[Bug 798414] Re: update-initramfs should produce a more helpful error when there isn't enough free space

[Andy Balaam]

Warning: removing kernel packages can be dangerous, and might even leave
your system unable to boot, so please don't do this if you don't
understand what is going on.

I fixed this on my system by removing some old kernels, that I am not
using any more.

I checked what kernel I am using like this:

uname -r

This gave me a version number of a kernel I MUST NOT remove because I am
using it.

Then I checked what kernels were installed like this:

sudo apt-get remove linux-<TAB>

I.e. I typed "sudo apt-get remove linux-" and pressed the TAB key twice
to see a list of possible completions.  I chose the linux-image-* and
linux-image-extra-* packages that contained versions of the kernel that
I was not running, and removed them like this:

sudo apt-get remove linux-image-3.5.0-17-generic linux-image-
extra-3.5.0-17-generic linux-image-3.5.0-19-generic linux-image-
extra-3.5.0-19-generic

The exact list of packages in the "remove" line might be different for
you - I found it out by doing what I describe at the top.

Then I made sure the recently-downloaded kernel packages that failed to
configure were ok by running:

sudo apt-get upgrade

Warning: removing kernel packages can be dangerous, and might even leave
your system unable to boot, so please don't do this if you don't
understand what is going on.

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https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/798414

Title:
  update-initramfs should produce a more helpful error when there isn't
  enough  free space

Status in “initramfs-tools” package in Ubuntu:
  Triaged

Bug description:
  Binary package hint: initramfs-tools

  When generating a new initramfs there is no check for available free
  space, subsequently its possible for update-initramfs to fail due to a
  lack of free space.  This is resulting in package installation
  failures for initramfs-tools.  For example:

  Setting up initramfs-tools (0.98.8ubuntu3) ...
  update-initramfs: deferring update (trigger activated)
  Processing triggers for initramfs-tools ...
  update-initramfs: Generating /boot/initrd.img-2.6.38-8-generic

  gzip: stdout: No space left on device
  E: mkinitramfs failure cpio 141 gzip 1
  update-initramfs: failed for /boot/initrd.img-2.6.38-8-generic
  dpkg: error processing initramfs-tools (--configure):
   subprocess installed post-installation script returned error exit status 1

  WORKAROUND:

  Remove unused kernels using computer janitor or manually free space on
  your partition containing the /boot file system.

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