Arch Linux Updates Its Kernel Installation Handling

Arch Linux has updated the behavior when installing the linux, linux-lts, linux-zen, and linux-hardened kernel options on this popular distribution.

The actual kernel images for their official Linux, Linux LTS, Linux Zen, and Linux Hardened flavors will no longer be installed to /boot by default. By not having the actual kernel reside on /boot should help those with separate boot partitions that are quite small and avoid running out of space when keeping multiple kernels installed.

With the updated kernel package handling they also seek to make these kernel packages more self-contained and allowing for more flexible boot setups while maintaining compatibility with existing Arch Linux installations.

Installing these official kernel package options is done using mkinitcpio while updated support for Dracut is expected in the near future.

More details on the updated Arch Linux kernel packages at ArchLinux.org.