[Testing Update] 2025-07-26 - Portmaster, Plymouth, Pipewire, Thunderbird

[Daniel-I]

Just reading the Known issues and solutions (specifically about GRUB), and am hoping someone can enlighten me… as reading through the previous testing post seems to suggest folks had some “GRUB fun” by not running the install-grub updater/helper… and this contradicts previous recommendtions…

@discobot

2025-04-12

Grub gained security fixes. Updating it may be risky

When Manjaro updates the grub package the actual installed binaries in master boot record (MBR) or UEFI won’t get updated. This is however needed to apply recent security fixes added to grub. Therefore we created Install-grub: a new way to keep your EFI/MBR in-sync with grub package to make it easier.

A more manual approach can be found here: [root tip] [How To] Primer on handling a grub package update

We also have it documented in our wiki on how to manually install grub when a disaster happens: GRUB/Restore the GRUB Bootloader - Manjaro. So if you are not experienced with it you can either ignore that extra step or have an install media at hand to recover as needed.

See also on how to create a boot media to install Manjaro fresh: Burn an ISO File - Manjaro. Those who want to get install medias having this update included may look for 25.0 ISOs when released or here: Releases · manjaro/release-review · GitHub

Remember, update-grub only updates the boot menu and install-grub is a script helper to install or reinstall grub on most case automatically via grub-install. All grub installations can be with a risk when not done properly as the user will change low level system parts and can easily break their systems.

Note: most likely grub was initially installed by an installer and therefore the user doesn’t know how grub got installed. So if you are unsure simply skip a reinstallation of grub.

… specifically focused on the last line… “So if you are unsure simply skip a reinstallation of grub.”

I think that’s how some folks got in trouble with the recent testing GRUB update… So I can only imagine that the new update is somehow negatively affecting the USB installers original GRUB install.

So, what’s the best approach to use now? Ensure install-grub is installed before these changes hit stable to ensure the hook is in place to make the magic happen? Or maybe add GRUB to the “ignored packages” list since no GRUB update is without risk and may bork the system?