I use rEFInd as my boot manager and sometimes I like to dual boot a new linux distro (just to try out) which I install with a live USB. Unfortunately, after installing, GRUB has always taken the reigns and it becomes a slight inconvenience to get back to rEFInd every time.
Is there some trick that can request grub not to install?
[What prompted me to ask was I tried KaOS yesterday, and during installation it asked what bootloader i wanted and included the option for ‘none’.]
That’s going to be specific to each distro whether it’s possible or not. It’s usually hidden in advanced partitioning, if available at all. It’s like every new distro has to be completely turnkey to appeal to gamers.
I don’t get why GRUB is so popular, GRUB 2 is so incredibly bloated and convoluted when it really doesn’t need to be, and it’s not even nice like rEFInd and other graphical bootloaders. When they started shipping GRUB 2 by default I switched to syslinux, then systemd-boot/efistub.
Same. GRUB might offer wider compatibility and support legacy BIOS, but it’s a cantankerous, wheezy dinosaur compared to systemd-boot. I don’t know why more distros don’t at least offer the latter as an option during installation.