Usually when an update wants to remove some thing, I do not let it as some times the update wasn't complete and removed package was actually needed. This evening, update wanted to remove 'mbr'. Synaptic describes package as IBM-PC compatible and is the 'master boot record'. I have had enough drama today pertaining to 'booting' (issue with lilo earlier). Would 'mbr' be safe to remove as my machine is a DELL? Also just a note: updates also were for 'thunderbird 3.0', but I am using the thunderbird shredder.
When updates want to remove....
Archived thread 1007829 from Jaunty Jackalope Testing and Discussion (CLOSED). Markdown source: Jaunty_Jackalope_Testing_and_Discussion_(CLOSED)/thread_1007829_When_updates_want_to_remove.....md
I would wait--my system has mbr installed on it & nothing has requested to remove it---waiting for updates to resolve is a good plan......see what happens tomorrow.
I have Shredder in my system also--hand-installed to my /home & I keep the repo thunderbird due to the gnome compat files.
The only package in the repo with a dependency on mbr is lilo. There was a lilo update recently - perhaps that was to blame? http://launchpad.net/distros/ubuntu/jaunty/+source/lilo/1:22.8-7ubuntu1
I agree with autocrosser hold off a while , I also just updated and it did not want to remove MBR , it may just be that the repo ou are using isn't fully sync'd right now . As to your DELL it is an "IBM-compatible" that is an old term for the x86 architecture or more specificly the ISA architecture.
pferraro said: The only package in the repo with a dependency on mbr is lilo.
There was a lilo update recently - perhaps that was to blame? http://launchpad.net/distros/ubuntu/jaunty/+source/lilo/1:22.8-7ubuntu1 I removed 'lilo earlier today after updates to 'lilo' caused machine to do some 'bitchin' about rebooting drama. I had made a thread about it titled: [B] [SOLVED] Strange warning messege during updates[/B]
you might want to have a look at that thread as I posted what terminal had to say :confused:
OK---I looked at my Intrepid install (Fresh install for backup use) & mbr is not installed by default--I would agree that lilo installed it as part of it's install-- The man page with mbr---
.SH DESCRIPTION .B install\-mbr installs and configures a Master Boot Record manager on a device. The behaviour of the boot manager is determined by the options given on the command line. .RI < target > is the path specifying the device (or file) that the boot manager should be installed onto.
mbr installs a Master boot record where there is not one before--as far as I know, grub installs a mbr & boot loader--so if you can boot your system---you already have a mbr.....I'll remove mbr from my system & post back, but I think that it is very safe to do so--as pferraro noted:
"The only package in the repo with a dependency on mbr is lilo."
I looked & can confirm that, so I'll check it out.
Yes--no problem--as suspected, mbr INSTALLS a master boot record, so if yours is already there---no problem---And as far as I know grub will do that in one shot without needing a "helper" like lilo--I remember that lilo was created long before grub, so Debian using lilo makes sense :)
I deleted mbr & rebooted without drama-----
Ah... So mbr in this case is NOT the MBR itself but the installer - a very significant difference. Obviously one would not want to remove the Master Boot Record or NO BOOT! Thanks autocrosser :)
I've not seen this myself - but OTOH I've not updated Jaunty yet this morning - I'm currently using my "safe" machine, the P4 with Intrepid rather than Jaunty.
It seems to me that we went thru this the last time with Intrepid--happened early as now--just something that slipped in with the Debian sync.