When a filesystem is running out of space, Ubunutu shall provide a clear message and an easy solution

[Thibault D]

gzip: stdout: No space left on device
E: mkinitramfs failure cpio 141 gzip 1
update-initramfs: failed for /boot/initrd.img-3.5.0-26-generic with 1.
run-parts: /etc/kernel/postinst.d/initramfs-tools exited with return code 1
Failed to process /etc/kernel/postinst.d at /var/lib/dpkg/info/linux-image-extra-3.5.0-26-generic.postinst line 1010.
dpkg: error processing linux-image-extra-3.5.0-26-generic (--configure):
 subprocess installed post-installation script returned error exit status 2
dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of linux-image-generic:
 linux-image-generic depends on linux-image-extra-3.5.0-26-generic; however:
  Package linux-image-extra-3.5.0-26-generic is not configured yet.

Hi,

I am using a fresh 12.10 as a simple end-user since 5 months.

Yesterday I launched the Software Updater and got the following message :
- The volume "boot" has only 2,2 Mo disk space remaining
Followed by (approximately) :
- You can free some disk space by deleting unused software or files, or by moving files to another disk or partition.
With an additional "Examine..." button, which opens baobab on the /boot partition.

What happens : Ubuntu provides a technical message and no clear solution.
What should happen : Ubuntu provides a clear message with an easy-to-go solution.

My thoughts :

1/ It might not be a good idea to tell an end-user to delete files or software in /boot.

2/ Talking about "moving files to another partition" might be incomprehensible for an end-user.

3/ Baobab did not help me (it certainly can, but obviously I did not get how)

4/ I have been searching over the Internet / Launchpad / AskUbuntu and found that many people are facing this issue, but that there is no out-of-the-box solution :
- old and new bugs : Bug #237035, Bug #76521, Bug #1067106,
- hints to use "computer-janitor" (however now, both the dash and USC can not find it),
- hints to use "sudo apt-get clean",
- hints to use even complicated solutions (http://askubuntu.com/questions/89710)
   > sudo apt-get purge $(dpkg -l linux-{image,headers}-"[0-9]*" | awk '/ii/{print $2}' | grep -ve "$(uname -r | sed -r 's/-[a-z]+//')")

ProblemType: BugDistroRelease: Ubuntu 12.10
Package: update-manager 1:0.174.4
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.5.0-26.42-generic 3.5.7.6
Uname: Linux 3.5.0-26-generic i686
ApportVersion: 2.6.1-0ubuntu10
Aptdaemon:

Architecture: i386
Date: Tue Mar 19 09:03:35 2013
GsettingsChanges:
 b'com.ubuntu.update-manager' b'first-run' b'false'
 b'com.ubuntu.update-manager' b'launch-time' b'1363636123'
 b'com.ubuntu.update-manager' b'show-details' b'true'
 b'com.ubuntu.update-manager' b'window-height' b'715'
 b'com.ubuntu.update-manager' b'window-width' b'1364'
InstallationDate: Installed on 2012-11-12 (126 days ago)
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 12.10 "Quantal Quetzal" - Release i386 (20121017.2)
MarkForUpload: True
PackageArchitecture: all
ProcEnviron:
 PATH=(custom, no user)
 XDG_RUNTIME_DIR=<set>
 LANG=fr_FR.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bashSourcePackage: update-manager
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

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

[Michael Opdenacker (michael-opdenacker)]

I've just had this issue that can happen to anyone. My /boot partition was almost full when I upgraded to 13.04.

I did remove unnecessary kernel packages which solved my problem, but user who don't understand all this may be puzzled.

During kernel upgrades, is there a mechanism to remove kernel packages which are obsolete? As far as I am concerned, at least on my Ubuntu servers, when kernel n is the latest update and seems to work fine, I just keep kernel n-1 and manually discard older versions. All this is manual though, and I forgot to do this on my desktop system.

[Brian Murray (brian-murray)]

This blueprint tracks the work for removing old kernel packages:

https://blueprints.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+spec/desktop-r-clean-old-kernels

Additionally, see bug 923876.

[Peter (petertheone)]

sorry, I accidentally changed the status. I don't know how to revert this to the previews status.

[Peter (petertheone)]

The "sudo apt-get clean" hint doesn't work, maybe it should say "sudo apt-get autoremove".