Grub option GRUB_TOP_LEVEL | Changing default kernel

[surfr]

This is a continuation of Changing Default Kernel which is locked…

I want to run the linux-clear kernel and after tinkering a bunch I believe the best way to make it the default kernel is to add

GRUB_TOP_LEVEL="/boot/vmlinuz-linux-clear"

into /etc/default/grub. Adjust the kernel name to whichever you choose…

[filo]

Thanks for sharing this, I was not aware of this (relatively new) possibility.
And I see a confirmation here from a person I fully trust

New Grub option GRUB_TOP_LEVEL

Ops, and in the Arch Wiki. My bad!
https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/GRUB#Setting_the_top-level_menu_entry

[Michael_joseph]

excellent.
thank you very much for this info.

EDIT: functionality report:

i had selected a specific kernel within Garuda’s boot options GUI, so i changed it back to the default ‘Garuda’, applied the changes there and then followed the instructions in Filo’s link so my etc/default/grub looks like this:

# GRUB boot loader configuration

GRUB_TOP_LEVEL="/boot/vmlinuz-linux-lts"
GRUB_DEFAULT="0"
GRUB_TIMEOUT=3
GRUB_DISTRIBUTOR="Garuda"

i then ran

sudo grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg

and

sudo update-grub

i then rebooted my system and it worked perfectly, the LTS is now selected as my default kernel.

thanks again to Surfr and Filo.

[BluishHumility]

@petsam wrote such a guide for us as well back in November 2022:

New Grub option GRUB_TOP_LEVEL

The latest grub update introduces a new feature, to explicitly select an entry of the installation (among linux, linux-lts, linux-zen, etc.) being at the top level of the menu. In case you use submenus, the selected entry is the one in the front/main page, while it is also at the top in the Advanced menu entries page. A user may wish to use an image that is not sorted as the "latest" version as the top-level entry. For example, in Arch Linux, if a user has the LTS and regular kernels installed…

At the time it was temporarily unlisted because we were shipping a frozen version of Grub (remember that whole Grub fiasco where so many systems could not boot?), and our version did not have the new feature. But I think no one ever remembered to relist it!

[surfr]

@Michael_joseph

sudo update-grub

Is this necessary in this case? It works for me without… But probably doesn’t hurt either.

[BluishHumility]

@surfr

@Michael_joseph

sudo update-grub

Is this necessary in this case?

It is not necessary to do both like this:

@Michael_joseph

i then ran

sudo grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg

and

sudo update-grub

These two commands do the same thing; running either one or the other is sufficient.

[Michael_joseph]

i didn’t know that, but now i do!
thanks lmao