Hi fellow Slackers,

I have a suggestion. I run Slack64-current in a dualboot config in parallell with Windows 10. GRUB is my boot manager.

As many of you, I use slackpkg in order to keep Slack updated. Now, I am talking to a buddy who is a Ubuntu user and he is thinking about moving to Slack. He's ready to take the jump. He downloaded a recent Slack64 current ISO from AlienBob, but there has been some updates after that that he would have to apply (I plan to keep him on Slack 14.2 after it is released....). Some of these updates, as you might imagine, are kernel updates. And here goes my suggestion.

When slackpkg upgrades kernels, it very thoughtfully suggest us to run LILO, and put Y (yes) as the default option.

Now, here's the problem. Most computers now use UEFI for boot, and therefore we must use something like elilo or GRUB or whatnot, but NOT LILO. Running LILO after a kernel update, I assume, would wreak all sorts of havoc in a GRUB system.

When slackpkg prompts me to run Lilo, it's no trouble for me. I just say no. But I think of my Ubuntu friend here; he might be inclined to press Enter and then see his system ruined.

So, this is my suggestion for slackpkg: make that "lilo" thing configurable, so that we could disable that prompting. Then, after upgrading my friend's laptop to Slack, I could just simply disable that Lilo prompting while I show him the ropes.

If he's going to use grub2, why not just remove or blacklist lilo?

1 members found this post helpful.

Interesting idea. Thanks!

Also, keep in mind that having a lilo warning is good to make sure you knew you updated the kernel and to verify you've done the needed steps in your chosen bootloader to ensure booting of the new kernel can occur.

Also, once 14.2 is released, kernel updates won't happen frequently. There was only one kernel security update for 14.1, so for your friend trying to keep 14.2 up-to-date, hopefully there won't be too many updates that'd require "updating lilo".

Good; but even then, the current situation of putting "yes" as default, is problematic. If there's a warning about running Lilo, I think it should not be set with "yes" as its default.

But even then, we should keep in mind that Lilo is slowly being put out of service with the emergence of UEFI machines. I think it would be good to improve the current situation. Right now, it's a hindrance for Slackware would-be users. This makes them in need of a handholding that sometimes it's just not available.

That's right, but until 14.2 is released, he should expect kernel updates to happen.

I have grub too. I think I haven't lilo installed. Anyway I always blacklist all kernel stuff and installpkg before removing older after successfully booting with newer...

1 members found this post helpful.

Slightly off topic: the problem can arise when using both grub and lilo.

But there is no issue installing both lilo and elilo (and that is allowed by Slackware). This allows to switch between UEFI/Legacy modes of the firmware, being able to boot in both modes.

2 members found this post helpful.

I would rather see a warning about that you may have to build an initrd.gz and run lilo but leave the actual deed to the user.

But I guess this works fine for huge setup.

It can be done. http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...ml#post4957315

2 members found this post helpful.