Hibernate and GRUB

Chris Jones jonesc at hep.phy.cam.ac.uk
Tue Jul 25 12:17:20 UTC 2006


> Afaik "yum update kernel" ensures there are always two kernels
> installed. So it will retain the most recent (running) one, remove any
> older kernel(s), install the new one and make it the default. In case
> there is an issue with the new one you can still boot the old one and
> have an operational system to fix the issue.

Exactly. It is very bad practice to only keep one working kernel on a 
system, even for those you term "non-advanced" users. If that kernel 
gets toasted (and it can happen to anyone) you have no alternate to boot 
from. As explained above FC always keeps at least two kernels, and on my 
systems I tend to up this to three or even four.

Also, I don't think simply letting the suspend "tag" the kernel that was 
used, so you "know" which it is in the grub menu is any better. How is 
it tagged ? Say the default one is altered - Can you honestly say that 
every time you boot your machine you can recall if the last time it was 
turned off it was suspended or shutdown ? I doubt I can. What if it 
wasn't you who did it last time.... The user can still use a different 
kernel to the "default" one, innocently, and toast their system.

No - I still say whatever system is used it must guard against this - It 
must not be possible to choose the wrong kernel after a suspend. I don't 
know it there is some way to maintain this safeguard and still allow 
people to boot directly to windows ? If there is great, but I think 
maintaining this safety is much more important than some "fast windows" 
boot. After all, you can still get to windows with things how they are, 
it just requires a proper reboot.

Chris




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