[fedora-arm] Re: Grub slow at loading kernel and initrd

On 10/01/2022 08:02, Peter Robinson wrote:
> On Sun, Jan 9, 2022 at 3:21 PM Michael Whapples
> <contact@ashotinthedark.online> wrote:
>> Hello,
>>
>> I have been using fedora on my Odroid XU4 for some time (well over a
>> year) and its generally been working well. I had been updating the
>> install to the latest Fedora release as they came out. Recently though I
>> decided to start with a fresh image of Fedora 35 and I noticed that it
>> was very slow for grub to load the kernel and initrd (I haven't timed it
>> but well over a minute). To check that it definitely was kernel and
>> initrd loading I edited the menu item and inserted echo commands around
>> the linux and initrd lines.
>>
>>
>> Previously with the old Fedora install using the extlinux.conf boot
>> configuration there was no such delay and the system could be fully
>> booted in less time than it takes grub to load the kernel and initrd on
>> the new install.
>>
>>
>> Also with the new install I have tried manually starting the kernel and
>> initrd from uboot, both the old bootz and the EFI bootefi commands, and
>> neither of these have the delay I notice with grub.
>>
>>
>> When I have searched online for a solution, I have found some reports of
>> grub being slow to load the kernel, but no real answers as how to fix it.
>>
>>
>> So my questions are:
>>
>> 1. Does anyone know how to solve this? Hints on how to debug grub and
>> what is going on would also be welcome.
> Do you have a keyboard attached when it boots?
No, I am using it over serial console. There are no external devices
connected, although I know the ethernet port is using USB.
>
> grub2 uses the "drivers" provided by the firmware (U-Boot) and there
> was a bug there, that should be fixed, or at least greatly improved,
> in the rawhide builds of U-Boot. You can use the rawhide builds of
> U-Boot firmware on stable releases. There should be a 2022.01 GA
> release this week. Details here:
> https://lists.denx.de/pipermail/u-boot/2022-January/470773.html
>
>> 2. As I can still get a installation using the extlinux.conf
>> configuration instead of grub (either by installing an old version and
>> upgrading or by booting the Everything installer in non-EFI mode), is
>> this likely to be supported for much longer and is this really a
>> sensible route to take?
> It will be supported until the end EOL of Fedora 36 but that's also
> when we're EOLing ARMv7 support in Fedora:

Well I guess based on that there is little point in me trying to debug
grub unless I spot the bug on other devices which will be supported for
longer. I can continue using extlinux.conf for as long as I can use
fedora on this board.


Thanks for the answers.

>
> https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Changes/RetireARMv7
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