GRUB-MKIMAGE(1)

📦
version 2.12 · 14 versions
, in ubuntu noble

💅 grub-mkimage — like, the manual page, but make it make sense 💅

okay so bestie, you're reading the grub-mkimage(1) page from the User Commands manual, and I'm gonna walk you through it like we're on FaceTime at 1am. it's literally the tool that makes a bootable image of GRUB. that's the whole vibe. let's go 🫶

✨ NAME ✨

grub-mkimage — make a bootable image of GRUB 👑

like, it builds the thing that boots the thing. main character energy fr.

✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

grub-mkimage [OPTION...] [OPTION]... [MODULES]

that's it. that's the shape of it. options, options (yes twice, don't ask, it's giving "quirky"), and then a list of MODULES at the end. 💫

✨ DESCRIPTION ✨

Make a bootable image of GRUB. 🎀 that's the one-line summary and honestly it ate.

but like — the real content of this page is the options, so let's get into it.

🌸 the options 🌸

  • -c, --config=FILE — embed FILE as an early config. like, sneaking a little config snack inside the image before anything else runs. 🍓
  • -C, --compression=(xz|none|auto) — pick the compression for the core image. your choices are literally xz, none, or auto. choose your fighter 💅
  • --disable-shim-lock — turns off the shim_lock verifier. (no cap, that's what it says, that's all it says.)
  • -d, --directory=DIR — use the images and modules that live under DIR. default is [default=/usr/lib/grub/<platform>] — so <platform> gets filled in for you, cute right? 🌈
  • -D, --dtb=FILE — embed FILE as a device tree (DTB). 🦋
  • -k, --pubkey=FILE — embed FILE as the public key used for signature checking. security girlie behavior 🔥
  • -m, --memdisk=FILE — embed FILE as a memdisk image.
⚠️ okay so this one has receipts: it implies -p (memdisk)/boot/grub and overrides any prefix supplied previously — BUT the prefix itself can still be overridden by later options. so like, order matters, bestie. read the room (and the argument order). 😭
  • -n, --note — add a NOTE segment for CHRP IEEE1275. that's the whole description, I'm not gonna invent lore about it. 🧚
  • -o, --output=FILE — write the generated image out to FILE. default is [default=stdout], so if you don't say anything it just… goes to stdout. 🙈
  • -O, --format=FORMAT — generate the image in FORMAT. the available formats are literally this entire list, and I'm listing every single one because I would never do you like that:
i386-coreboot, i386-multiboot, i386-pc, i386-xen_pvh, i386-pc-pxe,
i386-pc-eltorito, i386-efi, i386-ieee1275, i386-qemu, x86_64-efi,
i386-xen, x86_64-xen, mipsel-yeeloong-flash,
mipsel-fuloong2f-flash, mipsel-loongson-elf, powerpc-ieee1275,
sparc64-ieee1275-raw, sparc64-ieee1275-cdcore,
sparc64-ieee1275-aout, ia64-efi, mips-arc, mipsel-arc,
mipsel-qemu_mips-elf, mips-qemu_mips-flash,
mipsel-qemu_mips-flash, mips-qemu_mips-elf, arm-uboot,
arm-coreboot-vexpress, arm-coreboot-veyron, arm-efi, arm64-efi,
loongarch64-efi, riscv32-efi, riscv64-efi

yes, all of them. every last one. slay 💀

  • -p, --prefix=DIR — set the prefix directory. 🌼
  • -s, --sbat=FILE — SBAT metadata. (that's the description. short and mysterious, iykyk.) ⭐
  • -v, --verbose — print verbose messages. let her yap!! 🗣️
  • -?, --help — give this help list. 🎀
  • --usage — give a short usage message. the tl;dr version 💖
  • -V, --version — print program version. 📌

and one little footnote-ish reminder that applies to the whole list:

💡 Mandatory or optional arguments to long options are also mandatory or optional for any corresponding short options. so like, if the long one needs a value, the short one needs it too. no cap. 🙏

✨ REPORTING BUGS ✨

found a bug? report it to <bug-grub@gnu.org>. be nice, be specific, include receipts. 🐛💌

✨ SEE ALSO ✨

also!! the full documentation for grub-mkimage is maintained as a Texinfo manual. so if info and grub-mkimage are properly installed on your system, then this command:

info grub-mkimage

should give you access to the complete manual. go off, read the full lore 📚✨

okay that's the whole page, you understood all of it, I'm so proud of you 🫶 this was GRUB 2.12-1ubuntu7.3, dated March 2025 — mwah, love u, bye 💋💖

📦 where this page comes from