Don't duplicate initrd and kernel files
Metadata
Current evaluation
Proposed replacing hardlinks with symlinks for kernel and initrd files to save space. Closed as stale after significant kernel plugin changes made the request obsolete. No merge occurred.
Suggested action: —
No scores available.
Issue body
Stop duplicating kernel and initrd files in the kernel snap, use symlinks instead - as a side effect we trim +10MB from the kernel snap:
Before:
$ ls -la squashfs-root/
total 27604
drwxrwxr-x 5 flag flag 4096 mar 22 12:20 .
drwxr-xr-x 29 flag flag 4096 mar 22 12:21 ..
-rw-rw-r-- 2 flag flag 6531440 mar 22 12:20 bzImage-4.9.0+
drwxrwxr-x 36 flag flag 4096 mar 22 12:20 firmware
-rw-rw-r-- 2 flag flag 5807334 mar 22 12:20 initrd-4.9.0+.img
-rw-rw-r-- 2 flag flag 5807334 mar 22 12:20 initrd.img
-rw-rw-r-- 2 flag flag 6531440 mar 22 12:20 kernel.img
drwxrwxr-x 2 flag flag 4096 mar 22 12:20 meta
drwxrwxr-x 3 flag flag 4096 mar 22 12:20 modules
-rw-rw-r-- 1 flag flag 3559958 mar 22 12:20 System.map-4.9.0+
With this change:
$ ls -la squashfs-root/
total 15552
drwxrwxr-x 5 flag flag 4096 mar 22 12:12 .
drwxr-xr-x 29 flag flag 4096 mar 22 12:13 ..
-rw-rw-r-- 1 flag flag 6531216 mar 22 12:12 bzImage-4.9.0+
drwxrwxr-x 36 flag flag 4096 mar 22 12:12 firmware
-rw-rw-r-- 1 flag flag 5806664 mar 22 12:12 initrd-4.9.0+.img
lrwxrwxrwx 1 flag flag 17 mar 22 12:13 initrd.img -> initrd-4.9.0+.img
lrwxrwxrwx 1 flag flag 14 mar 22 12:13 kernel.img -> bzImage-4.9.0+
drwxrwxr-x 2 flag flag 4096 mar 22 12:12 meta
drwxrwxr-x 3 flag flag 4096 mar 22 12:12 modules
-rw-rw-r-- 1 flag flag 3559958 mar 22 12:12 System.map-4.9.0+
Evaluation history
| Date | Model | Scores | Action | Summary |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| qwen3.6-35b-a3b-mtp-q6 | — | — | Proposed replacing hardlinks with symlinks for kernel and initrd files to save space. Closed as stale after significant kernel plugin changes made the request obsolete. No merge occurred. | |
| qwen/qwen3.8-27b |
Impact:
25
Quick Win:
11.25
Staleness:
95
Complexity:
55
Confidence:
60
Support Request:
10
|
close stale | Request to replace duplicated kernel/initrd files in the kernel snap with symlinks to save ~10MB. 9+ years old with no labels or maintainer interaction; the only fix attempt (PR #1207) was abandoned because symlinks broke the Snapdragon snap. | |
| qwen/qwen3.6-35b-a3b |
Staleness:
98
Complexity:
15
Confidence:
90
Support Request:
10
|
close stale | Request to replace duplicate kernel and initrd files with symlinks in the kernel snap to reduce size by ~10MB. Unlabeled, no maintainer interaction, and inactive for over 8 years. | |
| qwen/qwen3.6-35b-a3b |
Staleness:
98
Complexity:
15
Confidence:
85
Support Request:
5
|
close stale | Suggests replacing duplicated kernel and initrd files in the kernel snap with symlinks to save ~10MB. Issue is 9 years old with no maintainer interaction or labels. | |
| qwen3.6-35b-a3b-mtp-q6 |
Staleness:
98
Complexity:
15
Confidence:
90
Support Request:
5
|
close stale | Suggests replacing duplicated kernel and initrd files in the kernel snap with symlinks to reduce package size. Untriaged and inactive for nearly 9 years. | |
| qwen3.6-35b-a3b-mtp-q6 |
Staleness:
98
Complexity:
10
Confidence:
90
Support Request:
0
|
close stale | Replace duplicate kernel and initrd files in the kernel snap with symlinks to save over 10MB. Open, unassigned issue with no comments or recent activity. |
Update history
No update history recorded yet.
Related issues
| Issue | Project | State | Summary | Similarity |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| #1207 kernel plugin: stop duplicating initrd and image file, use symlinks f… | snapcraft | closed | Closed and abandoned. The change proposed using symlinks for kernel and initrd files to avoid duplication. Initial x86_64 tests passed, but it broke the Snapdragon snap. Lacking time to debug the incompatibility, the author closed the request without merging. | |
| #747 kernel plugin: vmlinuz -> kernel.img hard link | snapcraft | closed | Closed without merging. The change to hardlink vmlinuz to kernel.img for the new naming scheme was abandoned due to lack of review and CI checks. | |
| #1611435 kernel plugin: hard link vmlinuz to kernel.img | snapcraft (launchpad) | closed | Closed as stale. The kernel plugin was significantly reworked, superseding the proposed hard link fix. Maintainers advised binding the change to type: kernel instead, but the request was abandoned due to the plugin overhaul. |