+verbatime+
Patch to modify grub-mkrescue which makes the protective partition a mountable
one.  This exposes the first 32k of the drive image as writable to applications
which obey the boundaries of the partition table.


diff -ruN grub-2.00.orig/util/grub-mkrescue.in grub-2.00/util/grub-mkrescue.in
--- grub-2.00.orig/util/grub-mkrescue.in 2012-06-14 12:25:07.000000000 -0500
+++ grub-2.00/util/grub-mkrescue.in 2013-03-01 08:08:56.891157131 -0600
@@ -368,7 +368,7 @@
 fi
 
 # build iso image
-"${xorriso}" -as mkisofs -graft-points ${grub_mkisofs_arguments} --protective-msdos-label -o "${output_image}" -r "${iso9660_dir}" --sort-weight 0 / --sort-weight 1 /boot ${source}
+"${xorriso}" -as mkisofs -graft-points ${grub_mkisofs_arguments} -partition_offset 16 -o "${output_image}" -r "${iso9660_dir}" --sort-weight 0 / --sort-weight 1 /boot ${source}
 rm -rf "${iso9660_dir}"
 
 rm -f "${embed_img}"
-verbatim-

We're not going to use isohybrid for a whole range of reasons. Instead we collaborate with xorriso and add needed features to it. Secondary FAT generation is on the table but not (rather not only) because of this problem. This is still a bug in automount programs as they mount FAT instead of iso9660+rockridge and so any POSIX attributes are lost.

isohybrid creates a secondary FAT filesystem for this but it's more of a workaround for automount problem.

Sounds like the bug of automounting. You should take this to automount guys rather than complaining here.

Short version: I think this bug can be closed.


I just check with GRUB 2.00~beta6.  I am able to mount the resulting .iso file directly:


# grub2-mkrescue --output=grub.iso
Enabling BIOS support ...
xorriso 1.2.2 : RockRidge filesystem manipulator, libburnia project.

Drive current: -outdev 'stdio:grub.iso'
Media current: stdio file, overwriteable
Media status : is blank
Media summary: 0 sessions, 0 data blocks, 0 data, 55.0g free
Added to ISO image: directory '/'='/tmp/tmp.2o3txZpcPK'
xorriso : UPDATE : 224 files added in 1 seconds
xorriso : UPDATE : 224 files added in 1 seconds
xorriso : NOTE : Copying to System Area: 28105 bytes from file '/tmp/tmp.B7abx1jAmr'
xorriso : UPDATE :  100.00% done
ISO image produced: 1058 sectors
Written to medium : 1058 sectors at LBA 0
Writing to 'stdio:grub.iso' completed successfully.

# mkdir grub-iso-dir

# sudo mount grub.iso grub-iso-dir

# ls -al grub-iso-dir
total 10
dr-xr-xr-x  1 root  root  2048 Jun 16 19:01 .
drwxr-xr-x 16 sping sping 4096 Jun 16 19:01 ..
dr-xr-xr-x  1 root  root  2048 Jun 16 19:01 boot
-r--r--r--  1 root  root  2048 Jun 16 19:01 boot.catalog

You have to mount sdX, not sdX1.
phcoder@debian.x201.phnet:~/compile$ grub-mkrescue --output=grub.iso
Enabling BIOS support ...
Enabling x86_64-efi support ...
Enabling i386-coreboot support ...
GNU xorriso 0.5.5 : RockRidge filesystem manipulator, libburnia project.

Drive current: -outdev 'stdio:grub.iso'
Media current: stdio file, overwriteable
Media status : is blank
Media summary: 0 sessions, 0 data blocks, 0 data, 3902m free
Added to ISO image: directory '/'='/tmp/tmp.VlHihFJ1Od'
xorriso : UPDATE : 509 files added in 1 seconds
xorriso : UPDATE : 509 files added in 1 seconds
xorriso : NOTE : Copying to System Area: 27773 bytes from file '/tmp/tmp.ks5fm3DHoe'
ISO image produced: 3855 sectors
Written to media  : 4032 sectors at LBA 32
Writing to 'stdio:grub.iso' completed sucessfully.

phcoder@debian.x201.phnet:~/compile$ sudo mount grub.iso /mnt/mpt1/ -o loop
Scan right index finger on UPEK Eikon 2
phcoder@debian.x201.phnet:~/compile$ ls /mnt/mpt1/
boot  efi.img
phcoder@debian.x201.phnet:~/compile$ ls /mnt/mpt1/boot/
coreboot.elf  grub
phcoder@debian.x201.phnet:~/compile$ ls /mnt/mpt1/boot/grub/
i386-coreboot  i386-pc  locale  x86_64-efi