"a more helpful error" that the title of this bug report calls for would not free you from the need to remove kernels manually.
I made a script called linux-purge to make it easy to remove extra kernels even in tricky conditions: https://www.bountysource.com/issues/38300038-feature-request-the- command-should-work-like-this (It is designed to handle dependency problems and even problem running out of inodes - that may occur when installing a kernel - when using --fix option.) As for preventing system from getting full of kernels automatically, unattended-upgrades provides an adequate solution for most cases. You can configure it in Ubuntu 16.04 like this: Add line Unattended-Upgrade::Remove-Unused-Dependencies "true"; in /etc/apt/apt.conf.d/50unattended-upgrades (since unattended-upgrades is enabled by default in 16.04; the configuration acts as if running "apt-get autoremove" periodically.) The default setting in 16.04 is Unattended-Upgrade::Remove-New-Unused-Dependencies "true"; but that does not work in some cases (Bug #1624644); the former setting overrides it. Alternatively, putting "linux-purge --yes --keep 1" as a cron job or alike could do automatic kernel purging, (if no other process has locked dpkg at the time of calling it). It has some differences to the unattended-upgrades way: - It works in 12.04 and 14.04, too. (unattended-upgrades cannot remove manually installed kernels that will be around, if user installs kernel using e.g. update-manager; Bug #1439769.) - The number of kernels to keep is configurable. It keeps the given number of nearest older kernels of each installed kernel update series, e.g. linux-generic and linux-generic-lts-xenial, not necessarily the installed kernels with greatest versions. (You could use --auto-only to keep manually installed kernels, too, but you probably would not want to use it in 12.04 and 14.04.) - Current kernel will never be removed. (Bug #1615381) - It removes configuration files, too. (i.e. it purges) - It only removes versioned kernel packages whose name start by linux-. -- You received this bug notification because you are a member of Ubuntu Touch seeded packages, which is subscribed to initramfs-tools in Ubuntu. https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/798414 Title: update-initramfs should produce a more helpful error when there isn't enough free space Status in initramfs-tools: Confirmed Status in initramfs-tools package in Ubuntu: In Progress Bug description: Binary package hint: initramfs-tools When generating a new initramfs there is no check for available free space, subsequently its possible for update-initramfs to fail due to a lack of free space. This is resulting in package installation failures for initramfs-tools. For example: Setting up initramfs-tools (0.98.8ubuntu3) ... update-initramfs: deferring update (trigger activated) Processing triggers for initramfs-tools ... update-initramfs: Generating /boot/initrd.img-2.6.38-8-generic gzip: stdout: No space left on device E: mkinitramfs failure cpio 141 gzip 1 update-initramfs: failed for /boot/initrd.img-2.6.38-8-generic dpkg: error processing initramfs-tools (--configure): subprocess installed post-installation script returned error exit status 1 WORKAROUND: Remove unused kernels using computer janitor (not in repositories for 14.04 or later) or manually free space on your partition containing the /boot file system. See instructions here https://help.ubuntu.com/community/RemoveOldKernels To manage notifications about this bug go to: https://bugs.launchpad.net/initramfs-tools/+bug/798414/+subscriptions -- Mailing list: https://launchpad.net/~touch-packages Post to : touch-packages@lists.launchpad.net Unsubscribe : https://launchpad.net/~touch-packages More help : https://help.launchpad.net/ListHelp
