[arch-general] [arch-announce] Moving to Zstandard images by default on mkinitcpio

[Doug Newgard]

On Fri, 19 Feb 2021 19:13:09 +0000
Piscium via arch-general <arch-general at lists.archlinux.org> wrote:

> On Fri, 19 Feb 2021 at 13:37, Arch Linux: Recent news updates:
> Giancarlo Razzolini via arch-announce
> <arch-announce at lists.archlinux.org> wrote:
> >
> > As linux-lts moved to the 5.10 version, all official kernels of Arch Linux now support zstd compressed
> > initramfs images, so mkinitcpio is switching to zstd compressed images by default with version 30,
> > which is currently on [testing].
> >
> > If, for any reason, you are using a kernel version prior to 5.9, make sure to change mkinitcpio.conf
> > COMPRESSION to use one of the compressors supported, like gzip, otherwise you **will not** be able to
> > boot images generated by mkinitcpio.  
> 
> I am not sure I understand this. If someone has the default
> mkinitcpio.conf it won't boot?
> 
> In my case I set it to lz4 over a year ago for speed.

If someone has the default mkinitcpio.conf AND a kernel older than any Arch
ships, then yes, it may not boot.