Won't Boot normal, boots snapshot

[Visikde]

Current on updates, was trying to install dolphin service menu for image writer. Discover installed, but when I tried to use error message said not installed. Downloaded zip from kde store & installed from CLI, still not working

Tried to restart, grub loaded & blinking cursor, never finishes booting
Hard shutdown
Restarted chose the next to last snapshot, runs, won't connect to synaptic or discover
Restarted again, blinking cursor
Restarted, chose the last kernel, Discover & Synaptic connect
How do I get back to a normal state?

[marwenius]

I think it is described quite well in the documentation:
https://github.com/SpiralLinux/SpiralLinux-project/wiki#working-with-btrfs-snapshots-and-rollbacks

[Visikde]

Rolling back was easier than the procedure described, no need for CLI...
How am I supposed to identify & repair whatever caused the breakage in the 1st place?

[marwenius]

As the explanations are somewhat unclear to me: Which of the two did you try to install (and which of these failed)?

• This: https://apps.kde.org/isoimagewriter/
• Or this: https://apps.kde.org/discover/

Additionally: Are you using the Bookworm/Stable branch of Debian or are you on Trixie/Testing or Sid/Unstable?

I ask because the package only seems to be available for the last two:

• https://packages.debian.org/search?keywords=isoimagewriter&exact=1

[Visikde]

Iso image writer from Discover[shows as installed] , right click on an iso [dolphin] pops up error: Could not find program 'imagewriter'

I followed the link to "Website" https://store.kde.org/p/1527396
I installed sucessfully from cli following the instructions on the page
same error

I'm on stable

[marwenius]

I think I understand the problem.

If you enter the following commands on the command line, you will probably see that there is no result:

sudo apt update
sudo apt search imagewriter

When I enter the same commands in Trixie/Testing, I get this output:

isoimagewriter/testing 24.12.0+dfsg-1 amd64
  write hybrid iso files to usb

What you find in Discover is just a script that inserts the entry into the menu. The script does not check whether the imagewriter programme is installed, but simply adds the entry to the menu.

The programme with which you can burn ISO files is called KDE ISO Image Writer. And there you can read:

Unstable version.
Generated from the latest version of the development branch.

Means: This programme is currently not available in the stable branch.

But why did the system fail to boot? Perhaps you (unknowingly) installed other updates with Discover and thus also a new backport kernel, which may cause problems, especially (but not only) when NVIDIA is involved.

[Visikde]

Thanks for the reply
AMD Thinkpad
I updated as normal with Discover, which just updated as normal
system settings list kernel 6.11.10+bpo-amd64 (64-bit)
What kernel version should I be using?
I haven't been able to find an answer or an explanation for what the different things in the kernel number mean
I'd guess +bpo=backports,

I'm not concerned with the iso burner part, [removed]
I was trying for a Plasma/Qt solution to burning ISOs, the gtk versions look terrible & are hard for me to use with their tiny fonts
I think I used multi writer

[marwenius]

Exactly, bpo means backport, i.e. a package that was made available for the stable branch, as it is actually only available in the other branches such as testing or unstable.

You don't have much choice when it comes to backported kernels, as not every kernel version is backported. For example, the latest versions were 6.12.9, 6.11.10, 6.11.5 and 6.10.11.

An explanation of the numbers, which I found easy to understand, can be found there:

• https://www.reddit.com/r/linux4noobs/comments/1beximu/comment/kuwmwrt/

If you don't currently have new hardware that is absolutely dependent on using the latest backported kernel and there are no other problems, I would just stick with 6.11.10, as there seem to be problems with 6.12.9 for some people (for example, it works for me without any problems, but other topics here in the forum report otherwise).

To prevent the kernel from being automatically updated again with the next update, you could try marking it as ‘hold’:

• https://github.com/orgs/SpiralLinux/discussions/529#discussioncomment-12016609

[Visikde]

How do I get back to using a normal kernel?

[Visikde]

I was getting this error every time I updated
Yesterday power went out
I restarted using the last snapshot
Synaptic throws this:
W: Not using locking for read only lock file /var/lib/dpkg/lock-frontend
W: Not using locking for read only lock file /var/lib/dpkg/lock
Discover

[marwenius]

Looks like you are trying to start the update from within the snapshot. If you boot into a snapshot, the file system is write-protected. First you have to roll back to the snapshot and after a reboot the file system is writable again.

How to restore a snapshot is described there:
https://github.com/SpiralLinux/SpiralLinux-project/wiki#working-with-btrfs-snapshots-and-rollbacks

It is best to do this first and then see if the kernel problem persists.

[Visikde]

Thanks for the reply
I had been following the linked procedure, I'm still getting the read only error I posted
How do I proceed to get back to a system that boots normally & can be updated?

[marwenius]

So your steps were:

• booted into a working snapshot from the GRUB boot menu (e.g. snapshot with the number 10)
• executed the command sudo snapper-rollback 10 within the snapshot system (with a hyphen between snapper and rollback instead of a space)
• Reboot and start SpiralLinux normally without selecting a snapshot (first entry in the GRUB boot menu)

?

(To be on the safe side: Please use the number of the snapshot that works for you.)

If you have proceeded in this way, it should actually work again. If not, it may be due to something else.

[Visikde]

Thanks for the reply
I finally restarted, using the kernel that wasn't BPO
6.1.0-13-amd64 (64-bit)
Then I went to https://wiki.debian.org/HowToUpgradeKernel
I can get the list, but I can't run this:
$ sudo apt install linux-image-linux-image-6.5.0-0.deb12.4-686 - Linux 6.5 for older PCs (signed)
It complains about
bash: syntax error near unexpected token `('
Getting rid of - Linux 6.5 for older PCs (signed) & various other combinations gives
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree... Done
Reading state information... Done
E: Unable to locate package linux-image-linux-image-6.5.0-0.deb12.4-686
E: Couldn't find any package by glob 'linux-image-linux-image-6.5.0-0.deb12.4-686'

I don't care which kernel I run, I just want to be able to boot normally?

[geckolinux]

Hi there, I would recommend that you use Synaptic to manage packages, not the command line, it's pre-installed in SpiralLinux.

[Visikde]

Thanks for all the replies

I for the most part use Discover which works fine for everything beyond individual packages
I have this fixation with using KDE & QT stuff
I was trying to download distros to test drive & installed the service menu thing from the store, which brought along a BOP[backport] kernel, I never did get the service menu working. I used multi-writer & passed along a flash drive with Spiral on it :D

I am forgetful & have to relearn stuff if I haven't taken notes & put them in a place I can find them later
Also super lazy & don't restart very often, I don't sweat if I don't update for sometime, though I usually will update through Discover daily, I like seeing what stuff is changing.
I hadn't quite run the snapshot commands correctly & was intimidated by a very long list of Kernels when restarting

I have mostly been using Mageia & Manjaro for the past decade or so, both have a more GUI method of dealing with Kernels

The question I never quite asked properly
How do I manage Kernels on Spiral Debian KDE?

The answer:
Use Synaptic to manage Linux Images
Remove the unused ones along with their header files,
Leaving the Image File [Kernel] that's in use & the next oldest

[geckolinux]

Hi again @Visikde , right, you normally shouldn't have to manually manage the kernels. It looks like only well into the lifecycle of Debian 12 has the Backports repository gotten a bit messy, with kernels that have significant issues with certain firmware packages on certain hardware combinations. But under normal circumstances you can just update your system and reboot and you should be on the latest kernel, it shouldn't normally require manual intervention, and then later on if/when you remember you can use Synaptic to uninstall the older kernel versions.