[xubuntu-users] [Bulk] Re: "Not enough space on disk /boot"

[Petter Adsen]

On Sun, 24 May 2015 09:47:20 +0200
Ralf Mardorf <ralf.mardorf at rocketmail.com> wrote:

> On Sun, 24 May 2015 09:02:42 +0200, Petter Adsen wrote:
> >All that should really be in /boot are kernels (and related things,
> >like initrd).
> 
> some folks might have bootloader related files in /boot/ too.

Which is why I said "and related things".

> >"sudo apt-get autoremove"
> 
> >DO NOT START RANDOMLY DELETING KERNEL PACKAGES IF YOU ARE NOT TOTALLY
> >SURE WHAT YOU ARE DOING!
> 
> Don't remove other packages either. "Autoremove" and "dist-upgrade"
> are useful commands, but for several reasons they could fail.
> Autoremove could e.g. fail, if once a package was installed
> automatically as dependency of another package, that now isn't needed
> anymore by any package, but it still could be needed by something you
> installed without building a package.

Absolutely. I was just pointing out that starting to remove kernel
packages like some had suggested, might not be a good idea without
making sure you know what you are doing.

If you happen to remove a library that some random, manually built
binary depends on, then it is most likely quite trivial to reinstall
it. A kernel, when it was the only one installed, not so much.

If he has manually built packages (eg, from source tarballs) installed,
he should be capable of tracking their dependencies also, and marking
them as manually installed if necessary. The dpkg system has tools to
help manage these things, it is up to the user in question to use them
correctly. On a "standard" Xubuntu system (if there is such a thing)
"autoremove" should be perfectly safe.

> It's safer to purge/remove kernels you don't use anymore. As others
> already pointed out, most users should keep the two kernels that were
> installed at last.

I'd argue it is *not* safe to start purging kernels if you do not know
what you are doing. Granted, the "know what you are doing" part means
very different things to different people. :)

If I'm going to nitpick, I'd modify "keep the two kernels that were
installed at last" to "keep the last two *known working* kernels", as
not everybody reboots immediately after a kernel upgrade. I certainly
don't, it is not always practical, and I have personally been bitten by
this, so I always mark the latest known working kernel as manually
installed.

As I'm sure you agree, it is difficult to give advice that will cover
any eventuality. You have to make some assumptions.

Petter

-- 
"I'm ionized"
"Are you sure?"
"I'm positive."
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