Big Kernel Manager

A modern graphical tool for managing Linux kernels and Mesa video drivers on Arch-based systems.

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Overview

Big Kernel Manager is a GTK4/Adwaita desktop application designed for BigLinux and other Arch-based distributions. It provides an intuitive graphical interface for two critical system management tasks:

• Kernel Management — Install, remove, and switch between available Linux kernels with full visibility into version, type (LTS, RT, Xanmod), and current usage status.
• Mesa Video Driver Management — Switch between Mesa driver variants (Stable, Amber, TKG-Stable, TKG-Git) with automated conflict resolution and clear risk descriptions.

Screenshots

Application uses system accent colors and follows GNOME/Adwaita design guidelines.

Features

Kernel Management

• View all installed kernels with version details
• Identify the currently running kernel at a glance
• Browse and install available kernels from the repository
• Safely remove unused kernels with confirmation dialogs
• Badge indicators for LTS, RT, and In Use status

Mesa Video Driver Management

• Switch between four Mesa driver variants:
  • Stable — Official Mesa release (Recommended)
  • Amber — Classic OpenGL for legacy hardware
  • TKG-Stable — Custom performance-patched build
  • TKG-Git — Bleeding-edge development version
• Automatic conflict resolution during driver switching
• Clear risk labels: Recommended, Legacy, Performance, DEV

User Experience

• Modern GTK4/Adwaita interface with dark theme support
• System accent color integration on tab buttons
• Asynchronous data loading with spinner indicators
• Real-time terminal output during operations
• Progress tracking for install/remove operations
• Toast notifications for user feedback

Internationalization

• Full translation support via GNU gettext
• 29 languages included: Bulgarian, Czech, Danish, German, Greek, English, Spanish, Estonian, Finnish, French, Hebrew, Croatian, Hungarian, Icelandic, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Dutch, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Brazilian Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Slovak, Swedish, Turkish, Ukrainian, and Chinese

Architecture

usr/share/big-kernel-manager/
├── main.py                  # Application entry point
├── core/
│   ├── constants.py         # App metadata and configuration
│   ├── base_manager.py      # Base class for system managers
│   ├── kernel_manager.py    # Kernel detection and operations
│   ├── mesa_manager.py      # Mesa driver switching logic
│   ├── package_manager.py   # Pacman wrapper for package operations
│   ├── exceptions.py        # Custom exception classes
│   └── logging_config.py    # Logging setup
├── ui/
│   ├── application.py       # Adw.Application subclass
│   ├── window.py            # Main window with tab navigation
│   ├── base_page.py         # Base page with shared UI patterns
│   ├── kernel_page.py       # Kernel management interface
│   ├── mesa_page.py         # Mesa driver management interface
│   └── progress_dialog.py   # Operation progress dialog
├── utils/
│   └── i18n.py              # Internationalization setup
└── assets/
    └── css/
        └── style.css        # Application stylesheet

Requirements

Dependency	Version	Purpose
Python	≥ 3.10	Runtime
GTK	4.0	UI toolkit
libadwaita	≥ 1.0	Adwaita widgets and styling
pacman	—	Package management (Arch Linux)
pkexec	—	Privilege escalation for system operations

Python Packages

• PyGObject — GObject Introspection bindings for GTK4 and Adwaita

Installation

From BigLinux Repository

sudo pacman -S big-kernel-manager

From Source

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/communitybig/big-kernel-manager.git
cd big-kernel-manager

# Run directly (requires dependencies installed)
python usr/share/big-kernel-manager/main.py

Building the Package

cd pkgbuild
makepkg -si

Usage

Launch from your application menu or via terminal:

big-kernel-manager

Note: Kernel and driver operations require administrator privileges. The application uses pkexec to request elevated permissions when needed.

Translation

Translation files are located in the locale/ directory. To contribute a new translation:

1. Copy the template file:

   cp locale/big-kernel-manager.pot locale/<lang_code>.po

2. Translate the msgstr entries in the new .po file
3. Compile the translation:

   msgfmt locale/<lang_code>.po -o usr/share/locale/<lang_code>/LC_MESSAGES/big-kernel-manager.mo

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please feel free to submit a Pull Request.

1. Fork the repository
2. Create your feature branch (git checkout -b feature/my-feature)
3. Commit your changes (git commit -m 'Add my feature')
4. Push to the branch (git push origin feature/my-feature)
5. Open a Pull Request

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License — see the LICENSE file for details.

Credits

Developed by the BigLinux Team and the Community Big contributors.

_{Made with ❤️ for the BigLinux community}