kernel-installsystemdkernel-install8kernel-installAdd and remove kernel and initramfs images to and from /bootkernel-installCOMMANDOPTIONSKERNEL-VERSIONKERNEL-IMAGEINITRD-FILEDescriptionkernel-install is used to install and remove kernel and
initramfs images to and from /boot.
kernel-install will execute the files
located in the directory /usr/lib/kernel/install.d/
and the local administration directory /etc/kernel/install.d/.
All files are collectively sorted and executed in lexical order, regardless of the directory in
which they live. However, files with identical filenames replace each other.
Files in /etc/kernel/install.d/ take precedence over files with the same name
in /usr/lib/kernel/install.d/. This can be used to override a system-supplied
executables with a local file if needed; a symbolic link in /etc/kernel/install.d/
with the same name as an executable in /usr/lib/kernel/install.d/,
pointing to /dev/null, disables the executable entirely. Executables must have the
extension .install; other extensions are ignored.An executable should return 0 on success. It may also
return 77 to cause the whole operation to terminate
(executables later in lexical order will be skipped).CommandsThe following commands are understood:add KERNEL-VERSIONKERNEL-IMAGE [INITRD-FILE ...]This command expects a kernel version string and a path to a kernel image file as
arguments. kernel-install creates the directory
/boot/MACHINE-ID/KERNEL-VERSION/
and calls the executables from /usr/lib/kernel/install.d/*.install and
/etc/kernel/install.d/*.install with the following arguments:
add KERNEL-VERSION/boot/MACHINE-ID/KERNEL-VERSION/KERNEL-IMAGE [INITRD-FILE ...]Two default plugins execute the following operations in this case:50-depmod.install runs
depmod8 for the
KERNEL-VERSION.90-loaderentry.install copies KERNEL-IMAGE
to
/boot/MACHINE-ID/KERNEL-VERSION/linux.
If an INITRD-FILE is provided, it also copies INITRD-FILE
to
/boot/MACHINE-ID/KERNEL_VERSION/INITRD-FILE.
It also creates a boot loader entry according to the Boot Loader Specification in
/boot/loader/entries/MACHINE-ID-KERNEL-VERSION.conf.
The title of the entry is the PRETTY_NAME parameter specified in
/etc/os-release or /usr/lib/os-release (if the former is
missing), or "Linux KERNEL-VERSION", if unset.remove KERNEL-VERSIONThis command expects a kernel version string as single argument. This calls executables from
/usr/lib/kernel/install.d/*.install and
/etc/kernel/install.d/*.install with the following arguments:
remove KERNEL-VERSION/boot/MACHINE-ID/KERNEL-VERSION/Afterwards, kernel-install removes the directory
/boot/MACHINE-ID/KERNEL-VERSION/
and its contents.Two default plugins execute the following operations in this case:50-depmod.install removes the files generated by depmod for this kernel again.90-loaderentry.install removes the file
/boot/loader/entries/MACHINE-ID-KERNEL-VERSION.conf.OptionsThe following options are understood:Output additional information about operations being performed.Environment variablesIf is used, $KERNEL_INSTALL_VERBOSE=1 will be set for
the plugins. They may output additional logs in this case.Exit statusIf every executable returns 0 or 77, 0 is returned, and a non-zero failure code otherwise.Files/usr/lib/kernel/install.d/*.install/etc/kernel/install.d/*.installDrop-in files which are executed by kernel-install./etc/kernel/cmdline/proc/cmdlineRead by 90-loaderentry.install. The content of the file
/etc/kernel/cmdline specifies the kernel command line to use. If that file does not
exist, /proc/cmdline is used./etc/kernel/triesRead by 90-loaderentry.install. If this file exists a numeric value is read from
it and the naming of the generated entry file is slightly altered to include it as
/boot/loader/entries/MACHINE-ID-KERNEL-VERSION+TRIES.conf. This
is useful for boot loaders such as
systemd-boot7 which
implement boot attempt counting with a counter embedded in the entry file name./etc/machine-idThe content of the file specifies the machine identification MACHINE-ID./etc/os-release/usr/lib/os-releaseThe content of the file specifies the operating system title PRETTY_NAME.See Alsomachine-id5,
os-release5,
depmod8,
systemd-boot7,
Boot Loader Specification