I also have this problem in etch. Tracking down what this was took us a long time and some big headaches, but now I have 'export GREP_OPTIONS=""' near the top of /usr/sbin/update-grub and it works fine.
Can we get this fixed in Debian? calliope:~# echo $GREP_OPTIONS --color=always calliope:~# update-grub Searching for GRUB installation directory ... found: /boot/grub Searching for default file ... found: /boot/grub/default Testing for an existing GRUB menu.lst file ... found: /boot/grub/menu.lst Searching for splash image ... none found, skipping ... grep: Unmatched [ or [^ grep: Invalid range end grep: Invalid range end Found kernel: /vmlinuz-2.6.18-freq1000 /usr/sbin/update-grub: line 578: ${kopt_01;31m_2_6_18_freq1000}: bad substitution /usr/sbin/update-grub: line 578: ${kopt_01;31m_2_6_18}: bad substitution /usr/sbin/update-grub: line 578: ${kopt_01;31m_2_6}: bad substitution /usr/sbin/update-grub: line 578: ${kopt_01;31m_2}: bad substitution /usr/sbin/update-grub: line 578: ${kopt_01;31m}: bad substitution Found kernel: /vmlinuz-2.6.18-5-686 /usr/sbin/update-grub: line 578: ${kopt_01;31m_2_6_18_5_686}: bad substitution /usr/sbin/update-grub: line 578: ${kopt_01;31m_2_6_18_5}: bad substitution /usr/sbin/update-grub: line 578: ${kopt_01;31m_2_6_18}: bad substitution /usr/sbin/update-grub: line 578: ${kopt_01;31m_2_6}: bad substitution /usr/sbin/update-grub: line 578: ${kopt_01;31m_2}: bad substitution /usr/sbin/update-grub: line 578: ${kopt_01;31m}: bad substitution Found kernel: /vmlinuz-2.6.18-4-686 /usr/sbin/update-grub: line 578: ${kopt_01;31m_2_6_18_4_686}: bad substitution /usr/sbin/update-grub: line 578: ${kopt_01;31m_2_6_18_4}: bad substitution /usr/sbin/update-grub: line 578: ${kopt_01;31m_2_6_18}: bad substitution /usr/sbin/update-grub: line 578: ${kopt_01;31m_2_6}: bad substitution /usr/sbin/update-grub: line 578: ${kopt_01;31m_2}: bad substitution /usr/sbin/update-grub: line 578: ${kopt_01;31m}: bad substitution Updating /boot/grub/menu.lst ... done calliope:~# export GREP_OPTIONS="" calliope:~# update-grub Searching for GRUB installation directory ... found: /boot/grub Searching for default file ... found: /boot/grub/default Testing for an existing GRUB menu.lst file ... found: /boot/grub/menu.lst Searching for splash image ... none found, skipping ... Found kernel: /vmlinuz-2.6.18-freq1000 Found kernel: /vmlinuz-2.6.18-5-686 Found kernel: /vmlinuz-2.6.18-4-686 Updating /boot/grub/menu.lst ... done -- Tobias McNulty Caktus Consulting Group, LLC P.O. Box 1454 Carrboro, NC 27510 (919) 951-0052 [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.caktusgroup.com -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]