#3564 Issue closed: Add grub2 Boot Loader Specification (BLS) support to rear mkrescue

Labels: enhancement, fixed / solved / done

e10kstarfire opened issue at 2026-02-13 12:56:

Platform

Linux x64

root@fedora:/etc/rear# rear -v mkrescue
Relax-and-Recover 2.9 / 2025-01-31
Running rear mkrescue (PID 20561 date 2026-02-13 12:48:20)
Using log file: /var/log/rear/rear-fedora.log
Running workflow mkrescue on the normal/original system
Using UEFI Boot Loader for Linux (USING_UEFI_BOOTLOADER=1)
Secure Boot auto-configuration using '/boot/efi/EFI/fedora/shimx64.efi' as UEFI bootloader
Using autodetected kernel '/boot/vmlinuz-6.18.9-200.fc43.x86_64' as kernel in the recovery system
Creating disk layout
Disabling component 'disk /dev/sda' in /var/lib/rear/layout/disklayout.conf
Disabling component 'part /dev/sda' in /var/lib/rear/layout/disklayout.conf
Disabling component 'disk /dev/sdb' in /var/lib/rear/layout/disklayout.conf
Disabling component 'part /dev/sdb' in /var/lib/rear/layout/disklayout.conf
Disabling component 'disk /dev/sdc' in /var/lib/rear/layout/disklayout.conf
Using sysconfig bootloader 'grub2-bls' for 'rear recover'
ERROR: 
====================
BUG in /usr/share/rear/layout/save/default/450_check_bootloader_files.sh line 44:
Unknown bootloader (GRUB2-BLS) - ask for sponsoring to get this fixed
--------------------

Describe the solution you'd like

Support for grub2 Boot Loader Specification

Describe alternatives you've considered

No response

Additional context

No response

svlv commented at 2026-02-13 16:55:

I also encountered this issue on Rocky 9 (Azure claud image) and openSUSE Tumbleweed.

Recovery process for GRUB2-BLS is the same as for GRUB2-EFI, so you can specify BOOTLOADER=GRUB2 for BIOS+EFI or BOOTLOADER=GRUB2-EFI for EFI-only systems in local.conf

I didn't have time to test the patch fully. I'll do it next week.

e10kstarfire commented at 2026-02-14 19:48:

Thanks, running with BOOTLOADER=GRUB2-EFI allows the backup to work :-)

svlv commented at 2026-02-18 08:12:

@e10kstarfire, I've tested the patch on Fedora 43 - it works without any issue.

However, on Fedora 43 it is necessary to temporary set SELinux into permissive mode, because systemd is blocked by relabelling. I do it in the following way just after the recovery finishes.

sed -i 's/^SELINUX=enforcing/SELINUX=permissive/' /mnt/local/etc/selinux/config

e10kstarfire commented at 2026-02-18 09:24:

Thanks, I haven't tried recovery yet but will take this into account when i do 🙂

jsmeix commented at 2026-03-11 08:19:

@e10kstarfire
FYI regarding testing current ReaR upstream GitHub master code
you may have a look at
https://en.opensuse.org/SDB:Disaster_Recovery#Testing_current_ReaR_upstream_GitHub_master_code

[Export of Github issue for rear/rear.]