Initramfs-linux.img much smaller after the last update

General system Kernel, boot, graphics & hardware
1

The last update messed up my system. Has anyone experienced the same issue and more importantly, how the issue could be fixed? Executing mkinitcpio manually did not help.

I’m running in the fallback mode now.

-rw------- 1 root root 33614389 Feb 8 09:24 initramfs-linux-fallback.img
-rw------- 1 root root 8872134 Feb 8 09:24 initramfs-linux.img
-rw-r–r-- 1 root root 4769792 Jun 8 2021 intel-ucode.img
-rw-r–r-- 1 root root 10523168 Feb 7 17:10 vmlinuz-linux

[2022-02-08T07:53:07-0600] [PACMAN] Running ‘pacman -Syu’
[2022-02-08T07:53:07-0600] [PACMAN] synchronizing package lists
[2022-02-08T07:53:11-0600] [PACMAN] starting full system upgrade
[2022-02-08T07:53:21-0600] [ALPM] transaction started
[2022-02-08T07:53:21-0600] [ALPM] upgraded device-mapper (2.03.14-2 → 2.03.15-1)
[2022-02-08T07:53:21-0600] [ALPM] upgraded duf (0.8.0-1 → 0.8.1-1)
[2022-02-08T07:53:21-0600] [ALPM] upgraded gdbm (1.22-1 → 1.23-1)
[2022-02-08T07:53:21-0600] [ALPM] upgraded gpgme (1.16.0-3 → 1.17.0-1)
[2022-02-08T07:53:21-0600] [ALPM] upgraded hwdata (0.355-1 → 0.356-1)
[2022-02-08T07:53:21-0600] [ALPM] upgraded lvm2 (2.03.14-2 → 2.03.15-1)
[2022-02-08T07:53:21-0600] [ALPM] transaction completed
[2022-02-08T07:53:21-0600] [ALPM] running ‘30-systemd-daemon-reload.hook’…
[2022-02-08T07:53:22-0600] [ALPM] running ‘30-systemd-udev-reload.hook’…
[2022-02-08T07:53:22-0600] [ALPM] running ‘30-systemd-update.hook’…
[2022-02-08T07:53:22-0600] [ALPM] running ‘90-mkinitcpio-install.hook’…
[2022-02-08T07:53:22-0600] [ALPM-SCRIPTLET] ==> Building image from preset: /etc/mkinitcpio.d/linux.preset: ‘default’
[2022-02-08T07:53:22-0600] [ALPM-SCRIPTLET] → -k /boot/vmlinuz-linux -c /etc/mkinitcpio.conf -g /boot/initramfs-linux.img
[2022-02-08T07:53:22-0600] [ALPM-SCRIPTLET] ==> Starting build: 5.16.7-arch1-1
[2022-02-08T07:53:22-0600] [ALPM-SCRIPTLET] → Running build hook: [base]
[2022-02-08T07:53:22-0600] [ALPM-SCRIPTLET] → Running build hook: [udev]
[2022-02-08T07:53:23-0600] [ALPM-SCRIPTLET] → Running build hook: [autodetect]
[2022-02-08T07:53:23-0600] [ALPM-SCRIPTLET] → Running build hook: [modconf]
[2022-02-08T07:53:23-0600] [ALPM-SCRIPTLET] → Running build hook: [block]
[2022-02-08T07:53:24-0600] [ALPM-SCRIPTLET] ==> WARNING: Possibly missing firmware for module: xhci_pci
[2022-02-08T07:53:24-0600] [ALPM-SCRIPTLET] → Running build hook: [keyboard]
[2022-02-08T07:53:24-0600] [ALPM-SCRIPTLET] → Running build hook: [keymap]
[2022-02-08T07:53:24-0600] [ALPM-SCRIPTLET] → Running build hook: [consolefont]
[2022-02-08T07:53:24-0600] [ALPM-SCRIPTLET] → Running build hook: [filesystems]
[2022-02-08T07:53:25-0600] [ALPM-SCRIPTLET] ==> Generating module dependencies
[2022-02-08T07:53:25-0600] [ALPM-SCRIPTLET] ==> Creating zstd-compressed initcpio image: /boot/initramfs-linux.img
[2022-02-08T07:53:25-0600] [ALPM-SCRIPTLET] ==> Image generation successful
[2022-02-08T07:53:25-0600] [ALPM-SCRIPTLET] ==> Building image from preset: /etc/mkinitcpio.d/linux.preset: ‘fallback’
[2022-02-08T07:53:25-0600] [ALPM-SCRIPTLET] → -k /boot/vmlinuz-linux -c /etc/mkinitcpio.conf -g /boot/initramfs-linux-fallback.img -S autodetect
[2022-02-08T07:53:25-0600] [ALPM-SCRIPTLET] ==> Starting build: 5.16.7-arch1-1
[2022-02-08T07:53:25-0600] [ALPM-SCRIPTLET] → Running build hook: [base]
[2022-02-08T07:53:25-0600] [ALPM-SCRIPTLET] → Running build hook: [udev]
[2022-02-08T07:53:25-0600] [ALPM-SCRIPTLET] → Running build hook: [modconf]
[2022-02-08T07:53:26-0600] [ALPM-SCRIPTLET] → Running build hook: [block]
[2022-02-08T07:53:26-0600] [ALPM-SCRIPTLET] ==> WARNING: Possibly missing firmware for module: bfa
[2022-02-08T07:53:27-0600] [ALPM-SCRIPTLET] ==> WARNING: Possibly missing firmware for module: qed
[2022-02-08T07:53:27-0600] [ALPM-SCRIPTLET] ==> WARNING: Possibly missing firmware for module: qla1280
[2022-02-08T07:53:27-0600] [ALPM-SCRIPTLET] ==> WARNING: Possibly missing firmware for module: qla2xxx
[2022-02-08T07:53:28-0600] [ALPM-SCRIPTLET] ==> WARNING: Possibly missing firmware for module: xhci_pci
[2022-02-08T07:53:29-0600] [ALPM-SCRIPTLET] → Running build hook: [keyboard]
[2022-02-08T07:53:31-0600] [ALPM-SCRIPTLET] → Running build hook: [keymap]
[2022-02-08T07:53:31-0600] [ALPM-SCRIPTLET] → Running build hook: [consolefont]
[2022-02-08T07:53:31-0600] [ALPM-SCRIPTLET] → Running build hook: [filesystems]
[2022-02-08T07:53:33-0600] [ALPM-SCRIPTLET] ==> Generating module dependencies
[2022-02-08T07:53:33-0600] [ALPM-SCRIPTLET] ==> Creating zstd-compressed initcpio image: /boot/initramfs-linux-fallback.img
[2022-02-08T07:53:33-0600] [ALPM-SCRIPTLET] ==> Image generation successful

2

In what way?

It depends what you mean - the initramfs will be smaller on disk because of the compressed modules in the latest linux-firmware package.

This includes all modules, so are you missing something from your mkinitcpio.conf that was present before?

I’d also always recommend keeping a second kernel installed, e.g. if you normally run linux then also have linux-lts installed.

3

In what way?

For example, I do not have a wifi setting/connection at all. It’s all gone. I wonder if it is just me or it is a larger issue.

4

It’s possible the firmware for your wifi device was split to another firmware package.

This seems hyperbolic, and that’s not particularly helpful for troubleshooting and diagnosis.

5

WiFi came back to life after another reboot. It seems running in the fallback mode somehow fixed it because I rebooted it twice earlier with the same result.