I installed tumbleweed, and did some updates. This accumulated 6 snapshots in grub menu.
I assumed that the default kernel ( top entry in menu) would have latest snapshot associated with. And if i want I can roll back to previous snapshots.
But the menu shows default kernel with snapshot 1, when the latest is 6. This is confusing me.
Sorry, I don’t get your confusion. The snapshots are generated over time. How would a later snapshot have a lower index number? Of course the top entry is the currently active one, so the default in grub2. That said, I prefer to use snapper rollback from CLI on the running system, if needed in single-user-mode (init 1). There I run
knurpht@Lenovo-P16:~> LANG=C sudo snapper list
# │ Type │ Pre # │ Date │ User │ Used Space │ Cleanup │ Description │ Userdata
──────┼────────┼───────┼──────────────────────────┼──────┼────────────┼─────────┼────────────────────────┼──────────────
0 │ single │ │ │ root │ │ │ current │
2619* │ single │ │ Tue Sep 9 14:10:12 2025 │ root │ 47.39 MiB │ │ writable copy of #2607 │
2889 │ pre │ │ Tue Nov 25 16:06:00 2025 │ root │ 403.31 MiB │ number │ zypp(zypper) │ important=yes
2890 │ post │ 2889 │ Tue Nov 25 16:06:04 2025 │ root │ 162.77 MiB │ number │ │ important=yes
2895 │ pre │ │ Thu Nov 27 19:07:53 2025 │ root │ 457.78 MiB │ number │ zypp(zypper) │ important=yes
2896 │ post │ 2895 │ Thu Nov 27 19:09:05 2025 │ root │ 2.66 MiB │ number │ │ important=yes
2897 │ pre │ │ Thu Nov 27 19:21:59 2025 │ root │ 528.00 KiB │ number │ zypp(zypper) │ important=yes
2898 │ post │ 2897 │ Thu Nov 27 19:22:03 2025 │ root │ 76.12 MiB │ number │ │ important=yes
2909 │ pre │ │ Fri Dec 5 23:04:03 2025 │ root │ 530.38 MiB │ number │ zypp(zypper) │ important=yes
2910 │ post │ 2909 │ Fri Dec 5 23:10:32 2025 │ root │ 3.53 MiB │ number │ │ important=yes
2911 │ pre │ │ Fri Dec 5 23:28:40 2025 │ root │ 1.95 MiB │ number │ zypp(zypper) │ important=yes
2912 │ post │ 2911 │ Fri Dec 5 23:28:59 2025 │ root │ 8.69 MiB │ number │ │ important=yes
2913 │ pre │ │ Sun Dec 7 12:15:57 2025 │ root │ 10.95 MiB │ number │ zypp(packagekitd) │ important=no
2914 │ post │ 2913 │ Sun Dec 7 12:16:25 2025 │ root │ 6.81 MiB │ number │ │ important=no
2915 │ pre │ │ Mon Dec 8 00:06:04 2025 │ root │ 3.12 MiB │ number │ zypp(zypper) │ important=no
2916 │ post │ 2915 │ Mon Dec 8 00:06:15 2025 │ root │ 2.91 MiB │ number │ │ important=no
2917 │ pre │ │ Mon Dec 8 14:32:16 2025 │ root │ 3.86 MiB │ number │ zypp(packagekitd) │ important=no
2918 │ post │ 2917 │ Mon Dec 8 14:32:28 2025 │ root │ 8.36 MiB │ number │ │ important=no
knurpht@Lenovo-P16:~>
Let’s say that I want to rollback to before Nov. 27 2025, then I would do:
sudo snapper rollback 2890
The output I see this way is IMHO much more informative than what grub2 shows.
for example, In your list, snap 2918 is the latest one. so in boot menu kernel default should open with that. but in boot menu it is opening with 2619, which is the older snapshot. It shows something like "opensuse tumbleweed (2619@6.18.0 ) ". This is my confusion. I am supposed to roll bak to previous snapshots if needed. Not to roll forward.
I have a Leap 16 installation. And it’s boot menu shows kernel with latest snapshot. Where as tumbleweed is showing kernel with oldest snapshot.
Is your Tumbleweed install with systemd-boot as bootloader?
No, it should not. You misunderstand what snapshots are.
