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Introduction into the grub shell

You can use the command @command{grub} for installing GRUB under your operating systems and for a testbed when you add a new feature into GRUB or when fix a bug. @command{grub} is almost the same as the Stage 2, and, in fact, it shares the source code with the Stage 2 and you can use the same commands (see section The list of available commands) in @command{grub}. It is emulated by replacing BIOS calls with UNIX system calls and libc functions.

The command @command{grub} accepts the following options:

@option{--help}

Print a summary of the command-line options and exit.

@option{--version}

Print the version number of GRUB and exit.

@option{--verbose}

Print some verbose messages for debugging purpose.

@option{--device-map=file}

Use the device map file file. The format is described in section The map between BIOS drives and OS devices.

@option{--no-floppy}

Do not probe any floppy drive. This option has no effect if the option @option{--device-map} is specified (see section The map between BIOS drives and OS devices).

@option{--probe-second-floppy}

Probe the second floppy drive. If this option is not specified, the grub shell does not probe it, as that sometimes takes a long time. If you specify the device map file (see section The map between BIOS drives and OS devices), the grub shell just ignores this option.

@option{--config-file=file}

Read the configuration file file instead of `/boot/grub/menu.lst'. The format is the same as the normal GRUB syntax. See section Filesystem syntax and semantics, for more information.

@option{--boot-drive=drive}

Set the stage2 boot_drive to drive. This argument should be an integer (decimal, octal or hexadecimal).

@option{--install-partition=par}

Set the stage2 install_partition to par. This argument should be an integer (decimal, octal or hexadecimal).

@option{--no-config-file}

Do not use the configuration file even if it can be read.

@option{--no-curses}

Do not use the curses interface even if it is available.

@option{--batch}

This option has the same meaning as `--no-config-file --no-curses'.

@option{--read-only}

Disable writing to any disk.

@option{--hold}

Wait until a debugger will attach. This option is useful when you want to debug the startup code.

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