[arch-general] Keep older kernel intact while upgrading to new kernel

[Thomas Dziedzic]

2010/7/17 Rafael Beraldo <rafaelluisberaldo at gmail.com>:
> 2010/7/17 Thomas Dziedzic <gostrc at gmail.com>
>
>> On Sat, Jul 17, 2010 at 10:10 AM, Ng Oon-Ee <ngoonee at gmail.com> wrote:
>> > On Sat, 2010-07-17 at 09:17 -0500, Victor Lowther wrote:
>> >> On Sat, 2010-07-17 at 18:05 +0400, Евгений Борисов wrote:
>> >> > I think it's a bad idea, because the directory
>> /lib/modules/$oldVersion$
>> >> > will be removed when the package is upgraded kernel. Trivial solution
>> not
>> >> > exists.
>> >>
>> >> My solution is to hand-roll my own kernels and initramfs'es after
>> >> removing the kernel and mkinitcpio packages.  The way Arch handles its
>> >> kernel packages is a weak point -- Fedora and Ubuntu get this bit right.
>> >
>> > Yeah, why not keep all previous kernels and headers around. We could
>> > automatically extend menu.lst too!
>> >
>> > I'm not sure what you like about Fedora and Ubuntu handling of kernels,
>> > but I found it very annoying to have all that stuff hanging around.
>> > Would be worse with rolling release I'm sure.
>> >
>> >
>>
>> Agreed with Ng Oon-Ee on this one.
>>
>
>
> In this case, I think the best would be the middle ground. I mean, when
> upgrading the kernel, the older would be named “vmlinuz26-old” and the
> initramfs “kernel26-old.img”. This would be a secutiry measure --- what if a
> new kernel doesn't work?
>
>

As I have said, I keep a backup kernel which I know works. (I don't
upgrade both of them without testing the other).
You could just install a kernel that works and never upgrade it to be safe :P