Not enough space in /boot to update Trisquel
As the title says, apparently I don't have enough space in /boot to update my system. Strangely though, I have over 450GB free on my hard drive but for some reason /boot is maxed out at 220mb.
As far as I can see, /boot is not in a partition of its own, and I don't recall setting a limit of 220mb for it.
How do I go about increasing its size, and what is an ideal amount of space for it?
What is the output of the 'df -h' command (to be entered in a terminal)?
Do you remove the older kernels? You normally only run the newest installed kernel and had better keep an older one you are sure you can boot. But there is no need for more than that. Yet, when a newer version of the kernel is installed, the older ones remains and occupy space in /boot. You can remove the useless "linux-*" packages from the "Synaptic package manager" (in the "System settings").
If /boot is not on a separate partition, then the whole root partition probably is full. You can analyze where the space goes with the "Disk usage analyzer" (in the "System settings" too). If you have run the system for years but never clean the packages (with 'sudo apt-get autoclean' or, more radical, 'sudo apt-get clean') then, that might be a reason.
It may also be a log file that grows out of hand.
Anyway, you had better take a look at what the "Disk usage analyzer" says.
I don't recall ever uninstalling any older kernels since first starting to use Trisquel some 4 weeks ago. I found a few kernels to remove which was to clear up some 400mb of space (which is odd given that I was told that /boot was nearly full at 220mb)
Synaptic coughed up this error:
(synaptic:5860): GLib-CRITICAL **: g_child_watch_add_full: assertion 'pid > 0' failed
(Reading database ... 368923 files and directories currently installed.)
Removing linux-headers-3.13.0-39-lowlatency (3.13.0-39.66+7.0trisquel2) ...
Removing linux-headers-3.13.0-39 (3.13.0-39.66+7.0trisquel2) ...
Removing linux-headers-3.13.0-59-lowlatency (3.13.0-59.98+7.0trisquel2) ...
Removing linux-headers-3.13.0-59 (3.13.0-59.98+7.0trisquel2) ...
Removing linux-headers-3.13.0-61-lowlatency (3.13.0-61.100+7.0trisquel2) ...
Removing linux-headers-3.13.0-61 (3.13.0-61.100+7.0trisquel2) ...
Removing linux-headers-3.13.0-65-lowlatency (3.13.0-65.106+7.0trisquel2) ...
Removing linux-headers-3.13.0-65-generic (3.13.0-65.106+7.0trisquel2) ...
dpkg: warning: while removing linux-headers-3.13.0-65-generic, directory '/lib/modules/3.13.0-65-generic' not empty so not removed
Removing linux-headers-3.13.0-65 (3.13.0-65.106+7.0trisquel2) ...
Removing linux-headers-3.13.0-66-lowlatency (3.13.0-66.108+7.0trisquel2) ...
Removing linux-headers-3.13.0-66-generic (3.13.0-66.108+7.0trisquel2) ...
dpkg: warning: while removing linux-headers-3.13.0-66-generic, directory '/lib/modules/3.13.0-66-generic' not empty so not removed
Removing linux-headers-3.13.0-66 (3.13.0-66.108+7.0trisquel2) ...
Setting up initramfs-tools (0.103ubuntu4.2) ...
update-initramfs: deferring update (trigger activated)
Processing triggers for initramfs-tools (0.103ubuntu4.2) ...
update-initramfs: Generating /boot/initrd.img-3.13.0-68-lowlatency
W: mdadm: /etc/mdadm/mdadm.conf defines no arrays.
gzip: stdout: No space left on device
E: mkinitramfs failure cpio 141 gzip 1
update-initramfs: failed for /boot/initrd.img-3.13.0-68-lowlatency with 1.
dpkg: error processing package initramfs-tools (--configure):
subprocess installed post-installation script returned error exit status 1
E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)
A package failed to install. Trying to recover:
Setting up initramfs-tools (0.103ubuntu4.2) ...
update-initramfs: deferring update (trigger activated)
Processing triggers for initramfs-tools (0.103ubuntu4.2) ...
update-initramfs: Generating /boot/initrd.img-3.13.0-68-lowlatency
W: mdadm: /etc/mdadm/mdadm.conf defines no arrays.
gzip: stdout: No space left on device
E: mkinitramfs failure cpio 141 gzip 1
update-initramfs: failed for /boot/initrd.img-3.13.0-68-lowlatency with 1.
dpkg: error processing package initramfs-tools (--configure):
subprocess installed post-installation script returned error exit status 1
Errors were encountered while processing:
initramfs-tools
Thought I could save the trouble by uninstalling the kernels. I don't know how the process works but it seems odd that it should require space to make space!
