[Bug 798414] Re: update-initramfs should produce a more helpful error when there isn't enough free space

[Ronny Ager-Wick]

@dmcnutt 
USB disks show up here just like other disks in "df", so that's normal.
/dev/dm-0 is most likely an encrypted partition. /boot cannot be in an encrypted partition because you need it for decryption. If the disk was just one big encrypted partition, you'd need to boot on a USB stick or something in order to decrypt it. If you install ubuntu on a disk using disk encryption (for example ext4), then you don't need to separate /boot on a separate partition.

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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:
  New
Status in initramfs-tools package in Ubuntu:
  Confirmed

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.

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