When I downloaded and installed the Manjaro Release ISO in September, I didn’t verify that the Release ISO didn’t install a LTS kernel. The kernel that was installed was 5.13 and is documented in the Release announcement that I read after the fact . A new Manjaro user may not know this. Since I was in the process of automating system configuration, I left installing a LTS for another day. Everything was working great.
I read the 2021-10-16 Stable Announcement and saw that the 5.13 kernel was EOL. When I installed in the past, probably by luck, the kernels were LTS, so this was a new Manjaro experience for me. I didn’t know what would happen if I ran with the 5.13 kernel or even if I could.
When I went to install the LTS kernel, 5.10, I couldn’t install it through the official methods because the repositories were already changed by the 10-16 update. I knew this would be the case, but wanted to see how it was handled and what messages I would see.
I ran the update, and then installed the LTS kernel, 5-10, via the Manjaro Settings GUI.
The reboot failed and I was presented with the console text to logon and look at the journal. For educational purposes I wanted to explore a little, but I knew the final solution for me was to get on the 5-10 kernel.
A couple of take aways:
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Always read the Announcements, Stable and Release. I have, but I want to stress to fellow new Manjaro users the importance of reading those announcements. At least the top entries by @philm.
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Always read the output from pacman system upgrade for NOTE and other items that may require action.
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Don’t delay kernel LTS installs because if the repositories change, you won’t be able to make the change until the update runs.
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Always run a LTS kernel, if you can.
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The Release ISO’s do not install a LTS kernel. After installing Manjaro, the first thing to do is install a LTS kernel. When the desired kernel is a lower level, additional steps will be required.
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Manjaro grub logic always defaults to the highest level of kernel.
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Manjaro GUI does not remove the /boot/ vmlinuz and initramfs files. When removing a higher level kernel you MUST go to /boot and remove the files and run update-grub. Those were the only other files that needed to be removed.
Another lesson learned.