[Stable Update] 2023-12-23 - Kernels, Grub, Mate, Deepin, Cinnamon, ICU, KDE Frameworks

Certainly, you have to replace /dev/sdy with the correct disk and delete “COPY TO CLIPBOARD” - but I guess you know this.

Double check your disks upfront with

sudo fdisk -l

You must use the disk where your / partition is located.

Yes, of curse :slight_smile:
“COPY TO CLIPBOARD” was part of the page, forget to edit this part.
Thanks!

I did not have a problem updating GRUB on MBR system because I followed the links to ArchWiki
in pamac update messages:

[2023-12-23T09:49:54+0000] [ALPM] installed update-grub (2.12-3)
[2023-12-23T09:49:54+0000] [ALPM-SCRIPTLET] :: Install your bootloader and generate configuration:
[2023-12-23T09:49:54+0000] [ALPM-SCRIPTLET]      UEFI: https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/GRUB#Installation
[2023-12-23T09:49:54+0000] [ALPM-SCRIPTLET]      BIOS: https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/GRUB#Installation_2

For a BIOS/MBR system

wiki.archlinux.org – GRUB - Master Boot Record (MBR) specific instructions

# grub-install --target=i386-pc /dev/sdX

where i386-pc is deliberately used regardless of your actual architecture, and /dev/sdX is the disk (not a partition) where GRUB is to be installed. For example /dev/sda or /dev/nvme0n1, or /dev/mmcblk0

Since I know that grub is installed to /dev/sda/

sudo grub-install --target=i386-pc /dev/sda;
sudo grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg

Response from running grub-mkconfig is mostly as expected except for one comment:

Adding boot menu entry for UEFI Firmware Settings …

No new menu entry for UEFI settings on this legacy BIOS system

The old user manual had a good explanation of the differences between BIOS and UEFI mode

But the Wiki section for how to reinstall on a BIOS/GPT or BIOS/MBR system is not very coherent
GRUB/Restore the GRUB Bootloader - Manjaro

I just went this way with my old laptop which has msdos formatting on hdd, mbr and luks-ext4 install. Worked out fine. Merry Christmas all devs & users.

Those are the commands from the Manjaro how-to in the Known Issues post above. ^

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With every manjaro update I know my system better. Learning is not easy. Somitimes it hurts. But it should be that way, otherwise it’s useless. So thank you manjaro team for forcing me to learn my system.

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Regarding Grub

Manjaro is not Arch but we adopt a lot of what Arch Linux is doing. One of it is how grub gets installed similar to Arch. I already spoke about that last time when a config change in grub-git made systems using luks-encryption unbootable as shown here in detail.

Here is why

We normally install grub once via our installer Calamares and forget about it. The best thing is even to put grub to your ignore list of packages you want to update, as actually you never update grub which is booting your system! We never touch your grub install on MBR/EFI. Also Arch is not doing that. If you check Ubuntu or OpenSuse, their post-install scripts have a long list of detection cycles to figure out how grub was installed. When we add encryption to it it gets even harder to figure out. So we went the easy way for us to let the user remember how he installed it. Guess what: the user don’t know cos he never installed grub to begin with: our installer Calamares did that for him when he installed the OS the first time.

What we do to prevent unbootable systems

Well, we have for example update-grub script, which actually updates the grub menu, but NOT the grub on MBR/EFI. The last workaround was to mitigate the issue we had with luks encryption on older installs. Btw. luks encryption is rarely tested or non-tested at all. Same goes for XFS, which might have similar issues for other reasons.

Another way is to point the user to our Wiki when things go downhill to give the user a chance to fix the issue themselves.

Why the topic is now a topic again?

The second post is a wiki post. So any user who has TL2 rights can add some advice to that post. Since I started the post, everybody thinks I wrote that advice there. When I originally put the troubleshoots on there, there was no mention about grub at all. More or less your system will boot even you only update the package only. We normally check outdated grub installs on MBR/EFI if they break and add scripts to fix them, if needed. If you check the Arch announcements, they mentioned to reinstall grub as needed. Back then we had that EFI firmware loop issue: Arch Linux - News: Grub bootloader upgrade and configuration incompatibilities. And in March 2023 there was the luks issue most of our users had an issue with.

Why we not follow what upstream projects want?

Well, first we mostly follow what Arch Linux does. And the monolithic approach was not chosen, but might somewhen in the future. We can try to come up with a tool which remembers how grub was installed and suggest the user to use that same approach or let the user decide if they even want to update grub at all, as long as it works for them.

So what should I personally do?

