update-manager asking for unreasonable free space on /boot

[okted]

Binary package hint: update-manager

I am running 64-bit Ubuntu 8.04 on a system with multiple software RAID volumes. Aside from the lagging development of 64-bit operating systems, there is a completely realistic possibility that this bug is the result of third party software and/or my complicated software RAID scheme.

I spent weeks trying to upgrade my kernel to 2.6.24-21 from 2.6.24-19. I kept getting errors asking for anywhere from 60-80MB of free space on /boot. Since the largest files in my 100MB boot partition are the previous kernels, each weighing it around 8MB, it seems completely unreasonable for update-manager to need 80MB of free space on /boot. As has been stated in another report, running "sudo apt-get clean" does not remedy this problem. Finally, after disabling the repositories for my satanic edition (SE) theme, I was able to complete the update. I thought I had solved the problem, but then...

After completing the update, I attempted to upgrade to 8.10 with the SE repositories (my only third party repositories) still disabled, at which point I received the following error message:
"Not enough free disk space
The upgrade aborts now. The upgrade needs a total of 101M free space on disk '/boot'. Please free at least an additional 69.4M of disk space on '/boot'. Empty your trash and remove temporary packages of former installations using 'sudo apt-get clean'."

I am frustrated and at a loss for what to do next. I can't think of any reason for update-manager to need over 100MB of free space on /boot, especially considering that the last time I checked, 100MB was on the upper end of what was reasonable to set aside for a /boot partition. My boot partition is a RAID1 partition that spans 5 drives and neighbors my RAID0 swap partition. Expanding it would therefore require destroying and rebuilding both my boot and swap partitions, and is not really an option for me at this point.

[Michael Vogt (mvo)]

Thanks for your bugreport and sorry for the problems you experienced.

Could you please attach the file /var/log/dist-upgrade/main.log after the upgrade aborted with the "not enough space" message? I can diagnose whats going wrong based on this file.

[mbielik (mike-wykwyw)]

I was having the same problem (asking for 101M of free space on /boot, mine is 100M total), although I do not have any RAID setup or other repositories enabled. For me the problem was that I was manually removing old kernels, and not removing the packages. The upgrade log that I've attached seems to reflect this as well. After using Synaptic to remove the old kernel packages, I was able to get past the issue.

[okted (spam4ted)]

Michael,

Here's the file you asked for. Thanks for the rapid response!

Ted

On Fri, Oct 31, 2008 at 4:43 AM, Michael Vogt <email address hidden>wrote:

> Thanks for your bugreport and sorry for the problems you experienced.
>
> Could you please attach the file /var/log/dist-upgrade/main.log after
> the upgrade aborted with the "not enough space" message? I can diagnose
> whats going wrong based on this file.
>
> ** Changed in: update-manager (Ubuntu)
> Status: New => Incomplete
>
> ** Changed in: update-manager (Ubuntu)
> Assignee: (unassigned) => Michael Vogt (mvo)
>
> --
> update-manager asking for unreasonable free space on /boot
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/291381
> You received this bug notification because you are a direct subscriber
> of the bug.
>
> Status in "update-manager" source package in Ubuntu: Incomplete
>
> Bug description:
> Binary package hint: update-manager
>
> I am running 64-bit Ubuntu 8.04 on a system with multiple software RAID
> volumes. Aside from the lagging development of 64-bit operating systems,
> there is a completely realistic possibility that this bug is the result of
> third party software and/or my complicated software RAID scheme.
>
> I spent weeks trying to upgrade my kernel to 2.6.24-21 from 2.6.24-19. I
> kept getting errors asking for anywhere from 60-80MB of free space on /boot.
> Since the largest files in my 100MB boot partition are the previous kernels,
> each weighing it around 8MB, it seems completely unreasonable for
> update-manager to need 80MB of free space on /boot. As has been stated in
> another report, running "sudo apt-get clean" does not remedy this problem.
> Finally, after disabling the repositories for my satanic edition (SE) theme,
> I was able to complete the update. I thought I had solved the problem, but
> then...
>
> After completing the update, I attempted to upgrade to 8.10 with the SE
> repositories (my only third party repositories) still disabled, at which
> point I received the following error message:
> "Not enough free disk space
> The upgrade aborts now. The upgrade needs a total of 101M free space on
> disk '/boot'. Please free at least an additional 69.4M of disk space on
> '/boot'. Empty your trash and remove temporary packages of former
> installations using 'sudo apt-get clean'."
>
> I am frustrated and at a loss for what to do next. I can't think of any
> reason for update-manager to need over 100MB of free space on /boot,
> especially considering that the last time I checked, 100MB was on the upper
> end of what was reasonable to set aside for a /boot partition. My boot
> partition is a RAID1 partition that spans 5 drives and neighbors my RAID0
> swap partition. Expanding it would therefore require destroying and
> rebuilding both my boot and swap partitions, and is not really an option for
> me at this point.
>

[Charles Koleczek (chuck-koleczek)]

(Executive summary:
Uninstall the old kernels with Synaptic.
Simply deleting the files in /boot won't satisfy the Distribution Upgrade.)

