[SOLVED] Turn Off Graphical Boot

[pnelsonsr]

F16 during boot up I want to see the loading. I had this set up by having

/etc/systemd/system/default.target -> /lib/systemd/system/runlevel3.target

And making sure "rhgb" was removed from /boot/grub2/grub.cfg

I do have the FS encrypted. But all this worked fine.

After a kernel upgrade (not sure which one...) the system goes to graphical screen to ask for the FS password and then displays the Fedora logo which fills up as it boots the system. I want to see the loading of the system.

I've checked the above setting and it looks correct, but something is sending it to this graphical boot. After the graphical boot it goes to the command line like it should so I don't think this is related to run level 3. Seems more related to grub.cfg but I cant find how to turn this off. It use to be removing "rhgb" that did it. Is there some other setting in grub.cfg that turns off graphical boot? My F17 systems are not doing graphical boot.

[Skull One]

After a kernel update, grub.cfg is regenerated.
The file to modify is: /etc/default/grub; remove rhgb in the GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX entry.
Then, regenerate grub.cfg to apply the changes:

grub2-mkconfig -o /boot/grub2/grub.cfg

[PabloTwo]

It's a Plymouth thing. The easy fix:

# plymouth-set-default-theme details --rebuild-initrd

No need to change any GRUB configuration, though you can do it that way if you wish.

[pnelsonsr]

@skull one -> Forgot to mention that I had removed rhgb from /etc/default/grub long ago. But did notice that there was a new grub.rpmnew there so I copied it over to /etc/ default/grub (removing the rhgb from it as well). But I didn't do the grub2-mkconfig -o /boot/grub2/grub.cfg yet...

@pablotwo -> did the plymouth-set-default-theme command and rebooted and this worked as I wanted. Any idea what happened or changed?

[PabloTwo]

Any idea what happened or changed?

Nope. I'm on F16 and I don't use any file system encryption. Kernel updates have never disrupted my boot up scheme, which uses the plymouth "details" theme.

[Dan]

Evenin' Paul.

Got any ideas/experience about building Plymouth themes?

I'd love to build one that uses this basic animation.

[PabloTwo]

Hey Dan,

Well, I've never given a seconds thought to creating a custom plymouth theme, nore done any research on how one might go about that, with the exception of the past 3 minutes, which leads me to believe it wouldn't/shouldn't be all that difficult.

I had a look at the package contents of plymouth-theme-charge. All of it's files are in a single directory: /usr/share/plymouth/themes/charge

All the files but one are .png image files. The non-image file is a plain text file named charge.plymouth

BASH:~/-> cat /usr/share/plymouth/themes/charge/charge.plymouth 
[Plymouth Theme]
Name=Charge
Description=A theme that features the shadowy hull of a Fedora logo charge up and and finally burst into into full form.
ModuleName=two-step

[two-step]
ImageDir=/usr/share/plymouth/themes/charge
HorizontalAlignment=.5
VerticalAlignment=.5
Transition=none
TransitionDuration=0.0
BackgroundStartColor=0x202020
BackgroundEndColor=0x202020

Seems pretty simple and almost self explanatory. It seems an obvious correlation between the "[two-step]" heading and the rpm package plymouth-plugin-two-step, which installs but a single file:

BASH:~/-> rpm -ql plymouth-plugin-two-step
/usr/lib64/plymouth/two-step.so

two-step.so is a compiled binary, which is I'm sure the "engine" that runs the theme graphics display, and possibly other stuff. Hack away. I'll bet it wouldn't take too much searching though to find some documentation/tutorial on how to create a plymouth theme though.

Edit: This is worth a read. Was hoping for some official documentation at the wiki site, but ney. Just putting in "create plymouth theme" in Google search brings up a slew of hits to pursue for more clues.

Edit 2: Four part plymouth theme guide linked to from the plymouth wiki site.

[Dan]

*Sigh!*

Ayup. That's pretty much what I had already found. It seemed like it would be a simple matter of just changing the .png files, but that didn't work last time I tried it. Locked it up tighter than a bull's bum in fly season.

<....>

[PabloTwo]

Yeah, see my last "Edit" to my post above (link to themeing guide). It ain't so easy.

[Dan]

Aha! Success! Theme changed, and fedora now zaps its way into existence on the local moon.

<....>

I suspect I fat fingered something earlier. When I tried it again, it slipped right in.


EDIT: If you want to try it, as root, download and then unpack this into /usr/share/plymouth/themes/

Then: (as root)

# plymouth-set-default-theme fedora-world --rebuild-initrd

That will take a few minutes to complete, even on a fast system. Just patiently wait until it gets done, then reboot.