GRUB now supports specifying the root by UUID. Please help test.
 

> grub (0.97-29ubuntu41) intrepid; urgency=low
> .
> * Write uuid option instead of root where possible (LP: #281100, #8497).
>
> grub (0.97-29ubuntu42) intrepid; urgency=low
> .
> * Fix test around root-by-uuid code.

I've recently uploaded a new GRUB with changes to update-grub which
take advantage of the root-by-uuid support that Colin King added
earlier in the cycle. This is necessary for installations from USB
disk to work at all, as once you remove the installation medium the
drive order changes, so the normal (hd[0-9]) drive ordering fails.
However, there are also a large number of bugs filed against ubiquity
for similar drive ordering problems that this approach solves, and it
is for this reason that we decided against the more conservative path
of constraining root-by-uuid to just installations from USB disk.

It is available on the latest daily and daily-live CD builds [1], and
I ask that you make note of it in your installation testing so that we
quickly identify any issues and can relegate it to only USB installs
should it prove problematic on all installation types.

update-grub will now write something similar to:

uuid 317035b6-01ae-4847-982e-140731db8fd9
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.27-7-generic
root=UUID=317035b6-01ae-4847-982e-140731db8fd9 ro quiet splash
kernel /boot/initrd.img-2.6.27-7-generic
quiet

This difference is the uuid command, which replaces the root command.
The latter is still available for those who want to specify the groot
configuration variable manually, and update-grub will fall back to
using the root command if it is unable to determine the UUID of the
partition.

1: http://cdimage.ubuntu.com

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