Kangarooo and Srinath: Ah ha, I get what you are on about now. My test system here doesn't have that package because of the same issue :-) This is now fixed. The script should now only ever remove packages that match this pattern "linux-image-|linux-headers-|linux-backports-modules-" *and* show up in the 'dpkg -l' output as a 3 dotted number followed by a dash. This should prevent removal of the package that triggers updates (as it shows up as a 5 dotted number) The running kernel is now never removed either, just as with the last-good-boot kernel (if present). There is also an option to run the command. I've also tweaked the output: $ ./remove-old-kernels /etc/kernel/postinst.d/remove-old-kernels: Reading system config file /etc/remove-old-kernels.conf ... Found last-good-boot, 2.6.32-23 will never be removed Current kernel 2.6.32-24 will never be removed Installed kernels 2.6.32-21.32 2.6.32-22.36 2.6.32-23.37 2.6.32-24.42 Older than top 3: 2.6.32-21.32 Will remove packages for 2.6.32-21.32 Suggested command is ... sudo apt-get remove linux-image-2.6.32-21-generic $ if I change my number to keep: $ ./remove-old-kernels /etc/kernel/postinst.d/remove-old-kernels: Reading system config file /etc/remove-old-kernels.conf ... Found last-good-boot, 2.6.32-23 will never be removed Current kernel 2.6.32-24 will never be removed Installed kernels 2.6.32-21.32 2.6.32-22.36 2.6.32-23.37 2.6.32-24.42 Older than top 1: 2.6.32-21.32 2.6.32-22.36 2.6.32-23.37 Will remove packages for 2.6.32-21.32 Will remove packages for 2.6.32-22.36 Nothing can be done with 2.6.32-23.37 Suggested command is ... sudo apt-get remove linux-image-2.6.32-21-generic linux-image-2.6.32-22-generic $ This is with what I hope is a more normal set of packages (note 'linux' and 'linux-generic'): $ dpkg -l | grep ^ii| grep 2.6.32 ii linux 2.6.32.24.25 Generic complete Linux kernel. ii linux-generic 2.6.32.24.25 Complete Generic Linux kernel ii linux-headers-2.6.32-23 2.6.32-23.37 Header files related to Linux kernel version ii linux-headers-2.6.32-23-generic 2.6.32-23.37 Linux kernel headers for version 2.6.32 on x ii linux-headers-2.6.32-24 2.6.32-24.42 Header files related to Linux kernel version ii linux-headers-2.6.32-24-generic 2.6.32-24.42 Linux kernel headers for version 2.6.32 on x ii linux-headers-generic 2.6.32.24.25 Generic Linux kernel headers ii linux-image 2.6.32.24.25 Generic Linux kernel image. ii linux-image-2.6.32-21-generic 2.6.32-21.32 Linux kernel image for version 2.6.32 on x86 ii linux-image-2.6.32-22-generic 2.6.32-22.36 Linux kernel image for version 2.6.32 on x86 ii linux-image-2.6.32-23-generic 2.6.32-23.37 Linux kernel image for version 2.6.32 on x86 ii linux-image-2.6.32-24-generic 2.6.32-24.42 Linux kernel image for version 2.6.32 on x86 ii linux-image-generic 2.6.32.24.25 Generic Linux kernel image ii linux-libc-dev 2.6.32-24.42 Linux Kernel Headers for development $