I use rEFInd as my boot manager and sometimes I like to dual boot a new linux distro (just to try out) which I install with a live USB. Unfortunately, after installing, GRUB has always taken the reigns and it becomes a slight inconvenience to get back to rEFInd every time.

Is there some trick that can request grub not to install?

[What prompted me to ask was I tried KaOS yesterday, and during installation it asked what bootloader i wanted and included the option for ‘none’.]

  • Max-P
    28•9 months ago

    That’s going to be specific to each distro whether it’s possible or not. It’s usually hidden in advanced partitioning, if available at all. It’s like every new distro has to be completely turnkey to appeal to gamers.

    I don’t get why GRUB is so popular, GRUB 2 is so incredibly bloated and convoluted when it really doesn’t need to be, and it’s not even nice like rEFInd and other graphical bootloaders. When they started shipping GRUB 2 by default I switched to syslinux, then systemd-boot/efistub.

    • @[email protected]English
      12•9 months ago

      Same. GRUB might offer wider compatibility and support legacy BIOS, but it’s a cantankerous, wheezy dinosaur compared to systemd-boot. I don’t know why more distros don’t at least offer the latter as an option during installation.

    • lemmyvoreEnglish
      8•9 months ago

      GRUB 2 is so incredibly bloated and convoluted when it really doesn’t need to be

      Heh. Because back when LILO was the standard bootloader people wanted something modern that could boot off everything and could support new tech indefinitely. And then it kind of got out of hand. Ironically, Grub still can’t boot into a generic ISO without loading all of it in RAM.

      Grub is the systemd of bootloaders… it’s large and complex and can do anything but occasionally someone will say “I don’t need it to do everything, how about something smaller that only does this and this”.