On 6 June 2011 10:02, KESHAV P.R. <skodabenz@xxxxxxxxx> wrote: > Hi all, > Since the next kernel will be 3.0 , the kernel26 naming is > meaningless from the next kernel. I think this is also a good time to > consider implementing versioned kernel install. Agreed arch has a > policy of 1 package per software in the official repos. While this > attitude is acceptable for Xorg or windows managers or even some low > level utilities, problems with those can be corrected if the system > can boot to a shell atleast (init 1 or 3). But if the kernel fails to > boot and under the assumption that the user hdoes not have any rescue > system/distro handy he/she cannot boot into the system (atleast not at > that moment). Without a working kernel it is not possible to boot to a > shell to run any damn command. > While this topic has already been discussed at [1] the > discussion was slow and has not lead to any fruitful result. This post > is mainly to reach out to a larger audience and decide on how to go > about since the upsteam version change provides the right time for > Arch to reconsider the same. Another discussion at [2] is about > removing the word kernel from the initramfs image. If in case > versioned kernel proposal is accepted then the initramfs also > (automatically) becomes versioned to match the kernel. Atleast Dave > Reisner (falconindy) took the first step by making the change in his > geninit program. I understand this might require changes in the way > mkinitcpio (or geninit if at all it becomes default) and the way > pacman handles different versions of same packages. Please join in. > > [1] https://bugs.archlinux.org/task/16702 > [2] https://bugs.archlinux.org/task/18719 > > Regards. > > keshav > I have kernel26-lts installed as a backup kernel, and this is all that's really necessary for rolling back broken kernel updates. I've been bitten by a BTRFS bug once and rolled back with -lts no problem. -1 from me on keeping multiple kernel versions installed; I really like that arch doesn't keep 6 old kernels around. While we're at it, +1 for calling the kernel package "linux" for version 3.0. -- Tavian Barnes
