Old kernels not deleted; full /boot partition

4 days ago by nettie to c/debian

I installed debian for a friend who is not techy. They've been accepting the updates as and when offered. Now their /boot is full. I'm assuming they need to run

apt autoremove --purge

Or similar. But is there a way you automate this? Otherwise debian with a boot partition seems to have a self destruct timer!

Advice appreciated!

JRaccoon 3 points 4 days ago

This is one of the reasons why I don't use a separate partition for /boot anymore. As I understand it, a separate /boot partition is mostly a legacy thing unless you have an encrypted root partition or some other special setup. For simple cases I recommend having /boot on the root partition to avoid issues like this.

I think that's also the default setup used by the Debian installer if you select Guided partitioning – use entire disk. I'm not 100% sure tho.

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RandamuMaki 3 points 4 days ago

@JRaccoon @nettie My question is why it's not just a natural thing after an upgrade to purge the older kernels.

Keeping your system clean is not just the mindset of getting regular upgrades, but also using clean/autoclean and remove/purge packages you aren't using.

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JRaccoon 2 points 4 days ago

I think the OP is asking why Debian doesn't do it automatically. It can't just remove the old kernel immediately, because what if the new one fails to boot or otherwise doesn't work? It's good to keep an older kernel around so you can go back to it if necessary. In theory, they could implement some logic that automatically removes older kernels while keeping the latest one or two untouched.

But generally I agree it's the user's responsibility to make sure they have enough disk space available and to clean up when necessary.

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nettie 1 point 4 days ago

Yes, keeping a last known good, current and future should be fine. I allocated 1GB for boot. I'm using separate boot to have encrypted root.

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CallMeAl 3 points 4 days ago

apt full-upgrade takes care of this

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Pomal 2 points 4 days ago

Would rec moving them to something more simple, akin to ElementaryOS.

That said, /boot likely isn’t right sized for the number of versions of the kernel required by the bootloader in case of a failure. 512mb-1gb of storage is normally more than enough to handle said copies. As well, apt dist-upgrade will actually remove obsolete packages while apt upgrade does not.

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nettie 1 point 4 days ago

They're using the automated updates. I guess that's not doing the apt full-upgrade or dist-upgrade ...

I allocated 1GB for boot. I'm using separate boot to have encrypted root.

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Pomal 2 points 4 days ago

Full and dist are two separate actions. I would highly recommend you pop the man page for apt.

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