[Ubuntu Chicago] upgrade failure ubuntu 14.04 LTS

[Deacon Solomon]

On Sun, 2014-08-17 at 13:38 -0500, Randy Wilson wrote:
> Deke,
> 
> Basically, on a typical Ubuntu install a 250-ish MB partition is made
> to store kernels, the boot partition. It is mounted on /boot. Over
> time, as security updates install new kernels, old kernels don't get
> removed. I think if you reboot, then the next time updates are run, it
> can remove them, but I'm not sure. Anyway, the safe thing I'd try
> first is:
> 
> sudo apt-get --purge autoremove
> 
> 
> Do that from a terminal window. That command removes installed
> packages that are no longer needed.
> 
> 
> If that removes some kernels, you may be good to go. Try your update
> again.
> 
> 
> If you update succeeds, reboot and do the "sudo apt-get --purge
> autoremove" again.
> 
> 
> However, the above might not work at all. In that case, I end up
> manually deleting kernels from the boot partition. This is very
> dangerous. You must be VERY careful not to delete the kernel that the
> system will use on the next boot. What I do is determine the current
> running kernel, then I only delete kernels that are OLDER (have a
> lower version number) than the currently running kernel.
> 
> 
> Do determine the current kernel: uname -a
> 
> Kernels are located in /boot
> 
> 
> Since the second method is very dangerous, I would google for a better
> answer or wait and see if anyone on this list has a better answer for
> you.
> 
> -Randy
> 
> 
> 
> On Sun, Aug 17, 2014 at 12:04 PM, Deacon Solomon
> <dekesolomon at fastmail.fm> wrote:
>         You guys might as well know you got a newbie on this list --
>         and it's
>         me.
>         
>         My name is Deke Solomon. I live in Iowa -- in a tiny,
>         unincorporated
>         farming community near Cedar Rapids. I'm an off-duty Marine
>         (Vietnam
>         Era) now 65 years old -- a fact which, I guess, means I'm a
>         senior
>         citizen as well.
>         
>         Over the years I got an MA in magazine journalism from the
>         University
>         of Missouri-Columbia (worked as a technical writer thereafter)
>         and a BA
>         from Coe College, in Cedar Rapids. I USED to be a Windoze
>         geek, having
>         used DOS and Windows (until DOS went away) and every version
>         of Windows
>         since 3.1. I was EVEN a 'Microsoft Certified Expert' at one
>         time (it's a
>         meaningless and worthless credential, but I didn't know that
>         when I
>         forked over the money for the classes).
>         
>         But Windoze 8 is the end for me. I built a new machine and
>         used it to
>         tinker with various Linux distros a year ago. I very soon
>         learned that
>         Ubuntu is the only civilized distro on the planet at this
>         moment, so
>         I've installed that on a little Gateway box that I picked up
>         for a song
>         at TigerDirect. I've been using installed Ubuntu LTS a year
>         ago. I've
>         been using it for everything for more than a year now. I moved
>         my
>         Windows 7 (the best Windows ever built) box off my desk and
>         set it
>         aside. Now I do everything with Ubuntu.
>         
>         I had small problems with the system, most of which I figured
>         out for
>         myself. Now I've got a different problem and I don't know what
>         to do. My
>         machine updates itself once a week. Never a problem with that
>         until now.
>         Yesterday it found some updates it wants but tells me I can't
>         install
>         them. The problem seems to be partition size (storage space).
>         The error
>         message says:
>         
>         NOT ENOUGH FREE DISK SPACE -- The upgrade needs a total of
>         63.0 M free
>         space on disk '/boot'. Please free at least an additional 21.9
>         M of disk
>         space on '/boot'. Empty your trash and remove temporary
>         packages of
>         former installations using 'sudo apt-get clean'.
>         
>         I opened a terminal window and ran 'sudo apt-get clean' (sans
>         quotes),
>         then tried the upgrade again. It didn't work. I get the same
>         message every time I try it.
>         
>         So: because sudo apt-get clean doesn't help, can somebody here
>         steer me
>         through another way out of this? Free pint of delicious
>         homemade Hummus
>         to the person who helps me out and comes to Iowa to get
>         his/her hummus.
>         
>         Thanks, fellers/gals. I know one of you can help.
>         
>         Deacon
>         
>         
>         --
>         Ubuntu-us-chicago mailing list
>         Ubuntu-us-chicago at lists.ubuntu.com
>         https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-us-chicago
> 
> 
> 
> -- 
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Thanks, Randy, for your help:

So I rebooted and ran this:

>deacon at deacon-SX:~$ sudo apt-get -autoremove
>[sudo] password for deacon: 
>E: Command line option 'a' [from -autoremove] is not known.

please note that I DID give the password as requested.
That didn't work, so I tried this:

>deacon at deacon-SX:~$ sudo apt-get autoremove

and got this response

>Reading package lists... Done
>Building dependency tree       
>Reading state information... Done
>0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 38 not upgraded.
>deacon at deacon-SX:~$

I'm afraid I don't know if I accomplished anything or not.

Deke