[Bug 1183692] Re: Not enough disk space for kernel security update on /boot

[Devvyn Murphy]

For reference, the official help page that pertains to fixing a full
boot volume due to old kernel images is
[https://help.ubuntu.com/community/RecoverLostDiskSpace#line-160], which
recommends using Synaptic Package Manager and the command line together.
I mention it because it seems to be a more appropriate solution than the
popular incantations, and it would be nice to steer users toward a GUI
solution when the aforementioned failure message arises in Update
Manager, during an attempted kernel upgrade.

Also, for reference, I ran into this issue pretty quickly after
installing Ubuntu 14.04 with installer defaults. At no point was I
guided toward an appropriate boot volume size, so I feel this is likely
to affect a lot of users, whether or not they find this old bug report
and voice their dismay.

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https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1183692

Title:
  Not enough disk space for kernel security update on /boot

Status in update-manager package in Ubuntu:
  Confirmed

Bug description:
  Hi all

  I am using Ubuntu 12.10 and have just received the newest update
  notification from the update-manager marked as security updates. (This
  is NOT a release upgrade, but the regular security update)

  The update-manager tells me now that there is insufficient space on /boot to install these updates.
  The problem obviously is that too many kernels are installed: 3.5.0-17, 25, 26, 27, 28 and 30

  Which leaves 27MB space:
  Filesystem               Size  Used Avail Use% Mounted on
  /dev/sda1                228M  190M   27M  88% /boot

  Update Manager reports that it needs at least 33.2MB space for this
  update:

  "The upgrade needs a total of 33.2 M free space on disk '/boot'.
  Please free at least an additional 5,520 k of disk space on '/boot'.
  Empty your trash and remove temporary packages of former installations
  using 'sudo apt-get clean'."

  The hint in the message does not help for /boot.
  While I can fix this myself, I believe that this is not acceptable for an average end user to research and fix.
  Update-Manager should at least offer the option to remove old kernels (which it installed itself by security updates) in order for the security updates to proceed.

  
  I found an answer on AskUbuntu.com (http://askubuntu.com/questions/142926/cant-upgrade-due-to-low-disk-space-on-boot) which will help fix the issue. 

  TL;DR:

  -- 1 -- Release: 12.10
  -- 2 -- Installed Version of update-manager: 1:0.174.4
  -- 3 -- Expected:
  Security update should be installed. 
  -- 4 -- Happened:
  Failed because of insufficient disk space on /boot
  (Too many old kernels previously installed and not removed by update-manager)

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