diff --git a/roles/common/tasks/main.yaml b/roles/common/tasks/main.yaml
index 953e15c..d291315 100644
--- a/roles/common/tasks/main.yaml
+++ b/roles/common/tasks/main.yaml
@@ -17,10 +17,4 @@
     name: "{{ timezone }}"
   notify: restart cron
 
-- name: enable serial console
-  service:
-    name: getty@ttyS0.service
-    state: started
-    enabled: yes
-
 # vim:ft=yaml.ansible:
diff --git a/roles/grub/handlers/main.yaml b/roles/grub/handlers/main.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..c34d6c7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/roles/grub/handlers/main.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+- name: grub-mkconfig
+  command: "grub-mkconfig -o {{ grub_cfg_path }}"
diff --git a/roles/grub/tasks/Debian.yaml b/roles/grub/tasks/Debian.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..60dc322
--- /dev/null
+++ b/roles/grub/tasks/Debian.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+---
+- name: enable serial console
+  lineinfile:
+    path: "{{ grub_defaults_path }}"
+    regexp: '^GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX='
+    line: GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX="{{ grub_cmdline_linux }}"
+  notify: grub-mkconfig
diff --git a/roles/grub/tasks/main.yaml b/roles/grub/tasks/main.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..3a2ad09
--- /dev/null
+++ b/roles/grub/tasks/main.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,12 @@
+---
+- name: gather OS specific variables
+  include_vars: "{{ item }}"
+  with_first_found:
+    - "{{ ansible_distribution }}-{{ ansible_distribution_major_version }}.yaml"
+    - "{{ ansible_distribution }}.yaml"
+    - "{{ ansible_os_family }}.yaml"
+
+- name: run os specific tasks
+  include: "{{ item }}"
+  with_first_found:
+    - "{{ ansible_os_family }}.yaml"
diff --git a/roles/grub/vars/Debian.yaml b/roles/grub/vars/Debian.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..c2145a6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/roles/grub/vars/Debian.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+---
+grub_cfg_path: /boot/grub/grub.cfg
+grub_defaults_path: /etc/default/grub
+
+# Enables serial console.
+# This is helpful for libvirt guests
+grub_cmdline_linux: console=ttyS0