NAME

       update-grub - program to generate GRUB's menu.lst file

SYNOPSIS

       update-grub [-y]

OPTIONS

       -y     Assume 'yes' on all questions.

DESCRIPTION

       update-grub  is  a program used to generate the menu.lst file used by the grub bootloader.
       It works by looking in /boot for all files which  start  with  "vmlinuz-".  They  will  be
       treated  as  kernels,  and grub menu entries will be created for each. It will also create
       the initial menu.lst if none exists, after prompting the user.  It will  also  add  initrd
       lines   for   ramdisk   images  found  with  the  same  version  as  kernels  found.  e.g.
       /boot/vmlinuz-2.4.5 and /boot/initrd-2.4.5 will cause a line of "initrd=/boot/initrd-2.4.5
       or similar to be added for the kernel entry in the menu.lst.

       After  update-grub  has  been  run  for  the  first time, the user is required to edit the
       generated menu.lst. The user must set the two options update-grub uses.  Then  re-run  the
       update-grub script to update the menu.lst file using the default's that have been set.

       These are the options passed to the linux kernel:
       # kopt=root=/dev/hda1 ro
       Everything  after "kopt=" is passed to the kernel as parameters. See bootparam(7) for more
       information.

       This is the grub device from which grub loads the kernel:
       # groot=(hd0,1)
       (hd0,1) is a partition in grub notation. See grub(8) for more information.

       This option controls if grub should create  the  alternative  boot  options  in  the  menu
       entries
       # alternative=true
       # alternative=false

       This option controls if grub should lock the alternative boot options see grub(8) for more
       information.
       # lockalternative=true
       # lockalternative=false

       This option controls if grub should lock the old kernels.
       # lockold=true
       # lockold=false

       This options controls what is used for the alternative boot options,  multiple  altoptions
       lines are allowed.
       # altoptions=(some description) some kernel command line options
       # altoptions=(recovery option) single
       The description is placed in '()' and the kernel command line options follow that.
       # updatedefault=true
       # updatedefault=false

       This  option  controls  if  grub  should update the default entry to keep booting the same
       kernel even if a new one is installed.

       The update-grub script can be ran automagically  from  the  /etc/kernel-img.conf  file  by
       adding the following lines:

       postinst_hook = update-grub
       postrm_hook = update-grub
       do_bootloader = no

       For    further    information   related   to   /etc/kernel-img.conf,   see   the   manpage
       kernel-img.conf(5).

SEE ALSO

       grub(8), grub-install(8), kernel-img.conf(5) (contained in  the  kernel-package  package),
       bootparam(7).

       The  full  documentation for grub is maintained as a Texinfo manual in the grub-legacy-doc
       package.  If the info and grub programs are properly installed at your site, the command

              info grub

       should give you access to the complete manual.

AUTHOR

       This manual page was written by Jason Thomas <jason@debian.org>, for the Debian  GNU/Linux
       system (but may be used by others).