Re: update-initramfs

[David Wright <deblis@lionunicorn.co.uk>]

On Mon 10 Apr 2023 at 20:17:11 (-0400), Marc Auslander wrote:
> I'm on Buster.
> 
> In /boot I keep a copy of the current working linux named by appending
> -knowngood to the four files.  My idea is that if an update fails, I
> have a recent working linux.  This is different from vmlinuz.old which
> is the previous kernel version.  The updates in question are not to
> the kernel but to initrd.image of course.
> 
> Suddenly, update-initramfs insists in trying to first update
> initrd.....-knowngood  which of course fails because there are no
> underling file with that name.  This never happened in the past,
> AFAIK. Once it fails it gives up.
> 
> There seems no way to force update-initramfs to update the right kernel.

Perhaps check that "all" hasn't been accidentally inserted:

  $ grep update /etc/initramfs-tools/update-initramfs.conf 
  # Configuration file for update-initramfs(8)
  # update_initramfs [ yes | all | no ]
  # If set to all update-initramfs will update all initramfs
  # If set to no disables any update to initramfs beside kernel upgrade
  update_initramfs=yes
  $ 

A workaround: change the sort order of the backup initrd files
by adding an appropriate prefix, like backup-knowngood-…
so the "real" ones get updated first.

Cheers,
David.