[Bug 1465050] [NEW] Size of /boot partition is too small

[Roderick Smith]

Public bug reported:

When using a partitioning option that requires the use of a /boot
partition (such as LVM), Ubiquity (in Ubuntu 15.04) creates a rather
small /boot partition -- 244MiB in my test:

GPT fdisk (gdisk) version 0.8.10

Partition table scan:
  MBR: protective
  BSD: not present
  APM: not present
  GPT: present

Found valid GPT with protective MBR; using GPT.
Disk /dev/sda: 95509824 sectors, 45.5 GiB
Logical sector size: 512 bytes
Disk identifier (GUID): 6620D692-A7C3-4054-BD03-C37233564AEA
Partition table holds up to 128 entries
First usable sector is 34, last usable sector is 95509790
Partitions will be aligned on 2048-sector boundaries
Total free space is 3325 sectors (1.6 MiB)

Number  Start (sector)    End (sector)  Size       Code  Name
   1            2048         1050623   512.0 MiB   EF00  
   2         1050624         1550335   244.0 MiB   8300  
   3         1550336        95508479   44.8 GiB    8E00

Although this is adequate for the initial installation, it leaves very
little space for expansion. On my test installation, it was 40% full
(90MiB used) immediately after installation, with two kernels installed
(one of which also had a ".efi.signed" variant installed).

The small size of the /boot partition has been causing problems "in the
wild," as illustrated by some askubuntu.com questions:

http://askubuntu.com/questions/142926/cant-upgrade-due-to-low-disk-space-on-boot
http://askubuntu.com/questions/89710/how-do-i-free-up-more-space-in-boot
http://askubuntu.com/questions/298487/not-enough-free-disk-space-when-upgrading

I recommend increasing the default size of a separate /boot partition to
approximately 500MiB; that's normally been adequate for me.

Other possible fixes (which I'd implement in addition to a /boot
partition size increase, not instead of it) include removing the non-
signed kernel when a signed one is installed and automatically removing
older kernels when an upgrade is installed. These would require changes
to package management rather than Ubiquity, of course.

** Affects: ubiquity (Ubuntu)
     Importance: Undecided
         Status: New

** Attachment added: "Log files from system on which auto-created /boot partition is too small."
   https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1465050/+attachment/4414785/+files/log-files.tgz

-- 
You received this bug notification because you are a member of Ubuntu
Foundations Bugs, which is subscribed to ubiquity in Ubuntu.
https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1465050

Title:
  Size of /boot partition is too small

Status in ubiquity package in Ubuntu:
  New

Bug description:
  When using a partitioning option that requires the use of a /boot
  partition (such as LVM), Ubiquity (in Ubuntu 15.04) creates a rather
  small /boot partition -- 244MiB in my test:

  GPT fdisk (gdisk) version 0.8.10

  Partition table scan:
    MBR: protective
    BSD: not present
    APM: not present
    GPT: present

  Found valid GPT with protective MBR; using GPT.
  Disk /dev/sda: 95509824 sectors, 45.5 GiB
  Logical sector size: 512 bytes
  Disk identifier (GUID): 6620D692-A7C3-4054-BD03-C37233564AEA
  Partition table holds up to 128 entries
  First usable sector is 34, last usable sector is 95509790
  Partitions will be aligned on 2048-sector boundaries
  Total free space is 3325 sectors (1.6 MiB)

  Number  Start (sector)    End (sector)  Size       Code  Name
     1            2048         1050623   512.0 MiB   EF00  
     2         1050624         1550335   244.0 MiB   8300  
     3         1550336        95508479   44.8 GiB    8E00

  Although this is adequate for the initial installation, it leaves very
  little space for expansion. On my test installation, it was 40% full
  (90MiB used) immediately after installation, with two kernels
  installed (one of which also had a ".efi.signed" variant installed).

  The small size of the /boot partition has been causing problems "in
  the wild," as illustrated by some askubuntu.com questions:

  http://askubuntu.com/questions/142926/cant-upgrade-due-to-low-disk-space-on-boot
  http://askubuntu.com/questions/89710/how-do-i-free-up-more-space-in-boot
  http://askubuntu.com/questions/298487/not-enough-free-disk-space-when-upgrading

  I recommend increasing the default size of a separate /boot partition
  to approximately 500MiB; that's normally been adequate for me.

  Other possible fixes (which I'd implement in addition to a /boot
  partition size increase, not instead of it) include removing the non-
  signed kernel when a signed one is installed and automatically
  removing older kernels when an upgrade is installed. These would
  require changes to package management rather than Ubiquity, of course.

To manage notifications about this bug go to:
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/ubiquity/+bug/1465050/+subscriptions