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

[Jake McGregor]

The only thing I can add here (and hopefully I'm not repeating anyone
here) is /boot claims to be about 75% full, and I have also seen it 100%
on another system of mine. It appears the problem is during the
transition between kernel 4.3 and 4.4. I use an encrypted partition on
both systems, one of which is a Surface Pro 3 using secure boot (if that
matters to anyone). I have only had one case where the system was unable
to boot because of this. Lucky for me I have a cloud backup. The others
I caught it in time. I was able to keep the system stable by fixing what
appeared to be a dependency error. Then again not rebooting might have
also helped. My guess is the Ubuntu installer didn't leave much space on
/boot, though normally all that is stored there is a few kernels and
related files. Everything appears fine now.

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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:
  New
Status in initramfs-tools package in Ubuntu:
  Confirmed

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 (not in repositories for
  14.04 or later) or manually free space on your partition containing
  the /boot file system.

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