a noobish question about kernel upgrades

disastrophe · 2010-10-08 08:28:32

Hi, I am a noob lol. I just installed Arch a couple of weeks ago and I like it a lot. Seems like a lot more fun than most other distros I've tried. Very tight, fast and flexible. I've been through a couple of upgrades now including one kernel upgrade and everything is running very well and I am interested in keeping it that way. (I'm in Gnome with zero disk activity within about 10 - 15 seconds after I chain load it from grub2.)
Anyway, I am currently using kernel 2.6.35.7 and I am very happy with it. However, when I do a pacman -Syu it is including kernel lts-2.6.32.24 in its list of proposed upgrades which I decline. So...let's make my first question a dumb one. Why? Other distros I am using or have tried always prefer the most recent package version unless I force it to do otherwise, so this just strikes me as a bit odd.
Thanks.

Allan · 2010-10-08 08:37:13

You installed the -lts kernel. So it is all your fault

If you do not want it then you can remove it with "pacman -Rs kernel26-lts"

archman-cro · 2010-10-08 08:37:29

It never happened to me. Never installed an LTS kernel. Well, you can just put kernel26-lts in /etc/pacman.conf

IgnorePkg   = kernel26-lts

...and see how it works.
EDIT: Allan broke me.
Well, yes, remove -lts.

Last edited by archman-cro (2010-10-08 08:38:12)

eldragon · 2010-10-08 10:55:48

some extra clarification:

the kernel26 and kernel26-lts are two distinct packages and can be installed next to each other. you can add the entry to grub's menu.lst and choose which one to use at boot time.

sometimes its good to have more than one kernel in case an update borks your system

Thor@Flanders · 2010-10-08 11:47:52

Hi,

Ok, kernel updates is the first thing I came accorss. On other distros (Fedora, in my case) you had to update/upgrade the kernel too.
If you are interested in givin' it a whack, read this:
http://www.cyberciti.biz/tips/compiling … el-26.html or http://bobpeers.com/linux/kernel_compiling
If you do, dont forget to set up the grub to allow you to choose, edit /boot/grub/menu.lst to set the timeout sufficintly wide (15 seconds?) to let you choose a kernel.µ

And, eldragon is very right: you can have several kernels next to each other, experiment and still safely fall back on a kernel that works. Keep the disk space in mind, though, but, you know this. Experimenting with kernels is safe, and educational...

Have fun!

Thor

disastrophe · 2010-10-08 14:28:32

Hey thanks everybody. I really appreciate the replies! I figured out where it came from. I installed from the 2010.05 i686 core iso and selected base-devel, the lts kernel is part of that package.
Anyway, it wasn't really a problem as much as a riddle. I started out with kernel 2.6.34.x and pacman was asking me to upgrade 2.6.32.x, so I'm like wtf? I was starting to wonder about early onset Alzhiemer's. Guess I should have Googled more. I'm coming from Debianland so little things like Arch's package designations are still a little confusing to me. I have a lot more reading to do.
BTW, I love this distro's wiki, really outstanding documentation. I think I'm going to hit Powell's or Amazon up for a couple of books though, my eyes get really heavy and blurry while reading on screen. And while I'm on that topic, does anyone have any recommendations for comprehensive entry level books on Arch?
Thanks again everybody!

Last edited by disastrophe (2010-10-08 14:33:35)

disastrophe · 2010-10-08 15:15:36

Thor@Flanders wrote:

Hi,
Ok, kernel updates is the first thing I came accorss. On other distros (Fedora, in my case) you had to update/upgrade the kernel too.
If you are interested in givin' it a whack, read this:
http://www.cyberciti.biz/tips/compiling … el-26.html or http://bobpeers.com/linux/kernel_compiling
If you do, dont forget to set up the grub to allow you to choose, edit /boot/grub/menu.lst to set the timeout sufficintly wide (15 seconds?) to let you choose a kernel.µ

Thanks Thor! That DOES look like fun and it's something I really need to be able to do. I'll try it.

Arch Linux

#1 2010-10-08 08:28:32

a noobish question about kernel upgrades

#2 2010-10-08 08:37:13

Re: a noobish question about kernel upgrades

#3 2010-10-08 08:37:29

Re: a noobish question about kernel upgrades

#4 2010-10-08 10:55:48

Re: a noobish question about kernel upgrades

#5 2010-10-08 11:47:52

Re: a noobish question about kernel upgrades

#6 2010-10-08 14:28:32

Re: a noobish question about kernel upgrades

#7 2010-10-08 15:15:36

Re: a noobish question about kernel upgrades

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