snapper-notify: Cannot create kernel entry for snapshot — /boot/initramfs-linux-fallback.img missing

[bnema]

Description

After first boot, limine-snapper-notify displays an error notification:

Cannot create a kernel entry for the snapshot, as the file /boot/initramfs-linux-fallback.img is missing.

Observed behavior

A desktop notification from limine-snapper-notify appears on first login reporting that the fallback initramfs is missing, preventing a kernel boot entry from being created for the snapshot.

Root cause

The file /boot/initramfs-linux-fallback.img is absent. This is likely because:

• The Arch installation was done without generating the fallback initramfs (e.g. mkinitcpio was run with a preset that excludes the fallback image), or
• The post-boot snapper configuration runs and triggers a snapshot before the fallback initramfs has been generated.

limine-snapper-notify expects both initramfs-linux.img and initramfs-linux-fallback.img to be present in /boot when creating bootloader entries for snapshots.

Proposed fixes

Option 1 — Generate the fallback initramfs as part of the post-boot setup in snapper.sh or all.sh:

mkinitcpio -p linux  # regenerates both default and fallback images

Option 2 — Make limine-snapper-notify resilient — skip or warn gracefully when the fallback image is missing, rather than failing to create the snapshot entry entirely.

Option 3 — Check for fallback image existence before snapper is configured and snapshots are triggered.

Environment

• Notification source: limine-snapper-notify
• Missing file: /boot/initramfs-linux-fallback.img
• Triggered on: first login after fresh install