Why does “Advanced Options for Manjaro Linux” list each kernel twice?

[jamjar]

When I press Esc during boot > get to a menu in green letters > choose menu item “Advanced Options for Manjaro Linux,” I get a list of installed kernels, which looks something like:

Manjaro Linux (Kernel: 6.6.2-1-MANJARO)
Manjaro Linux (Kernel: 6.6.2-1-MANJARO)
Manjaro Linux (Kernel: 6.1.63-1-MANJAR)
Manjaro Linux (Kernel: 6.1.63-1-MANJAR)

Why does each kernel get listed twice?

What is the difference between the two instances?

If the above four lines are truncated (with the ends being cut off to give me e.g. “MANJAR”), is there a way to see the full line?

I always choose the top one of the two lines belonging to the same kernel. Is that the right thing to do?

[zbe]

Second one is probably a fallback ramdisk image. You can google that to find out more.
https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/mkinitcpio#Automated_generation

[linux-aarhus]

There is generated 2 entries per kernel - a ‘normal’ and a ‘fallback’.

The init image is generated to contain known modules required for your hardware - this is the ‘normal’ - the ‘fallback’ does not contain predefined modules but probes the hardware to deduct which modules to load.

As pointed out by @cscs my phrasing could be better … I mean that instead of loading a specific list of modules - all modules are loaded - falling back to everything.

[cscs]

@linux-aarhus

the ‘fallback’ does not contain predefined modules but probes the hardware to deduct which modules to load.

Are you sure?
Its my understanding that fallback spcifically skips the autodetect hook (which would do the probe and load according to hw) and instead loads the full range (also thus resulting in the mass false positive warnings on fallback image creation).

Ah yes. Arch wiki says

the fallback ramdisk image, same as above except that the autodetect hook is skipped during creation, thus including a full range of modules which supports most systems.

https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Mkinitcpio#Automated_generation

[linux-aarhus]

I could possibly rephrase it - technically we are in agreement.

[jamjar]

@linux-aarhus

There is generated 2 entries per kernel - a ‘normal’ and a ‘fallback’.

Thank you.

Can you confirm that I am right to choose the top one of the two (what matters most to me from a practical point of view)?

[cscs]

Is there a reason they are cut off and you cannot see the full title (which would include ‘fallback’)?

For whatever its worth - yes, I believe the top entry should be the ‘regular’/‘normal’ one.

[soundofthunder]

@cscs

Is there a reason they are cut off and you cannot see the full title (which would include ‘fallback’)?

Low resolution, maybe.

[jamjar]

@soundofthunder

Low resolution, maybe.

I am running this Manjaro in a virtual machine, and the screen for the relevant menus (starting with the one right after Esc and including the one listing the four) takes up only a tiny portion of my physical screen.

So yes, the Manjaro screen is small and low resolution. But of course I don’t know why it doesn’t use more of the physical screen if it needs that to show me the full information.