I was seeing this problem as well. My /boot is 100MB, and I had gone and freed up ~70+MB by deleting the files for my old kernels. Still the installer complained that it wanted 75.7MB free in /boot. This happened to me on both a network upgrade and trying an installation from an alternative install CD.
In my /var/log/dist-upgrade/main.log I see...

2008-10-31 10:32:19,078 DEBUG Dir /usr mounted on /
2008-10-31 10:32:19,079 DEBUG Dir /var mounted on /
2008-10-31 10:32:19,079 DEBUG Free space on /boot: 73176064
2008-10-31 10:32:19,080 DEBUG Dir /var/cache/apt/archives mounted on /
2008-10-31 10:32:19,080 DEBUG Dir /home mounted on /
2008-10-31 10:32:19,080 DEBUG fs_free contains: '{'/var': <DistUpgradeController
.FreeSpace object at 0x5503390>, '/home': <DistUpgradeController.FreeSpace objec
t at 0x5503390>, '/boot': <DistUpgradeController.FreeSpace object at 0x5503510>,
 '/usr': <DistUpgradeController.FreeSpace object at 0x5503390>, '/': <DistUpgrad
eController.FreeSpace object at 0x5503390>, '/var/cache/apt/archives': <DistUpgr
adeController.FreeSpace object at 0x5503390>}'
2008-10-31 10:32:19,178 DEBUG linux-image-2.6.24-21-generic (upgrade|installed)
added with 12582912 to boot space
2008-10-31 10:32:19,201 DEBUG linux-image-2.6.22-14-generic (upgrade|installed)
added with 12582912 to boot space
2008-10-31 10:32:19,209 DEBUG linux-image-2.6.24-19-generic (upgrade|installed)
added with 12582912 to boot space
2008-10-31 10:32:19,266 DEBUG linux-image-2.6.24-16-generic (upgrade|installed)
added with 12582912 to boot space
2008-10-31 10:32:19,309 DEBUG linux-image-2.6.27-7-generic (new-install) added w
ith 12582912 to boot space
2008-10-31 10:32:19,312 DEBUG linux-image-2.6.24-18-generic (upgrade|installed)
added with 12582912 to boot space
2008-10-31 10:32:20,269 DEBUG dir '/var/cache/apt/archives' needs '559011054.0'
of '<DistUpgradeController.FreeSpace object at 0x5503390>' (25410088960.000000)
2008-10-31 10:32:20,270 DEBUG dir '/usr' needs '665604096.0' of '<DistUpgradeCon
troller.FreeSpace object at 0x5503390>' (24851077906.000000)
2008-10-31 10:32:20,270 DEBUG dir '/usr' needs '52428800' of '<DistUpgradeContro
ller.FreeSpace object at 0x5503390>' (24185473810.000000)
2008-10-31 10:32:20,270 DEBUG dir '/boot' needs '75497472' of '<DistUpgradeContr
oller.FreeSpace object at 0x5503510>' (73176064.000000)
2008-10-31 10:32:20,271 ERROR not enough free space on /boot (missing 2321k)
2008-10-31 10:32:35,372 DEBUG openCache()
2008-10-31 10:32:35,663 DEBUG /openCache()

...hmmm, I've deleted the old kernel files from /boot, but if I interpret the aborted install log correctly it looks like the old kernels are still being used in some calculation of the space on /boot. I launched synaptic package manager and searched on "kernel". I selected my older kernels for complete removal. Upon removing them and launching the upgrade again I get past the /boot free space error and am prompted to start the upgrade.

[okted (spam4ted)]

That did the trick. Thank you!

Ted

On Fri, Oct 31, 2008 at 9:26 AM, mbielik <email address hidden> wrote:

> I was having the same problem (asking for 101M of free space on /boot,
> mine is 100M total), although I do not have any RAID setup or other
> repositories enabled. For me the problem was that I was manually
> removing old kernels, and not removing the packages. The upgrade log
> that I've attached seems to reflect this as well. After using Synaptic
> to remove the old kernel packages, I was able to get past the issue.
>
> ** Attachment added: "Upgrade Log"
> http://launchpadlibrarian.net/19127616/main.log
>
> --
> update-manager asking for unreasonable free space on /boot
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/291381
> You received this bug notification because you are a direct subscriber
> of the bug.
>
> Status in "update-manager" source package in Ubuntu: Incomplete
>
> Bug description:
> Binary package hint: update-manager
>
> I am running 64-bit Ubuntu 8.04 on a system with multiple software RAID
> volumes. Aside from the lagging development of 64-bit operating systems,
> there is a completely realistic possibility that this bug is the result of
> third party software and/or my complicated software RAID scheme.
>
> I spent weeks trying to upgrade my kernel to 2.6.24-21 from 2.6.24-19. I
> kept getting errors asking for anywhere from 60-80MB of free space on /boot.
> Since the largest files in my 100MB boot partition are the previous kernels,
> each weighing it around 8MB, it seems completely unreasonable for
> update-manager to need 80MB of free space on /boot. As has been stated in
> another report, running "sudo apt-get clean" does not remedy this problem.
> Finally, after disabling the repositories for my satanic edition (SE) theme,
> I was able to complete the update. I thought I had solved the problem, but
> then...
>
> After completing the update, I attempted to upgrade to 8.10 with the SE
> repositories (my only third party repositories) still disabled, at which
> point I received the following error message:
> "Not enough free disk space
> The upgrade aborts now. The upgrade needs a total of 101M free space on
> disk '/boot'. Please free at least an additional 69.4M of disk space on
> '/boot'. Empty your trash and remove temporary packages of former
> installations using 'sudo apt-get clean'."
>
> I am frustrated and at a loss for what to do next. I can't think of any
> reason for update-manager to need over 100MB of free space on /boot,
> especially considering that the last time I checked, 100MB was on the upper
> end of what was reasonable to set aside for a /boot partition. My boot
> partition is a RAID1 partition that spans 5 drives and neighbors my RAID0
> swap partition. Expanding it would therefore require destroying and
> rebuilding both my boot and swap partitions, and is not really an option for
> me at this point.
>

