Arch Linux

bzipitidoo

Member

Registered: 2010-01-29

Posts: 33

should keep previous working kernel

One of the things that bugs me about the way Arch does updates is that the kernel doesn't get enough in the way of special treatment.  The old kernel is discarded, same as anything else that is updated.  Shouldn't do that.  What happened when I updated a system tonight shows why.

For some reason, one of my systems could not mount the boot partition after the latest kernel update.  Mount complained that ext2 was an unknown filesystem type!  (I know, ext2 is ancient.  I'm only using it for the boot partition.)  Caused a lot of trouble.  Just why that happened, I have no idea.

The system does not have PS2 ports, so the keyboard and mouse are USB.  These were unusable because the new kernel could not load the USB modules!  Also impossible was logging in remotely, via ssh, because the networking modules couldn't be loaded either of course.  The "fallback" kernel was no help.  I had to boot the Arch installation I had put on a flash drive.  A reinstall of the kernel26 package magically fixed the problem.

Would have been easier if pacman kept the previous working kernel.

tomk

Forum Fellow

From: Ireland

Registered: 2004-07-21

Posts: 9,839

Re: should keep previous working kernel

This has been suggested before, but it's not going to happen. The easiest way to achieve a similar result is to install kernel26-lts as your backup kernel.

ngoonee

Forum Fellow

From: Between Thailand and Singapore

Registered: 2009-03-17

Posts: 7,356

Re: should keep previous working kernel

You could also compile your own kernel package and keep that as a backup.

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Allan-Volunteer on the (topic being discussed) mailn lists. You never get the people who matters attention on the forums.
jasonwryan-Installing Arch is a measure of your literacy. Maintaining Arch is a measure of your diligence. Contributing to Arch is a measure of your competence.
Griemak-Bleeding edge, not bleeding flat. Edge denotes falls will occur from time to time. Bring your own parachute.

flan_suse

Member

Registered: 2010-10-28

Posts: 120

Re: should keep previous working kernel

To add to the LTS suggestion, if you want to play it really safe, install the kernel26-lts package, reboot into the LTS kernel, make sure everything works, and then add kernel26-lts to your IgnorePkg under pacman.conf.

This way you will always have a working kernel, no matter how many updates you run through.

Don't forgot about Grub's config!

ngoonee

Forum Fellow

From: Between Thailand and Singapore

Registered: 2009-03-17

Posts: 7,356

Re: should keep previous working kernel

This way you will always have a working kernel, no matter how many updates you run through.

Until a couple of dozen of glibc updates later when the minimum supported kernel gets pushed upwards.

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Allan-Volunteer on the (topic being discussed) mailn lists. You never get the people who matters attention on the forums.
jasonwryan-Installing Arch is a measure of your literacy. Maintaining Arch is a measure of your diligence. Contributing to Arch is a measure of your competence.
Griemak-Bleeding edge, not bleeding flat. Edge denotes falls will occur from time to time. Bring your own parachute.

flan_suse

Member

Registered: 2010-10-28

Posts: 120

Re: should keep previous working kernel

This way you will always have a working kernel, no matter how many updates you run through.

Until a couple of dozen of glibc updates later when the minimum supported kernel gets pushed upwards.

As long as it doesn't happen before 2012, he should be fine. When the world ends, the minimum supported kernel won't matter anymore.