/boot/grub/menu.lst automagic option "howmany=all"

[Jérôme]

Binary package hint: grub

My hard disk is polluted with many old kernel which will never be used anymore.

Why are you not setting the default automagic kernels option in /boot/grub/menu.lst like follows:
-----
howmany=3
-----

I think this solution would be user friendly.

[Colin Watson (cjwatson)]

That wouldn't deal with your hard disk being "polluted" - it would just
stop showing them. We make the assumption that if people still have the
kernels installed it may well be for a good reason - you obviously
disagree with that assumption, but I think it's a defensible one.

The way we tackled this general problem was to write Computer Janitor,
which you should find in System -> Administration on a standard
installation; that's meant to give people a straightforward way to clean
up their system.

[Jérôme (jerome-bouat)]

For me, asking to the user to clean him/herself the system is the same philosophy than asking the Windows user to defragment his/her hard disk when the system becomes too slow :)

I think the end user should not even see the tool "Computer Janitor". Although it could be a toy for many technologic fans, I think a end user will just think: "this system can't stay clean by itself, let me switch back to Windows, it is easier".

[Colin Watson (cjwatson)]

That's as may be; but I don't think papering over the problem in the
grub configuration is the right answer ... the disk will still fill up
with kernels if somebody or something doesn't do something about it!

[Jérôme (jerome-bouat)]

You're right. I posted a new bug which better narrows the issue:
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux-ports-meta/+bug/427344