The next Omarchy lets you switch the default kernel from Update > Kernel
Running more than one kernel? A new menu and an omarchy-kernel command pick the one Limine boots by default, with one password prompt and an automatic rollback if anything fails.
Image: Omarchy (omarchy.org)
Picking which kernel your machine boots is about to become a menu click. DHH merged PR #15966 into the quattro branch on October 21, 2026, adding an Update > Kernel menu to Omarchy. It landed the day after 4.5 RC1 was published, so it’s not in the release candidate: it’s coming in the next version.
The menu only shows up when more than one kernel is installed, and it sits right under Channel. It lists your installed kernels and puts a check mark next to the one Limine boots by default. According to the PR, it uses the same wide layout as the Fonts menu, so long names like linux-omarchy-bore-o3-exp fit.
Choosing a kernel switches the default with a single pkexec password prompt. A notification then stays up for 30 seconds with “Now using <kernel>” and “Reboot to use new default kernel”, and clicking it reboots the machine.
The same thing works from the terminal with a new omarchy-kernel command. On its own (or with get) it prints the default kernel, omarchy-kernel list shows the installed kernels, and omarchy-kernel set <kernel> makes one the default. In a terminal it goes through sudo instead of pkexec. set refuses kernels that aren’t installed, and it refuses to run when Direct Boot is active, because the firmware skips Limine in that case.
Under the hood, set moves the chosen kernel to the front of BOOT_ORDER and keeps the rest of the existing order behind it. Then it rebuilds only that kernel with limine-mkinitcpio, “about 13s here” according to DHH, rather than running a full limine-update. Finally, it checks with limine-entry-tool --tree that the kernel really is the first boot entry now.
If the rebuild or that check fails, Omarchy restores the previous BOOT_ORDER and rebuilds the previous default, so the config and the boot menu agree again. The PR adds 13 test cases covering this, from wildcard ties to a cancelled password prompt. DHH also ran a real omarchy-kernel set linux-omarchy on an x86 Limine machine: one prompt, one kernel rebuilt, and a correct BOOT_ORDER at the end.
It’s a small change, but if you keep a fallback kernel around or like trying out experimental builds, you won’t need to edit Limine config files by hand anymore.
