owns" the MBR.

Lots of symlinks in my home directory: