I cannot delete software

[HL84]

My harddisk of the Lubuntu installation is full and I therefore want to delete certain packages and software. But when I go to either one of those three Software-Center, Terminal or Synaptic I get an error when trying to delete anything. It says something along the lines that there is no space on the harddisk and that something cannot be written on it. How can I manage to delete something? If necessary manually!?

Thank you.

[CitadelUniversal]

What does the output of - sudo apt-get remove <your software> - show replace the <your software> with the software you want to remove from the terminal - you'll have to enter your password in order to remove the software from gnome-terminal.

[HL84]

It's german... unfortunately but it says exactly what I described earlier.

Paketlisten werden gelesen... Fehler!
E: Schreibfehler - write (28: Auf dem Gerät ist kein Speicherplatz mehr verfügbar)
E: E/A-Fehler beim Speichern des Quell-Zwischenspeichers
E: Die Paketliste oder die Statusdatei konnte nicht eingelesen oder geöffnet werden.

[Dennis N]

An unusual situation indeed. I would not delete software manually. I would transfer some personal files to a usb and delete them from HD to make space for whatever the system needs to write. Then delete some software with software center or a package manager. Then move my files back. This assumes you do not have a separate home partition, so that the system is able to make use of the space.

[CitadelUniversal]

Is German your default language? please see Language Support (https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Lubuntu/Documentation/LanguageSupport) for Lubuntu and repost in English since I can't read German. It would indicate a system setting change perhaps for the different language.

[HL84]

The personal files like home or downloads seem to have their own partition or something like this. I moved 2GB out of this directory but it doesn't do anything to the situation.

[HL84]

In English it says this:

sudo apt-get remove xxxxxxxx
Reading package lists... Error!
E: Write error - write (28: No space left on device)
E: Can't mmap an empty file
E: Failed to truncate file - ftruncate (9: Bad file descriptor)
E: The package lists or status file could not be parsed or opened.

[CitadelUniversal]

Could you post your /etc/fstab file this may or may not help us to understand the situation and while you are at it please see if you can post /etc/vconsole.conf or your locale file.... Plus what does sudo apt-get clean do on the device you are using?

[howefield]

Try to remove cached packages by running..


sudo apt-get clean

and or


sudo apt-get autoremove

[HL84]

I tried that already.

[CitadelUniversal]

What about the following:


sudo apt-get purge

[HL84]

tried it already. Also Fstab doesn't indicate anything special:

# /etc/fstab: static file system information.
#
# Use 'blkid' to print the universally unique identifier for a
# device; this may be used with UUID= as a more robust way to name devices
# that works even if disks are added and removed. See fstab(5).
#
# <file system> <mount point> <type> <options> <dump> <pass>
# / was on /dev/sda6 during installation
UUID=d64594bd-f0bf-4353-87d7-ecc03b50307a / ext4 errors=remount-ro 0 1
# /home was on /dev/sda7 during installation
UUID=e4565b4a-0e94-4dd7-9f96-6939d1319b9c /home ext4 defaults 0 2
# swap was on /dev/sda8 during installation
UUID=4ef11097-ee5d-462b-a4d6-ced94d5cc296 none swap sw 0 0

/dev/sda5 /media/sda5 ntfs defaults 0 0

[CitadelUniversal]

Will this help by any chance http://www.cyberciti.biz/datacenter/linux-unix-bsd-osx-cannot-write-to-hard-disk/

[Bashing-om]

HL84; Hello'

My thoughts, let's us be specific about where the " out of disk space " condition originates .
The terminal commands:


df -h
df -i

will tell us where to focus our attention :
With:


cd /
sudo du -sx * | sort -n
cd

to tell us exactly the disk usage.
If you need to drill down further, use cd to move to a directory of interest then repeat the du command.

Then we need to address a 2nd issue:


E: The package lists or status file could not be parsed or opened.

That in all likely hood is the package manager's control files have become corrupted. These files can be removed and the control files automagically rebuilt. When the system has operating room restored.



ain't no step for a stepper

[HL84]

df -h

Filesystem Size Used Avail Use% Mounted on
/dev/sda6 12G 12G 0 100% /
none 4.0K 0 4.0K 0% /sys/fs/cgroup
udev 1.5G 4.0K 1.5G 1% /dev
tmpfs 301M 1.4M 300M 1% /run
none 5.0M 0 5.0M 0% /run/lock
none 1.5G 504K 1.5G 1% /run/shm
none 100M 24K 100M 1% /run/user
/dev/sda7 19G 6.8G 12G 38% /home
overflow 1.0M 20K 1004K 2% /tmp
/dev/sda5 268G 254G 15G 95% /media/sda5
/dev/sr0 3.9G 3.9G 0 100% /media/xxx/KNOPPIX
/dev/sda3 18G 17G 966M 95% /media/xxx/SAMSUNG_REC
/dev/sda9 78G 53G 26G 68% /media/xxx/429C3E6C9C3E5A9D

df -i

Filesystem Inodes IUsed IFree IUse% Mounted on
/dev/sda6 780288 639190 141098 82% /
none 384629 2 384627 1% /sys/fs/cgroup
udev 380908 509 380399 1% /dev
tmpfs 384629 554 384075 1% /run
none 384629 5 384624 1% /run/lock
none 384629 4 384625 1% /run/shm
none 384629 41 384588 1% /run/user
/dev/sda7 1264800 94547 1170253 8% /home
overflow 384629 27 384602 1% /tmp
/dev/sda5 15214000 411567 14802433 3% /media/sda5
/dev/sr0 0 0 0 - /media/xxx/KNOPPIX
/dev/sda3 1053752 11956 1041796 2% /media/xxx/SAMSUNG_REC
/dev/sda9 26794164 211013 26583151 1% /media/xxx/429C3E6C9C3E5A9D

[Bashing-om]

HL84; OK !

Now we are getting somewhere .
From :


Filesystem Size Used Avail Use% Mounted on
/dev/sda6 12G 12G 0 100% /

Please, code tags to maintain formatting for readability !
code tag tutorial:
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2171721&p=12776168#post12776168

Even without the confirmation from the 'du' outputs we can "surmise" that the problem is that the /boot partition is at capacity. This being at capacity may present a serious problem, in that there is no operating head room for apt-get to operate in. But, let us try the simpler approach 1st and see what results.


sudo apt-get autoremove

If in fact apt-get can not operate we start the process of getting dirty to resolve this issue.



ain't nothing but a thing

[HL84]

I tried that already. Does not work.

[Bashing-om]

HL84; Well !

Then we try and drop down one level to manage this situation.
Show now what we are trying to remove ( and what we MUST not mess with)


uname -r
dpkg -l | grep linux-





how low can we go

[HL84]

...