Well, it is your system. We presented in rich detail the situation. So here it is:

  • grub is complex to maintain correctly
  • as any other software it has security flaws which get fixed with updates. However grub is special, as a regular package update does NOT change the grub installed to your MBR/EFI as explained already
  • You can create an unbootable system when you install grub the wrong way on MBR/EFI, so always keep a bootable USB-Stick with Manjaro on it to rescue your system as needed

Will it be fixed at some point

Well it depends …

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But I do wonder why they don’t avoid the problem altogether and do without grub in the future. EndeavourOS has shown the way by switching to systemd-boot. If it’s just about a few colourful background images … pffft …

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3 posts were split to a new topic: Incorrect cursor displayed in text editors

The information in Restore the Grub Bootloader already does that, under the headings BIOS System and EFI System. Otherwise, you make some valid points.

In fact, several users have made valid points (though sometimes not as obvious when intermingled with a rant of self entitlement).

Manjaro Linux is not an easy OS for new users, despite whatever you have been led to believe. The extent that it is user friendly in comparison to Arch Linux is arguably limited to Desktop Environments being a part of the default install; whereas with Arch, you need to install most things manually.

Basic knowledge and understanding of Linux is as much a requirement for Manjaro as it is for Arch. Using Manjaro only means that some of the work is done for you. If any user is not prepared to take some responsibility, rather than expecting all the work to be done for them, I dare say, Linux (or, at least, Manjaro) is not the distribution for them. Windows, or even macOS might be a better fit.

That is all. Have an enjoyable day/night. :christmas_tree:

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Well, people can now test install-grub to keep the updates in-sync: Install-grub: a new way to keep your EFI/MBR in-sync with grub package

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From a quick look, your command has one little mistake at the end: you have to specify the disk, not the partition, so the command shouldn’t look like this

... /dev/sdb1

but like this:

... /dev/sdb

at the end.


I have stepped into edit mode zoomed out and in on and I realize that you misunderstand what I am referring to.
There is usually a bar that highlights the name of the app my mouse is sitting over (it is this bar that has disappeared) I call this the menu bar as it appears in the menu as a bar - but perhaps you call it something else. But to be precise I am not referring to the menubar at the bottom of the screen. In the first image is the menu from the launcher (with no visible application menuitem highlighting bar) In the second image and with all other apps the menubar I am referring to is under the arrow pointer (slightly darker shade of green - but visible)

Ok I see what your are talking about and I don’t have this problem. And did you try to reset or create/edit in Appearance → colors, maybe a theme or something like that ?

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This seems to be a KDE bug. Trial and error now.
-As suggested, try changing the accent color.

  • right click on the button that opens it (opens the Application Launcher).
    there: a) try changing from grid to list in both cases and back. b) try “use compact list item style” and back.

Do you use any widgets on your desktop that are third party, like a temperature monitor or so? If so, try removing those from desktop or panels. You don’t need to uninstall them.

While you are in trial-and-error mode, log out and back in after the steps.

Looks likely to be a long Christmas evening, so far only oxygen and air bring it back nothing else I have tried works, though to be absolutely honest I have not logged in and out umpteen times, however I have switched back and fourth between list and grid view though really with no such luck. Tried changing accent too. It’s tempting to install a new plasma theme, though concerned that something might break, any recommends thanks in advance & Happy Holidays.

Are you using Kvantum? You can also try all default settings in Appearance. If it was after the update (via tty I hope?) see the pacman log.
You can also try deactivating and reactivating Accent Color in
Startup and Shutdown > Background Services

3 posts were split to a new topic: Problem running nixnote2 after update

This was indeed the problem. I made the correction and it worked so thank you very much!

However in doing that I was faced with another issue. When I restarted, I was greeted with a nice grub rescue screen. I fixed this by changing my boot order in my motherboard BIOS from sda (where Manjaro is installed) to sdb (where my Windows is and where fdisk -l said my comptuer boots from) and that fixed the rescue.

I guess my question is why did I get a grub rescue after doing this? fdisk -l showed sdb was my boot device so I used that for the grub install command, but sda was first on the list for my motherboard’s boot loader.

No I am not using Kvantum, have been through all the default settings with no luck. Currently trying out various themes and returning to my default Manjaro dark to see if it fixes anything and no luck.

You can also try deactivating and reactivating Accent Color in
Startup and Shutdown > Background Services

How would I do that?

On my Manjaro desktop, that was quite enough, apparently: It told me everything was fine and has been rebooting perfectly ever since. No trouble with my two-disk dual boot with Mint, either. My Mabox laptop wanted me to be more specific, though.

sudo update-grub is still working as usual.