GRUB Port Notes (Aromatic)

This branch tracks current upstream GRUB after the 2.14 release (tree version bumped to 2.15) and carries two migration tracks.

1) Port a1ive-specific modules from GRUB 2.06 to GRUB 2.14(5) / current GRUB

This track migrates custom modules/commands originally used by grub_alive from GRUB 2.06 to current GRUB internals.

Representative migrated areas (from commit history) include:

• ini, lua, grubfm (6e6167cf1, 04453f9f7)
• ntboot, wimboot (32c562515, 777d7feb9)
• vhd and related virtual-disk path (fb9d08521, 2b6b8f6d4, b4989691c)
• EFI helper/compat commands (4690e37e2, a0c2343f2, 8296554d1, b845e8fca)
• map / drivemap compatibility (8b07d956c, 7d442a6fa)

Main work items were API adaptation, compatibility shims, module split/realignment, and command parity restoration.

2) Port Ventoy from GRUB 2.04 to GRUB 2.14(5) / current GRUB

This track migrates Ventoy logic originally based on GRUB 2.04 to current GRUB.

Representative migrated areas (from commit history) include:

• Ventoy core flow, command registry, and module refactor (bd0577367, 2a348a632, ed181a244)
• Linux/Windows chain paths (ddae63f71, f9ea9d6c4, cf8f31f4c)
• VHD/WIM/NT boot utilities and fixes (638064695, 41c0a4982, e467b21ef, e3937e8ef)
• JSON/plugin split and data-path cleanup (86eae4c5a, aeab33d32)

Current status for non-migrated/partially migrated items:

• IMG boot for FydeOS/ChromeOS was not ported successfully, and there is no plan to continue this part.
• ISO boot for Unix was not ported; there may be a future plan, but it is currently not implemented.

Warning

Migrated modules have not been fully tested. Do not use this build in production or other important environments.

Build Status

• Builds successfully in glibc 2.43 + gcc 15.2.1
• Passes strict compile-time checks with -Werror enabled (e.g. warning-fix commit 22a76841b)

Future Plan

1. Implement dynamic virtual-disk loopback drivers for vhd(x) / vdi / qcow2 / vmdk, with planned support for advanced features such as snapshots and differencing disks.
2. Port ntfs-3g.