GRUB v2 running in text mode
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Original author(s) | Erich Boleyn |
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Developer(s) | GNU Project |
Initial release | 1995 |
Stable release |
2.00 (GRUB 2) / June 27, 2012
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Preview release |
2.02~beta3 (GRUB 2) / February 28, 2016
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Repository | git |
Development status | Active |
Written in | Assembly, C |
Operating system | Linux, macOS, BSD, Solaris (x86 port) and Windows (through chainloading) |
Platform | IA-32, x86-64, IA-64, ARM, PowerPC, MIPS and SPARC |
Available in | English and others |
Type | Bootloader |
License | GNU GPL version 3 |
Website | www |
GNU GRUB (short for GNU GRand Unified Bootloader) is a boot loader package from the GNU Project. GRUB is the reference implementation of the Free Software Foundation's Multiboot Specification, which provides a user the choice to boot one of multiple operating systems installed on a computer or select a specific kernel configuration available on a particular operating system's partitions.
GNU GRUB was developed from a package called the Grand Unified Bootloader (a play on Grand Unified Theory). It is predominantly used for Unix-like systems. The GNU operating system uses GNU GRUB as its boot loader, as do most Linux distributions and the Solaris operating system on x86 systems, starting with the Solaris 10 1/06 release.
Users can dynamically configure the GRUB subsystem. GRUB provides a simple, bash-like, command line interface as it loads, allowing boot-time changes such as selecting different kernels or initial RAM disks and letting users write new boot sequences on the fly in addition to the normal menu lists.
GRUB is highly portable. It supports multiple executable formats and is geometry-translation independent, including support for logical block addressing (LBA). It supports all commonly used Unix file systems, and the Windows file systems FAT and NTFS.