[Bug 1914278] [NEW] apt autoremove is not removing unused kernels

[Erich Eickmeyer ]

Public bug reported:

With the machines I help administer, we have been finding situations
where the /boot directory is filling-up beyond 3 kernels on LUKS
encrypted systems. apt autoremove is not removing old kernels as
expected.

This may also be an issue with unattended-upgrades since I found the
following line commented-out by default:

// Remove unused automatically installed kernel-related packages
// (kernel images, kernel headers and kernel version locked tools).
// Unattended-Upgrade::Remove-Unused-Kernel-Packages "true";

We have had a system with as many as 15 kernel packages installed as a
result of this not working as expected.

The majority of these machines are using Discover to do their package
upgrading, which uses PackageKit as its backend.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 20.04
Package: apt 2.0.4
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 5.8.0-41.46~20.04.1-generic 5.8.18
Uname: Linux 5.8.0-41-generic x86_64
NonfreeKernelModules: nvidia_modeset nvidia
ApportVersion: 2.20.11-0ubuntu27.14
Architecture: amd64
CasperMD5CheckResult: skip
CurrentDesktop: KDE
Date: Tue Feb  2 09:29:01 2021
InstallationDate: Installed on 2020-11-07 (87 days ago)
InstallationMedia: Kubuntu 20.04.1 LTS "Focal Fossa" - Release amd64 (20200731)
SourcePackage: apt
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)

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

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

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

** Affects: unattended-upgrades (Ubuntu)
     Importance: Undecided
         Status: New


** Tags: amd64 apport-bug focal

** Also affects: unattended-upgrades (Ubuntu)
   Importance: Undecided
       Status: New

** Description changed:

  With the machines I help administer, we have been finding situations
  where the /boot directory is filling-up beyond 3 kernels on LUKS
  encrypted systems. apt autoremove is not removing old kernels as
  expected.
  
  This may also be an issue with unattended-upgrades since I found the
  following line commented-out by default:
  
  // Remove unused automatically installed kernel-related packages
  // (kernel images, kernel headers and kernel version locked tools).
  // Unattended-Upgrade::Remove-Unused-Kernel-Packages "true";
  
  We have had a system with as many as 15 kernel packages installed as a
  result of this not working as expected.
+ 
+ The majority of these machines are using Discover to do their package
+ upgrading, which uses PackageKit as its backend.
  
  ProblemType: Bug
  DistroRelease: Ubuntu 20.04
  Package: apt 2.0.4
  ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 5.8.0-41.46~20.04.1-generic 5.8.18
  Uname: Linux 5.8.0-41-generic x86_64
  NonfreeKernelModules: nvidia_modeset nvidia
  ApportVersion: 2.20.11-0ubuntu27.14
  Architecture: amd64
  CasperMD5CheckResult: skip
  CurrentDesktop: KDE
  Date: Tue Feb  2 09:29:01 2021
  InstallationDate: Installed on 2020-11-07 (87 days ago)
  InstallationMedia: Kubuntu 20.04.1 LTS "Focal Fossa" - Release amd64 (20200731)
  SourcePackage: apt
  UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)

** Also affects: packagekit (Ubuntu)
   Importance: Undecided
       Status: New

** Also affects: discover (Ubuntu)
   Importance: Undecided
       Status: New

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https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1914278

Title:
  apt autoremove is not removing unused kernels

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