Accumulating kernels is cruel and unusual punishment

[VanillaMozilla]

It's time to purge old kernels. They have sex and multiply.

There's no reason why ordinary users need more than the two most recent kernels installed. Granny doesn't appreciate a grub list that extends to several pages and grows without limit. Old kernels clutter Synaptic and the hard drive.

And they do multiply in Synaptic. There's linux-generic and linux-image-generic and linux-headers-generic, plus numbered versions, plus pae versions of everything in my case. I just removed 3 versions with a bunch of packages that came to 640 MB plus some headers that I forgot to count. Purging by hand also requires some care. Is 2.6.35.28.36 more recent than 2.6.32-28.50?

This is essentially Ubuntu brainstorm idea 25888, solution 7. See http://brainstorm.ubuntu.com/idea/25888/ .

[VanillaMozilla (vanillamozilla)]

In case it needs to be spelled out in dry, explicit terms, this bug report is about removing all but the current kernel and the previous one on updating.

[Broc Giddens (giddensdb)]

While I agree that keeping too many kernels is burdensome, as an end user you can remove previous kernels at any time as you stated that you did. Also I would want to have some confirmation before any piece of software is removed from my system. I am running into a hardware issue that changes with the kernel updates. Currently my latest two kernels won't work with this particular piece of hardware so I have to use the older kernel to be able to use it. I also noticed in 11.04 beta 2, my grub menu changed to show the latest kernel then an option to view old kernels so that it doesn't take up multiple pages on the main grub menu. Just my two cents worth....

[VanillaMozilla (vanillamozilla)]

Of course, there could always be a non-default option not to remove kernels, for the rare person who needs an old one. And currently, Synaptic shows 6 versions, so you can always reinstall.

But from what you say, apparently this bug is already "fixed", i.e. shoved under the rug, leaving kernels to accumulate in Granny's computer. Sigh.

[VanillaMozilla (vanillamozilla)]

P.S. What on earth are you talking about? Other components get purged on update, and you already get confirmation before any update. And unlike other components, kernels already received golden treatment, by (1) leaving them installed indefinitely; and (2) leaving several previous versions in Synaptic.

It's time for some automatic purging. An non-default option to leave old kernels should be sufficient.

[VanillaMozilla (vanillamozilla)]

I note that although this bug is marked as "opinion", it finally got fixed some years later. You're welcome.