apt autoremove not removing old kernels

[Vasya Pupkin]

I noticed that apt autoremove stopped removing old kernels recently. Currently I have 6 installed and apt autoremove does not try to remove old ones:

$ sudo apt autoremove --purge
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.

In /etc/apt/apt.conf.d/01autoremove-kernels it is said to only keep last three versions:

# list of different kernel versions:
4.15.0-24.26~16.04.1
4.15.0-23.25~16.04.1
4.15.0-22.24~16.04.1
4.15.0-15.16~16.04.1
4.13.0-45.50~16.04.1
4.13.0-43.48~16.04.1
# Installing kernel: 4.13.0-45.50~16.04.1 (4.13.0-45-generic)
# Running kernel: 4.15.0-23.25~16.04.1 (4.15.0-23-generic)
# Last kernel: 4.15.0-24.26~16.04.1
# Previous kernel: 4.15.0-23.25~16.04.1
# Kernel versions list to keep:
4.13.0-45.50~16.04.1
4.15.0-23.25~16.04.1
4.15.0-24.26~16.04.1
# Kernel packages (version part) to protect:
4\.13\.0-45-generic
4\.15\.0-23-generic
4\.15\.0-24-generic

It was working fine previously and I didn't change anything that could break this functionality.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 16.04
Package: apt 1.2.26
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 4.15.0-24.26~16.04.1-generic 4.15.18
Uname: Linux 4.15.0-24-generic x86_64
ApportVersion: 2.20.1-0ubuntu2.18
Architecture: amd64
CurrentDesktop: Unity
Date: Mon Jul 2 14:12:03 2018
InstallationDate: Installed on 2018-01-19 (164 days ago)
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 16.04.3 LTS "Xenial Xerus" - Release amd64 (20170801)
SourcePackage: apt
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)

[Sean Burlington (sean-practicalweb)]

I was looking into the same thing

It seems like this is intentional

I'm on this version

lsb_release -a
LSB Version: core-11.1.0ubuntu2-noarch:printing-11.1.0ubuntu2-noarch:security-11.1.0ubuntu2-noarch
Distributor ID: Ubuntu
Description: Ubuntu 20.04.1 LTS
Release: 20.04
Codename: focal

It appears apt is configured to never autoremove kernels

/etc/apt/apt.conf.d/01autoremove

  NeverAutoRemove
  {
        "^firmware-linux.*";
        "^linux-firmware$";
        "^linux-image-[a-z0-9]*$";
        "^linux-image-[a-z0-9]*-[a-z0-9]*$";
  };

[Julian Andres Klode (juliank)]

Sean:

What you quoted is the part that tells apt to not remove kernel _meta_ packages. Individual kernels are automatically removed subject to the kernel autoremoval helper script output in /etc/apt/apt.conf.d/01autoremove-kernels; which keeps up to 3 kernels around.

Note that this stops working if you manually install a certain kernel version, as it only works for automatically installed kernel versions.

[Julian Andres Klode (juliank)]

Probably the kernels were manually installed for some reason, but there's certainly not enough to act on this. Needs at least /var/lib/apt/extended_states /var/lib/dpkg/status /etc/apt/apt.conf.d/01autoremove-kernels to be able to investigate what happened here.

[Vasya Pupkin (shadowlmd)]

No manually installed kernels. And these were not meta packages. But since I am on 20.04 now, this is not affecting me anymore.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

[Expired for apt (Ubuntu) because there has been no activity for 60 days.]

[dragonhahney (dragonhahney)]

Thanks for the update!

On Mon, Mar 22, 2021, 12:25 AM Launchpad Bug Tracker <
<email address hidden>> wrote:

> [Expired for apt (Ubuntu) because there has been no activity for 60
> days.]
>
> ** Changed in: apt (Ubuntu)
> Status: Incomplete => Expired
>
> --
> You received this bug notification because you are subscribed to apt in
> Ubuntu.
> Matching subscriptions: dragonhahney
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1779657
>
> Title:
> apt autoremove not removing old kernels
>
> Status in apt package in Ubuntu:
> Expired
>
> Bug description:
> I noticed that apt autoremove stopped removing old kernels recently.
> Currently I have 6 installed and apt autoremove does not try to remove
> old ones:
>
> $ sudo apt autoremove --purge
> Reading package lists... Done
> Building dependency tree
> Reading state information... Done
> 0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
>
> In /etc/apt/apt.conf.d/01autoremove-kernels it is said to only keep
> last three versions:
>
> # list of different kernel versions:
> 4.15.0-24.26~16.04.1
> 4.15.0-23.25~16.04.1
> 4.15.0-22.24~16.04.1
> 4.15.0-15.16~16.04.1
> 4.13.0-45.50~16.04.1
> 4.13.0-43.48~16.04.1
> # Installing kernel: 4.13.0-45.50~16.04.1 (4.13.0-45-generic)
> # Running kernel: 4.15.0-23.25~16.04.1 (4.15.0-23-generic)
> # Last kernel: 4.15.0-24.26~16.04.1
> # Previous kernel: 4.15.0-23.25~16.04.1
> # Kernel versions list to keep:
> 4.13.0-45.50~16.04.1
> 4.15.0-23.25~16.04.1
> 4.15.0-24.26~16.04.1
> # Kernel packages (version part) to protect:
> 4\.13\.0-45-generic
> 4\.15\.0-23-generic
> 4\.15\.0-24-generic
>
> It was working fine previously and I didn't change anything that could
> break this functionality.
>
> ProblemType: Bug
> DistroRelease: Ubuntu 16.04
> Package: apt 1.2.26
> ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 4.15.0-24.26~16.04.1-generic 4.15.18
> Uname: Linux 4.15.0-24-generic x86_64
> ApportVersion: 2.20.1-0ubuntu2.18
> Architecture: amd64
> CurrentDesktop: Unity
> Date: Mon Jul 2 14:12:03 2018
> InstallationDate: Installed on 2018-01-19 (164 days ago)
> InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 16.04.3 LTS "Xenial Xerus" - Release amd64
> (20170801)
> SourcePackage: apt
> UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)
>
> To manage notifications about this bug go to:
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/apt/+bug/1779657/+subscriptions
>