Question

144

My /boot partition hit 100% and now I can't upgrade. Can't remove old kernels to make room

rated 0 times [ 144] [ 0] / answers: 1 / hits: 199271 / 3 Years ago, wed, august 25, 2021, 9:42:07

My first issue was when I tried to apt-get update or apt-get upgrade. On upgrade I get the following error:

You might want to run 'apt-get -f install' to correct these.

The following packages have unmet dependencies:

linux-image-server : Depends: linux-image-3.2.0-27-generic but it is not installed

E: Unmet dependencies. Try using -f.

I tried running apt-get install -f and this was the output(after saying yes on prompt)

(Reading database ... 186183 files and directories currently installed.)

Unpacking linux-image-3.2.0-27-generic (from .../linux-image-3.2.0-27-generic_3.2.0-27.43_amd64.deb) ...

Done.

dpkg: error processing /var/cache/apt/archives/linux-image-3.2.0-27-generic_3.2.0-27.43_amd64.deb (--unpack):

 failed in write on buffer copy for backend dpkg-deb during `./boot/System.map-3.2.0-27-generic': No space left on device

 No apport report written because the error message indicates a disk full error

                                                                          dpkg-deb:    error: subprocess paste was killed by signal (Broken pipe)

Examining /etc/kernel/postrm.d .

run-parts: executing /etc/kernel/postrm.d/initramfs-tools 3.2.0-27-generic   /boot/vmlinuz-3.2.0-27-generic

run-parts: executing /etc/kernel/postrm.d/zz-update-grub 3.2.0-27-generic /boot/vmlinuz-3.2.0-27-generic

Errors were encountered while processing:

/var/cache/apt/archives/linux-image-3.2.0-27-generic_3.2.0-27.43_amd64.deb

E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)

I tried running apt-get autoremove and it gives me the same error as apt-get upgrade.

When I run df, I get this for /boot:

/dev/sda1                    233191     230297         0 100% /boot

So, I read elsewhere that I should try to purge old kernels. I checked for what kernels I had with:

$ dpkg -l linux-image-* | grep ^ii

ii  linux-image-2.6.38-13-server  2.6.38-13.52  Linux kernel image for version 2.6.38 on x86_64

ii  linux-image-3.0.0-13-server   3.0.0-13.22   Linux kernel image for version 3.0.0  on x86_64

ii  linux-image-3.0.0-14-server   3.0.0-14.23   Linux kernel image for version 3.0.0  on x86_64

ii  linux-image-3.0.0-15-server   3.0.0-15.26   Linux kernel image for version 3.0.0  on x86_64

ii  linux-image-3.0.0-16-server   3.0.0-16.29   Linux kernel image for version 3.0.0  on x86_64

ii  linux-image-3.0.0-17-server   3.0.0-17.30   Linux kernel image for version 3.0.0  on x86_64

ii  linux-image-3.2.0-24-generic  3.2.0-24.39   Linux kernel image for version 3.2.0  on 64 bit x86 SMP

ii  linux-image-3.2.0-25-generic  3.2.0-25.40   Linux kernel image for version 3.2.0  on 64 bit x86 SMP

ii  linux-image-3.2.0-26-generic  3.2.0-26.41   Linux kernel image for version 3.2.0  on 64 bit x86 SMP

When I try to remove the oldest with this:

$ sudo apt-get purge linux-image-2.6.38-13-server

Reading package lists... Done

Building dependency tree

Reading state information... Done

You might want to run 'apt-get -f install' to correct these:

The following packages have unmet dependencies:

linux-image-server : Depends: linux-image-3.2.0-27-generic but it is not going to be     installed

E: Unmet dependencies. Try 'apt-get -f install' with no packages (or specify a solution).

How can I free up or extend boot without messing up my installation?

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ncharm

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answered 3 Years ago ofunn · Accepted Answer

Freeing Up Space on the Root File System

To free up space on the root file system you can try to execute apt-get clean.

If that doesn't work you can go to /var/cache/apt/archives and manually remove a few files from the cache to get some space back, e.g.:

sudo rm linux-headers-*

It won't hurt to remove all of the .deb files here if you need to - that is what apt-get clean does. They will be automatically be re-downloaded by apt if they are needed again.

Freeing Up Space on the /boot File System

The Original Poster has a separate /boot partition, and that is what is full and preventing the apt system from working. It will be necessary for him to free up space there.

If there almost enough space, go to /boot and remove a config file or two:

sudo rm config-3.2.0-19-generic-pae

for example, but using the name of one of the kernel versions you intend to remove anyway. This will free up a little space (about 144K apiece).

If you need more space individually remove old vmlinuz, initrd, abi and System.map files until you have enough space (about 22M for one of my i386 kernel versions).

Whatever you do, don't remove them all. You should at least keep the latest two matching versions of each kind of file, for each kind of kernel you use.

Then proceed with your apt-get install commands. As mentioned above they may have to re-download some of the debs you deleted, but if so that will happen automatically. When you have apt working again, clean up by using apt-get to remove the packages corresponding to the files you removed - so everything matches.

The config file in /boot is the kernel config that was used by the kernel team to build the kernel of the same name. It should be harmless to remove unless you want it for reference or to aid you in building your own kernels.

Finally you are manually removing an old kernel package or two from the /boot partition to make even more room for the new one.