excessive /boot entries

[Willy Hamra]

On 01/04/2009, Lisi Reisz <lisi.reisz at gmail.com> wrote:
> This being someone else's computer I don't want to "suck it and see", which is
> probably what I would do on one of my own computers.
>
> So:  Last time I had this computer to work on (about a fortnight ago) I edited
> the overlong menu.lst to reduce the very large number of kernel options to a
> manageable number.
>
> Now, two weeks later, the list is again enormously long.
>
> On investigation I found that there are about 60 kernels in /boot(1), from
> which I imagine that menu.lst has retrieved its very long list.  Can I safely
> remove most of the entries in /boot (rm foo), and then edit menu.lst, and if
> so, which do I need to keep.  Not only are there more kernels than seem
> necessary (or desirable!), but each seems to have too many options.
>
> So:  Which entries should I keep?
>
> TIA
> Lisi
>
> 1) user at localhost:/boot$ ls
> abi-2.6.24-16-386                 initrd.img-2.6.24-19-generic
> abi-2.6.24-16-generic             initrd.img-2.6.24-19-openvz
> abi-2.6.24-16-server              initrd.img-2.6.24-19-rt
> abi-2.6.24-16-virtual             initrd.img-2.6.24-19-server
> abi-2.6.24-18-386                 initrd.img-2.6.24-19-virtual
> abi-2.6.24-18-generic             initrd.img-2.6.24-23-386
> abi-2.6.24-18-server              initrd.img-2.6.24-23-generic
> abi-2.6.24-18-virtual             initrd.img-2.6.24-23-generic.bak
> abi-2.6.24-19-386                 memtest86+.bin
> abi-2.6.24-19-generic             System.map-2.6.24-16-386
> abi-2.6.24-19-server              System.map-2.6.24-16-generic
> abi-2.6.24-19-virtual             System.map-2.6.24-16-openvz
> abi-2.6.24-23-386                 System.map-2.6.24-16-rt
> abi-2.6.24-23-generic             System.map-2.6.24-16-server
> config-2.6.24-16-386              System.map-2.6.24-16-virtual
> config-2.6.24-16-generic          System.map-2.6.24-18-386
> config-2.6.24-16-openvz           System.map-2.6.24-18-generic
> config-2.6.24-16-rt               System.map-2.6.24-18-openvz
> config-2.6.24-16-server           System.map-2.6.24-18-rt
> config-2.6.24-16-virtual          System.map-2.6.24-18-server
> config-2.6.24-18-386              System.map-2.6.24-18-virtual
> config-2.6.24-18-generic          System.map-2.6.24-19-386
> config-2.6.24-18-openvz           System.map-2.6.24-19-generic
> config-2.6.24-18-rt               System.map-2.6.24-19-openvz
> config-2.6.24-18-server           System.map-2.6.24-19-rt
> config-2.6.24-18-virtual          System.map-2.6.24-19-server
> config-2.6.24-19-386              System.map-2.6.24-19-virtual
> config-2.6.24-19-generic          System.map-2.6.24-23-386
> config-2.6.24-19-openvz           System.map-2.6.24-23-generic
> config-2.6.24-19-rt               vmlinuz-2.6.24-16-386
> config-2.6.24-19-server           vmlinuz-2.6.24-16-generic
> config-2.6.24-19-virtual          vmlinuz-2.6.24-16-openvz
> config-2.6.24-23-386              vmlinuz-2.6.24-16-rt
> config-2.6.24-23-generic          vmlinuz-2.6.24-16-server
> grub                              vmlinuz-2.6.24-16-virtual
> initrd.img-2.6.24-16-386          vmlinuz-2.6.24-18-386
> initrd.img-2.6.24-16-generic      vmlinuz-2.6.24-18-generic
> initrd.img-2.6.24-16-generic.bak  vmlinuz-2.6.24-18-openvz
> initrd.img-2.6.24-16-openvz       vmlinuz-2.6.24-18-rt
> initrd.img-2.6.24-16-rt           vmlinuz-2.6.24-18-server
> initrd.img-2.6.24-16-server       vmlinuz-2.6.24-18-virtual
> initrd.img-2.6.24-16-virtual      vmlinuz-2.6.24-19-386
> initrd.img-2.6.24-18-386          vmlinuz-2.6.24-19-generic
> initrd.img-2.6.24-18-generic      vmlinuz-2.6.24-19-openvz
> initrd.img-2.6.24-18-openvz       vmlinuz-2.6.24-19-rt
> initrd.img-2.6.24-18-rt           vmlinuz-2.6.24-19-server
> initrd.img-2.6.24-18-server       vmlinuz-2.6.24-19-virtual
> initrd.img-2.6.24-18-virtual      vmlinuz-2.6.24-23-386
> initrd.img-2.6.24-19-386          vmlinuz-2.6.24-23-generic
> user at localhost:/boot$
>

hi Lisi, there IS a way to tell upfate-grub how many kernels to
actually list in menu.lst.
if you are using the default menu.lst as it comes with a new ubuntu
install, then you should find an option called howmany in menu.lst,
try to look for it, and read the describtion above it, and set it to
something you like.
you probably have the line :
#howmany=all
change it to some reasonable number, like:
#howmany=3
if this option doesn't exist, add it yourself above the automagic
list, and please not the hash symbol, you need to keep it, it doesn't
mean a commented-out line, it means this is an update-grub parameter.
after finishing the editing, run "sudo update-grub".
for more info, read this menu.lst http://thomasdamgaard.dk/paste/P1050.html
i find it a very good default menu.lst with all the parameters listed
in it. i always get a very similar file with every fresh install :)

-- 
Willy K. Hamra
Manager of Hamra Information Systems
Co. Manager of Zeina Computers and Billy Net.