My crippled kernel count is around 6, how about yours?
I think we are using linux very differently. Mine is two and one of those was a dead ssd.
Uhm, zero? With ten years of using Linux? What did you do to fuck up the damn kernel? o_O
It can be done if you mess with the initramfs.
The kernel starts everything else by unpacking an archive containing a minimal environment to set stuff up for later. Such as loading needed kernel modules, decrypting your drive, etc. It then launches, by default, the /init program (mines a shell script).
That program is PID 1. If it dies, your kernel will panic.
After it finishes setup, it execs your actual /sbin/init. These means it dies, and that program (systemd, openrc, dinit, runit, etc) becomes PID 1. If an issue happens, both could fail to execute and the kernel will loop forever.
Thank you for explanation :) I suspected something like that - mess up with some internals, you do have a chance to bring the thing down. Which is why I always have a bootable usb around before doing anything risky
Once you break it a few times, you start to understand the value of btrfs or ZFS snapshots.
What about Rsync. Does it get love? Any snapshot is good if it works. Backups are the shit.
Snapshots let you very easily revert back to an older snapshot. They’re relatively fast and lightweight.
You should have offsite backups too. Snapshots won’t help if your computer catches fire, gets stolen, etc. Rsync is okay, but has a bunch of downsides:
- It only gives you a single copy.
- If the source data gets corrupted, the backup copy will also get corrupted.
- It’s not safe from ransomware since the client has full write access to the rsync backup (and thus malicious code could delete the backup).
A backup solution like Borgbackup + borgmatic or restic is a better solution and solves the above issues:
- You can easily take daily backups - all the data is deduplicated so it won’t take much more space (assuming you’re not changing every file every day).
- Multiple backups means that if newer data is corrupted, you can just pull files from an older backup.
- Borgmatic has an append-only mode that only allows a client to add new data to a backup, and not delete any old data. This prevents the client from being able to erase the backups
Both, to the point it doesn’t boot, and just tweaking enough bugs that it’s easier to jist start over.
Reply fail?
Not any moreso than learning any other OS. I’d just argue that it’s the case if you’re averse to research, reading, listening, watching, or just generally learning from others… or if you’re delving into unknown territory
Personally, i’m a learn-by-doing type of lady, so I’ve fucked up my share of devices (I’m allergic to reading unless it’s fiction), but I have yet to mess around in the kernel (it’s on my todo list, for my LFS build which is TBD)
I remember managing to install two DE one above the other, and having them, somehow working at the exact same time. That was trippy.
I didn’t even know how I did it. I’m pretty sure that I couldn’t replicate that on purpose.
I’m on my second install now. I fucked up the first one pretty handily by accidentally wiping the boot partition in gparted. (Like a complete idiot, because the partitions are labeled.)
1
I haven’t majorly fucked up any recent systems (almost botched the steam deck once or twice but nothing that required a reinstall), but god 10 years ago I probably reset my arch dual boot like five times lmao
It’s the same as learning anything, really. A big part of learning to draw is making thousands of bad drawings. A big part of learning DIY skills is not being afraid to cut a hole in the wall. Plan to screw up. Take your time, be patient with yourself, and read ahead so none of the potential screw-ups hurt you. Don’t be afraid to look foolish, reality is absurd, it’s fine.
We give children largess to fail because they have everything to learn. Then, as adults, we don’t give ourselves permission to fail. But why should we be any better than children at new things? Many adults have forgotten how fraught the process of learning new skills is and when they fail they get scared and frustrated and quit. That’s just how learning feels. Kids cry a lot. Puttering around on a spare computer is an extremely safe way to become reacquainted with that feeling and that will serve you well even if you decide you don’t like Linux and never touch it again. Worst case you fucked up an old laptop that was collecting dust. That is way better than cutting a hole in the wall and hitting a pipe.
So this is why I’m bad at drawing. I have 954 more drawings to go!
See that would be a good analogy if the fail was fun.
Making a shit painting is still fun.
Having to reinstall my OS because I ran pacman -Syu and now my computer won’t boot, and now I have to spend hours making things work again: not at all fun.
Having my server run out of memory and freeze up instead of having a sane out of memory behavior the day before a long trip: not fun
It’s also archaic, niche information. Do I want to learn how to make a kernel version that didn’t get installed right show up in grub? Fuck no. Do I want to google for the 100th time what command exists to register the encryption key for my hard drive in the TPM? Fuck no. What an absolute waste of life.
Linux isn’t “I cut a hole in my wall” it’s “my electrician only documented the wiring in hieroglyphs and now I have to reverse engineer everything to turn on a light bulb”.
I tried to use dd with too much hubris once. I had to restore from backups (which ironically, I had made with dd). I’m usually overly cautious, but I was in a hurry.
I did this one a few weeks ago lmao. You think once would be enough. But I am a truly special being.
So, when you say crippled kernel, do you actually mean you tweaked the kernel params/build to the point that it failed to boot? Or do you just mean you messed up some package config to the point that the normal boot sequence didn’t get you to a place you knew how to recover from and need to reinstall from scratch?
I think I’m past the point where I need to do a full reinstall to recover from my mistakes. As long as I get a shell, I can usually undo whatever I did. I have btrfs+timeshift also set up, but I’ve never had to use it.
I haven’t had any issues with the kernel yet. The worst thing that I can remember doing is messing up the systemd boot entry on my Arch Linux install.
Unbootable systems in the dozens. I think I’ve only fucked up the kernel itself a few times. But grub or other bootloader tons, desktop environment tons, and getting into states so broken the only readily available option was reinstall, dozens. Thankfully most of these were right after a fresh install. For example dual booting just doesn’t work right for some OS installers and grub fails. Manjaro bricked itself after an update. Etc. etc.
I’ve never in 15 years of Linux use and tinker have ever screwed a kernel. And I compiled LFS once.