And we are not staying behind your shoulder and do not see what you are seeing. Provide snapper list and the photo of the boot menu from the both systems, explain what is wrong on each photo (if it is).
But from what you say, i am thinking that kernel default shows first basic installation, but also up to date. And it has nothing to do with snapshots, unless i force it to jump to a certain snapshot. Am i right?
I think i should check wiki about how snapshots work.
no. grubbls. the new one.
Yes. Snapshots are frozen states of the root subvolume at some past point in time. All changes go into the main root subvolume which does not change unless you perform rollback. And “back” in the “rollback” refers to the point-in-time, not to the snapshot numbers which are more or less irrelevant.
Thanks for clarifying this. One small doubt. What does the asterix * next to a snapshot serial number means? I thought it indicates the current system status, and that lead to this confusion.
What did not you understand in “we are not staying behind your shoulder”? If you have question about something you are seeing then show what you are seeing.
Sure. The asterisk next to 1. Does that mean anything?
# │ Type │ Pre # │ Date │ User │ Used Space │ Cleanup │ Description │ Userdata
────┼────────┼───────┼─────────────────────────────────┼──────┼────────────┼─────────┼───────────────────────┼──────────────
0 │ single │ │ │ root │ │ │ current │
1* │ single │ │ Wed 10 Dec 2025 04:49:00 PM IST │ root │ 63.30 MiB │ │ first root filesystem │
2 │ single │ │ Wed 10 Dec 2025 05:11:32 PM IST │ root │ 128.79 MiB │ number │ after installation │ important=yes
3 │ pre │ │ Wed 10 Dec 2025 05:20:24 PM IST │ root │ 30.73 MiB │ number │ zypp(myrlyn) │ important=yes
4 │ post │ 3 │ Wed 10 Dec 2025 05:45:25 PM IST │ root │ 93.65 MiB │ number │ │ important=yes
5 │ pre │ │ Wed 10 Dec 2025 05:46:22 PM IST │ root │ 336.00 KiB │ number │ zypp(zypper) │ important=yes
6 │ post │ 5 │ Wed 10 Dec 2025 05:46:41 PM IST │ root │ 52.68 MiB │ number │ │ important=yes
7 │ pre │ │ Wed 10 Dec 2025 05:52:16 PM IST │ root │ 1.20 MiB │ number │ zypp(myrlyn) │ important=no
8 │ post │ 7 │ Wed 10 Dec 2025 05:56:31 PM IST │ root │ 3.39 MiB │ number │ │ important=no
9 │ pre │ │ Wed 10 Dec 2025 06:35:36 PM IST │ root │ 160.00 KiB │ number │ zypp(myrlyn) │ important=no
10 │ post │ 9 │ Wed 10 Dec 2025 06:36:33 PM IST │ root │ 2.41 MiB │ number │ │ important=no
Yes. It means that it is the current active snapshot which is mounted as /. And if you look at /proc/mounts or findmnt output you will see the parameter referring to the btrfs subvolume of this snapshot.
I do not understand what you are asking. What similarity are you talking about?
(double post - sorry)
Like you, I am a bit confused by the snapshot 1 that always seems to be the current one on OpenSuse… you can check how it differs from your latest snapshot with this command:
sudo snapper diff 1..10
That will list all the modified files between shapshots 1 and 10. If you get thousands of lines scrolling in front of you, then snapshot 1 is quite different from 10.
Looks like snapshots 0 and 1 are more like 0= base system, 1=latest system. They are not regular snapshots. That is the only explanation that makes sense. In my list, 1 is the latest snapshot when i logged in.
--- /.snapshots/1/snapshot/etc/cups/subscriptions.conf 2025-12-11 09:31:21.901658654 +0530
+++ /.snapshots/22/snapshot/etc/cups/subscriptions.conf 2025-12-10 21:36:34.545790139 +0530
No. 0 refers to the current default read-write snapshot, i.e. the “latest” system (I do not know why it is shown at all and how it can be used. It was always confusing). 1 is just a normal snapshot - it is the very first one created during installation and set as the system read-write root. It remains your “latest system” until you rollback to something else. At which point the content of 1 stops changing and 0 starts to refer to “something else”.
True for 0, false for 1.
This is the info i am looking for. Thanks.