[okted (spam4ted)]

That did the trick. Thank you!

Ted

On Fri, Oct 31, 2008 at 10:50 AM, Charles Koleczek <email address hidden>wrote:

>
> (Executive summary:
> Uninstall the old kernels with Synaptic.
> Simply deleting the files in /boot won't satisfy the Distribution Upgrade.)
>
> I was seeing this problem as well. My /boot is 100MB, and I had gone and
> freed up ~70+MB by deleting the files for my old kernels. Still the
> installer complained that it wanted 75.7MB free in /boot. This happened to
> me on both a network upgrade and trying an installation from an alternative
> install CD.
> In my /var/log/dist-upgrade/main.log I see...
>
> 2008-10-31 10:32:19,078 DEBUG Dir /usr mounted on /
> 2008-10-31 10:32:19,079 DEBUG Dir /var mounted on /
> 2008-10-31 10:32:19,079 DEBUG Free space on /boot: 73176064
> 2008-10-31 10:32:19,080 DEBUG Dir /var/cache/apt/archives mounted on /
> 2008-10-31 10:32:19,080 DEBUG Dir /home mounted on /
> 2008-10-31 10:32:19,080 DEBUG fs_free contains: '{'/var':
> <DistUpgradeController
> .FreeSpace object at 0x5503390>, '/home': <DistUpgradeController.FreeSpace
> objec
> t at 0x5503390>, '/boot': <DistUpgradeController.FreeSpace object at
> 0x5503510>,
> '/usr': <DistUpgradeController.FreeSpace object at 0x5503390>, '/':
> <DistUpgrad
> eController.FreeSpace object at 0x5503390>, '/var/cache/apt/archives':
> <DistUpgr
> adeController.FreeSpace object at 0x5503390>}'
> 2008-10-31 10:32:19,178 DEBUG linux-image-2.6.24-21-generic
> (upgrade|installed)
> added with 12582912 to boot space
> 2008-10-31 10:32:19,201 DEBUG linux-image-2.6.22-14-generic
> (upgrade|installed)
> added with 12582912 to boot space
> 2008-10-31 10:32:19,209 DEBUG linux-image-2.6.24-19-generic
> (upgrade|installed)
> added with 12582912 to boot space
> 2008-10-31 10:32:19,266 DEBUG linux-image-2.6.24-16-generic
> (upgrade|installed)
> added with 12582912 to boot space
> 2008-10-31 10:32:19,309 DEBUG linux-image-2.6.27-7-generic (new-install)
> added w
> ith 12582912 to boot space
> 2008-10-31 10:32:19,312 DEBUG linux-image-2.6.24-18-generic
> (upgrade|installed)
> added with 12582912 to boot space
> 2008-10-31 10:32:20,269 DEBUG dir '/var/cache/apt/archives' needs
> '559011054.0'
> of '<DistUpgradeController.FreeSpace object at 0x5503390>'
> (25410088960.000000)
> 2008-10-31 10:32:20,270 DEBUG dir '/usr' needs '665604096.0' of
> '<DistUpgradeCon
> troller.FreeSpace object at 0x5503390>' (24851077906.000000)
> 2008-10-31 10:32:20,270 DEBUG dir '/usr' needs '52428800' of
> '<DistUpgradeContro
> ller.FreeSpace object at 0x5503390>' (24185473810.000000)
> 2008-10-31 10:32:20,270 DEBUG dir '/boot' needs '75497472' of
> '<DistUpgradeContr
> oller.FreeSpace object at 0x5503510>' (73176064.000000)
> 2008-10-31 10:32:20,271 ERROR not enough free space on /boot (missing
> 2321k)
> 2008-10-31 10:32:35,372 DEBUG openCache()
> 2008-10-31 10:32:35,663 DEBUG /openCache()
>
> ...hmmm, I've deleted the old kernel files from /boot, but if I
> interpret the aborted install log correctly it looks like the old
> kernels are still being used in some calculation of the space on /boot.
> I launched synaptic package manager and searched on "kernel". I
> selected my older kernels fo...