Here's the df -h output:
Filesystem Size Used Avail Use% Mounted on
/dev/mapper/trisquel--vg-root 456G 24G 410G 6% /
none 4.0K 0 4.0K 0% /sys/fs/cgroup
udev 1.9G 4.0K 1.9G 1% /dev
tmpfs 377M 1.1M 376M 1% /run
none 5.0M 0 5.0M 0% /run/lock
none 1.9G 344K 1.9G 1% /run/shm
none 100M 44K 100M 1% /run/user
/dev/sda2 237M 214M 11M 96% /boot
/dev/sda1 511M 132K 511M 1% /boot/efi
/home/blank/.Private 456G 24G 410G 6% /home/blank
Disk analyzer points to /boot being full.
You do have a separate partition for /boot. It is tiny (237 MB). You need to enlarge it. 1 GB would be OK if you regularly remove the older kernels. You must use a Live system take space from other partitions (the root partition I guess). Trisquel's live ISO includes GParted, which makes it quite easy to resize partitions.
And your user data are on the root partition. That means you cannot change the operating system while keeping those data.
Were all those choices carefully thought? If not, what about a reinstall (after a backup of the user data and of the list of installed packages) keeping the default partition schema?
Actually, as a newbie, I tried to install Trisquel alongside Windows 7 and accidentally overwrote my win7 partition, and then as I didn't know what /boot, swap etc all were I just tinkered with it until it worked. I figured if it didn't work, I'd just try again. I don't even recall what the default partition schema was.
As for using a livedisk to repartition things - that's not an option. See this issue here - https://trisquel.info/en/issues/15751.
My current schema is as a result of being a newbie and not knowing what /boot or swap etc were. I actually accidentally overwrote my win7 partition as well, in the process. Which, oddly enough, forced me to go entirely free software and it has allowed me to realise that I didn't need anything else. (This will change in the future as my work will require me to use ARCgis and other esri products).
As for using a livedisk - that's not an option. See this issue here - https://trisquel.info/en/issues/15751.
I've since managed to uninstall older kernels and have updated my system.
Thanks everyone for your suggestions.
I am a translator!
biosprob: next time you reinstall the OS follow the instructions on screen and use the simple partitioning scheme of root(/) say 20 gb, swap teh double of your RAM and all the rest /home.
cheers
Lucky you! I just found some free software for your work:
# QGIS
* https://directory.fsf.org/wiki/QGIS
* "qgis" package.
* See "PySHP" or ""Gpsmanshp"" if you want support for ESRI's Shapefiles
(SHP file format).
# GRASS (Geographic Resources Analysis Support System)
* https://directory.fsf.org/wiki/GRASS
* "grass" package.
* See "PySHP" or ""Gpsmanshp"" if you want support for ESRI's Shapefiles
(SHP file format).
# Thuban
* https://directory.fsf.org/wiki/Thuban
* "thuban" package.
* See "PySHP" or ""Gpsmanshp"" if you want support for ESRI's Shapefiles
(SHP file format).
# PySHP
* Is perhaps useless without one of the first three packages.
* I recommend you to use this as an one-way support only (that is, only
for importing/opening SHP files), not for saving using SHP files,
because it just passes society's dependency on non-free software formats
forward for your mates.
* https://directory.fsf.org/wiki/Pyshp
* "python-pyshp" package.
# Gpsmanshp
* Is perhaps useless without one of the first three packages.
* I recommend you to use this as an one-way support only (that is, only
for importing/opening SHP files), not for saving using SHP files,
because it just passes society's dependency on non-free software formats
forward for your mates.
* "gpsmanshp" package.
open command line
uname -r
copy from left to the dash. it should be 3 groups of numbers.
open synaptic package manager
paste in search
mark complete removal all installed kernels that have a lower number than the number to the right from uname -r
apply in synaptic package manager
close synaptic package manager
in command line
sudo update-grub2
update-grub2 is exactly the same as update-grub and it's not needed here.
(it is done automagically when you remove/install kernels)