Distributions

LILO vs. GRUB

Up until a few years ago there was no arguing about a Linux distribution's bootloader. With LILO (LInux LOader) as the dominant software for this purpose, many seasoned Linux system administrators had mastered the art of creating a lilo.conf file out of thin air, without having to look through any LILO documentation. Unfortunately for them, the release notes of Red Hat 7.2, released in October 2001, informed us that "we now use GRUB as the default bootloader".

Back in those days, only Caldera OpenLinux was supplying GNU's GRUB (GRand Unified Bootloader) as its preferred bootloader, but this sudden push by Red Hat was about to give GRUB a major boost. Indeed, many distributions soon followed Red Hat's example and started providing GRUB as an option, although few of them displaced LILO altogether. Then in March 2003, the just-released Red Hat Linux 9 re-emphasized Red Hat's commitment to GRUB by placing LILO on a list of deprecated packages that may be removed from a future Red Hat release. Although this has yet to happen, the fact is that Red Hat (as well as Fedora) have not updated their LILO version since August 2000.

Does this mean that LILO is dead? Well, not quite. Firstly, LILO has been around for so many years (I was unable to find out exactly how many, but LILO version 15 was released in October 1994), that it is firmly entrenched in many a sysadmin's arsenal of tools. Secondly, GRUB is still considered alpha software - even its most recent release, version 0.95, is only available from alpha.gnu.org, rather than from GNU's stable directory. As for the Linux distributions, most of the major ones seem to be slowly moving towards GRUB as their preferred bootloader, although this has not happened across the board. While SUSE's installation program does default to GRUB, Mandrake's still defaults to LILO. The Debian installer that came with Woody did not provide GRUB at all, but the recent Sarge beta installers now use GRUB by default. Gentoo used to demonstrate a clear preference for GRUB, but its most recent installation documentation gives equal exposure to both bootloaders. This leaves Slackware as the only major distribution that does not provide GRUB, but this is hardly surprising given its target market and its reputation for staying with well-established UNIX/Linux tools.

The LILO versus GRUB argument is one of those never-ending and passionate discussions that resurface from time to time on various public forums, not too different from the notorious vi vs. emacs or KDE vs. GNOME verbal battles. Although we all know that these debates are pointless and that the choice of software is a simple matter of personal taste, few of us are able to control the urge to reply as soon as we read a derogatory comment ridiculing our preferred piece of software.

So what exactly makes GRUB better than LILO? Here is a list of some of GRUB's frequently cited advantages:

• GRUB has a more powerful, interactive command line interface. LILO, on the other hand, only allows one command with arguments.
  
  
• LILO stores information about the location of the kernel or other operating system on the Master Boot Record (MBR). Every time a new operating system or kernel is added to the system, the Stage 1 LILO bootloader has to be manually overwritten, otherwise there is no way to boot the new OS or kernel. This method is more risky than the method used by GRUB because a mis-configured LILO configuration file may leave the system unbootable (a popular way to fix this problem is to boot from Knoppix or another live CD, chroot into the partition with mis-configured lilo.conf and correct the problem). On the other hand, correcting a mis-configured GRUB is comparatively simple as GRUB will default to its command line interface where the user can boot the system manually. This flexibility is probably the main reason why many users nowadays prefer GRUB over LILO.
  
  
• Unlike LILO, GRUB has a web site. It also has a manual, FAQ, a bug tracker, a developer mailing list and a logo. LILO has none of those.

Here is a short list of some advantages of LILO over GRUB:

• With more than a decade of development behind it, LILO is one of the most widely-used, well-tested and dependable Linux applications ever written. Most experienced system administrators are well-versed in configuring the LILO and skilled enough to deal with any emergency situation.
  
  
• The Red Hat Linux Reference Guide claims that GRUB may have difficulties booting certain hardware. It does not provide any further details, though.
  
  
• GRUB is, according to its developers, alpha-quality software. Use at your own risk.

Finally, a mind-opening quote by one of the GRUB developers Gordon Matzigkeit, as published in O'Reilly's Essential System Administration:

Some distributors - and their users - may continue to disagree for some time, however.

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Debian x86_64 port ready

A message has gone out stating that the Debian x86_64 port is complete (modulo a tiny number of outstanding bugs) and ready for incorporation into the unstable distribution. Congratulations are due to the porting team, which has worked a long time for this moment.

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Debian Weekly News

The June 15 issue of the Debian Weekly News is out; topics this week include the AMD64 port, Firefox 0.9 packaging, kernel maintenance, and more.

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Fedora News Updates #13

Issue #13 of the Fedora News Updates is available. This issue looks at the "Wombat" release, the perfect yum.conf file, the Basilisk live CD, and more.

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Fedora Core

Fedora Core updates:

• FC1 - samba 3.0.4-1.FC1: has been tested, no complaints.
• FC1 - gaim .78-1.FC1: upstream upgrade plus CVS fix backports.
• FC2 - gaim 0.78-1.FC2: upstream upgrade plus CVS fix backports.

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Gentoo Weekly Newsletter

The latest Gentoo Weekly Newsletter is out; it claims to be for May 31, but it's different from the other May 31 GWN. The main topic this week is the completion of the not-for-profit paperwork; there is also a discussion of how to get involved in the Gentoo project.

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Updated mdkonline packages

Mandrakelinux has issued a security update for Mdkonline. "Mdkonline as shipped in 10.0 has some issues comparing squid release versions. This package is a mandatory upgrade to get fully functional Mandrake Online services."

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The first Slackware 10.0 release candidate

The current Slackware changelog entry for June 15 notes that release candidate 1 for Slackware 10.0 is out.

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End of support for SUSE 8.0

SUSE has sent out a notice that, as of June 30, no more updates will be produced for version 8.0 of the SUSE Linux distribution. Versions 8.1 and newer will continue to be supported.

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Announcements from Xandros

Xandros has announced the availability of premium memberships to the Xandros Networks single-click update service and community store.

Xandros and Opera Software have announced that the new Open Circulation Edition of the Xandros Desktop operating system (OS) will be the first Linux desktop distribution to offer Opera as the default browser.

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The APODIO bootable CD

APODIO is a new bootable CD audio workstation. "APODIO is a live bootable cd, containing major audio tools (under Gnu/Linux) and a whole operating system (based on Mandrake 9.2) working from boot, without the need to install or change anything on the hard disk. You can try it out very easily and if you like it you can simply install it directly on your harddisk and run it locally. And if you whish, you can make your own apodio version."

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BLAG10000 Released

BLAG Linux and GNU 10000 has been released. This single-disk distribution (now based on Fedora Core 1) contains a number of interesting packages, especially for audio enthusiasts and system administrators. Click below for the details.

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KNOPPIX 3.5 "maxi edition" at LinuxTag

As seen on knoppix.com: KNOPPIX 3.5 will be an extra-large version of the distribution, containing over 5GB of software. It will not fit on a CD; instead, this will be a DVD-based version. It will only be available at the upcoming LinuxTag conference, though one presumes it may escape onto the net afterward.

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New Quantian release 0.5.9.1 available

Quantian release 0.5.9.1 is available. "Quantian is a remastering of Knoppix, the self-configuring and directly bootable cdrom that turns any pc or laptop into a full-featured Linux workstation, and clusterKnoppix, which adds support for openMosix. However, Quantian differs from (cluster)Knoppix by adding a large set of programs of interest to applied or theoretical workers in quantitative or data-driven fields." This version is now based on based on Knoppix 3.4 and features numerous changes.

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