package initramfs-tools 0.136ubuntu6.3 failed to install/upgrade: installed initramfs-tools package post-installation script subprocess returned error exit status 1

[Anders Pehrsson]

do-rleasae-upgrade from 18.04 to 20.04 today.
upgrade from 16.04 to 18.04 performed last Sunday on 5 machines.

ProblemType: Package
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 20.04
Package: initramfs-tools 0.136ubuntu6.3
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 4.15.0-118.119-generic 4.15.18
Uname: Linux 4.15.0-118-generic x86_64
ApportVersion: 2.20.11-0ubuntu27.9
Architecture: amd64
CasperMD5CheckResult: skip
Date: Tue Sep 29 11:56:41 2020
ErrorMessage: installed initramfs-tools package post-installation script subprocess returned error exit status 1
InstallationDate: Installed on 2013-11-28 (2496 days ago)
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu-Server 12.04.3 LTS "Precise Pangolin" - Release amd64 (20130820.2)
PackageArchitecture: all
Python3Details: /usr/bin/python3.8, Python 3.8.2, python3-minimal, 3.8.2-0ubuntu2
PythonDetails: /usr/bin/python2.7, Python 2.7.18rc1, python-is-python2, 2.7.17-4
RelatedPackageVersions:
 dpkg 1.19.7ubuntu3
 apt 2.0.2ubuntu0.1
SourcePackage: initramfs-tools
Title: package initramfs-tools 0.136ubuntu6.3 failed to install/upgrade: installed initramfs-tools package post-installation script subprocess returned error exit status 1
UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to focal on 2020-09-29 (0 days ago)

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

Status changed to 'Confirmed' because the bug affects multiple users.

[Ewan (ewann)]

I believe I experienced the same, with root cause a lack of free space in /boot. After the upgrade failed with errors, but _before_ attempting a reboot, my workaround was:

apt autoremove
mkdir /boot_moved_20201011
mv initrd.img-4.15.0-118-generic /boot_moved_20201011/
apt-get upgrade
mv /boot_moved_20201011/initrd.img-4.15.0-118-generic .

#reboot

[Ewan (ewann)]

looking further at the space I have available and the compression options, it appears
/etc/initramfs-tools/initramfs.conf
COMPRESS=gzip

update-initramfs -u -k all

may be a better work around in my case, until I can resize the boot partition - using gzip appears to allow me to have 3 kernels installed, which should reduce the need for manual intervention.

https://askubuntu.com/questions/299396/how-to-reduce-the-size-of-initrd-img-on-ubuntu-13-04

[Benjamin Drung (bdrung)]

Thank you for taking the time to report this bug and helping to make Ubuntu better. This particular bug has already been reported and is a duplicate of bug 798414, so it is being marked as such. Please look at the other bug report to see if there is any missing information that you can provide, or to see if there is a workaround for the bug. Additionally, any further discussion regarding the bug should occur in the other report. Please continue to report any other bugs you may find.