I just thought of this feature request because while updating my kernel, I got some "initramfs" error while updating.
Now I did think of checking my /boot space and saw it was low, so cleaned up some old kernels because I had like 7 installed. More than necessary for me.
Less experienced users might stumble there and not know what to do.
I think it would be nice if the Update Manager would suggest removing some old kernels when your /boot space is running low.
It could do this either periodically or just before installing a new kernel.
My /boot disk usage when I got the initramfs error was about 94%.
My disk usage after cleaning up was 33%.
The /boot partition total size is 705MB for me.
So I guess somewhere between 50% and 80% would be a good range to starting throwing such a hint.
What do others think of this idea?
When updating kernel suggest cleaning up old ones if /boot is running low on space
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- Pjotr
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Re: When updating kernel suggest cleaning up old ones if /boot is running low on space
Clearly something needs to be done. The current accumulation of obsolete kernels serves no earthly purpose.
I'd like a more simple solution: in the Preferences of Update Manager, section Automation, the automatic maintenance feature for kernels should be enabled by default.
This will automatically preserve only one older kernel as a spare, and will never remove any other kernels that you've installed by hand.
Just a different default preference. Requires no effort from the devs.
I'd like a more simple solution: in the Preferences of Update Manager, section Automation, the automatic maintenance feature for kernels should be enabled by default.
This will automatically preserve only one older kernel as a spare, and will never remove any other kernels that you've installed by hand.
Just a different default preference. Requires no effort from the devs.
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Re: When updating kernel suggest cleaning up old ones if /boot is running low on space
Is
sudo apt-get --purge autoremove
command not good enough?-=t42=-
Re: When updating kernel suggest cleaning up old ones if /boot is running low on space
The problem isn't so much that cleaning up is hard or something. Because that is indeed easy.
However when you forget to cleanup or haven't automated it, you can encounter obscure errors which especially new users probably don't know what to do with. And that problem is easily avoided if you do cleanup.
Setting the auto cleanup kernels to on by default is a suitable solution.
Or implementing a check to guide users to cleanup when necessary is another, although it requires more work.
However when you forget to cleanup or haven't automated it, you can encounter obscure errors which especially new users probably don't know what to do with. And that problem is easily avoided if you do cleanup.
Setting the auto cleanup kernels to on by default is a suitable solution.
Or implementing a check to guide users to cleanup when necessary is another, although it requires more work.
Re: When updating kernel suggest cleaning up old ones if /boot is running low on space
How will a newcomer ever know that command, and know how to run it and when?
If your issue is solved, kindly indicate that by editing the first post in the topic, and adding [SOLVED] to the title. Thanks!
Re: When updating kernel suggest cleaning up old ones if /boot is running low on space
It's a valid argument. Still we should try to teach newcomers ...somehow.
-=t42=-