3.13.0-55-generic

ii linux-firmware 1.127.12 all Firmware for Linux kernel drivers
ii linux-generic 3.13.0.55.62 amd64 Complete Generic Linux kernel and headers
ii linux-headers-3.13.0-24 3.13.0-24.47 all Header files related to Linux kernel version 3.13.0
ii linux-headers-3.13.0-24-generic 3.13.0-24.47 amd64 Linux kernel headers for version 3.13.0 on 64 bit x86 SMP
ii linux-headers-3.13.0-32 3.13.0-32.57 all Header files related to Linux kernel version 3.13.0
ii linux-headers-3.13.0-32-generic 3.13.0-32.57 amd64 Linux kernel headers for version 3.13.0 on 64 bit x86 SMP
ii linux-headers-3.13.0-34 3.13.0-34.60 all Header files related to Linux kernel version 3.13.0
ii linux-headers-3.13.0-34-generic 3.13.0-34.60 amd64 Linux kernel headers for version 3.13.0 on 64 bit x86 SMP
ii linux-headers-3.13.0-37 3.13.0-37.64 all Header files related to Linux kernel version 3.13.0
ii linux-headers-3.13.0-37-generic 3.13.0-37.64 amd64 Linux kernel headers for version 3.13.0 on 64 bit x86 SMP
ii linux-headers-3.13.0-39 3.13.0-39.66 all Header files related to Linux kernel version 3.13.0
ii linux-headers-3.13.0-39-generic 3.13.0-39.66 amd64 Linux kernel headers for version 3.13.0 on 64 bit x86 SMP
ii linux-headers-3.13.0-40 3.13.0-40.69 all Header files related to Linux kernel version 3.13.0
ii linux-headers-3.13.0-40-generic 3.13.0-40.69 amd64 Linux kernel headers for version 3.13.0 on 64 bit x86 SMP
ii linux-headers-3.13.0-43 3.13.0-43.72 all Header files related to Linux kernel version 3.13.0
ii linux-headers-3.13.0-43-generic 3.13.0-43.72 amd64 Linux kernel headers for version 3.13.0 on 64 bit x86 SMP
ii linux-headers-3.13.0-44 3.13.0-44.73 all Header files related to Linux kernel version 3.13.0
ii linux-headers-3.13.0-44-generic 3.13.0-44.73 amd64 Linux kernel headers for version 3.13.0 on 64 bit x86 SMP
ii linux-headers-3.13.0-46 3.13.0-46.79 all Header files related to Linux kernel version 3.13.0
ii linux-headers-3.13.0-46-generic 3.13.0-46.79 amd64 Linux kernel headers for version 3.13.0 on 64 bit x86 SMP
ii linux-headers-3.13.0-48 3.13.0-48.80 all Header files related to Linux kernel version 3.13.0
ii linux-headers-3.13.0-48-generic 3.13.0-48.80 amd64 Linux kernel headers for version 3.13.0 on 64 bit x86 SMP
ii linux-headers-3.13.0-49 3.13.0-49.83 all Header files related to Linux kernel version 3.13.0
ii linux-headers-3.13.0-49-generic 3.13.0-49.83 amd64 Linux kernel headers for version 3.13.0 on 64 bit x86 SMP
ii linux-headers-3.13.0-51 3.13.0-51.84 all Header files related to Linux kernel version 3.13.0
ii linux-headers-3.13.0-51-generic 3.13.0-51.84 amd64 Linux kernel headers for version 3.13.0 on 64 bit x86 SMP
ii linux-headers-3.13.0-53 3.13.0-53.89 all Header files related to Linux kernel version 3.13.0
ii linux-headers-3.13.0-53-generic 3.13.0-53.89 amd64 Linux kernel headers for version 3.13.0 on 64 bit x86 SMP
ii linux-headers-3.13.0-54 3.13.0-54.91 all Header files related to Linux kernel version 3.13.0
ii linux-headers-3.13.0-54-generic 3.13.0-54.91 amd64 Linux kernel headers for version 3.13.0 on 64 bit x86 SMP
ii linux-headers-3.13.0-55 3.13.0-55.94 all Header files related to Linux kernel version 3.13.0
ii linux-headers-3.13.0-55-generic 3.13.0-55.94 amd64 Linux kernel headers for version 3.13.0 on 64 bit x86 SMP
ii linux-headers-generic 3.13.0.55.62 amd64 Generic Linux kernel headers
ii linux-image-3.13.0-24-generic 3.13.0-24.47 amd64 Linux kernel image for version 3.13.0 on 64 bit x86 SMP
ii linux-image-3.13.0-32-generic 3.13.0-32.57 amd64 Linux kernel image for version 3.13.0 on 64 bit x86 SMP
ii linux-image-3.13.0-34-generic 3.13.0-34.60 amd64 Linux kernel image for version 3.13.0 on 64 bit x86 SMP
rc linux-image-3.13.0-35-generic 3.13.0-35.62 amd64 Linux kernel image for version 3.13.0 on 64 bit x86 SMP
ii linux-image-3.13.0-37-generic 3.13.0-37.64 amd64 Linux kernel image for version 3.13.0 on 64 bit x86 SMP
ii linux-image-3.13.0-39-generic 3.13.0-39.66 amd64 Linux kernel image for version 3.13.0 on 64 bit x86 SMP
ii linux-image-3.13.0-40-generic 3.13.0-40.69 amd64 Linux kernel image for version 3.13.0 on 64 bit x86 SMP
ii linux-image-3.13.0-43-generic 3.13.0-43.72 amd64 Linux kernel image for version 3.13.0 on 64 bit x86 SMP
ii linux-image-3.13.0-44-generic 3.13.0-44.73 amd64 Linux kernel image for version 3.13.0 on 64 bit x86 SMP
rc linux-image-3.13.0-45-generic 3.13.0-45.74 amd64 Linux kernel image for version 3.13.0 on 64 bit x86 SMP
ii linux-image-3.13.0-46-generic 3.13.0-46.79 amd64 Linux kernel image for version 3.13.0 on 64 bit x86 SMP
ii linux-image-3.13.0-48-generic 3.13.0-48.80 amd64 Linux kernel image for version 3.13.0 on 64 bit x86 SMP
ii linux-image-3.13.0-49-generic 3.13.0-49.83 amd64 Linux kernel image for version 3.13.0 on 64 bit x86 SMP
ii linux-image-3.13.0-51-generic 3.13.0-51.84 amd64 Linux kernel image for version 3.13.0 on 64 bit x86 SMP
rc linux-image-3.13.0-52-generic 3.13.0-52.86 amd64 Linux kernel image for version 3.13.0 on 64 bit x86 SMP
rc linux-image-3.13.0-53-generic 3.13.0-53.89 amd64 Linux kernel image for version 3.13.0 on 64 bit x86 SMP
ii linux-image-3.13.0-54-generic 3.13.0-54.91 amd64 Linux kernel image for version 3.13.0 on 64 bit x86 SMP
ii linux-image-3.13.0-55-generic 3.13.0-55.94 amd64 Linux kernel image for version 3.13.0 on 64 bit x86 SMP
ii linux-image-extra-3.13.0-24-generic 3.13.0-24.47 amd64 Linux kernel extra modules for version 3.13.0 on 64 bit x86 SMP
ii linux-image-extra-3.13.0-32-generic 3.13.0-32.57 amd64 Linux kernel extra modules for version 3.13.0 on 64 bit x86 SMP
ii linux-image-extra-3.13.0-34-generic 3.13.0-34.60 amd64 Linux kernel extra modules for version 3.13.0 on 64 bit x86 SMP
rc linux-image-extra-3.13.0-35-generic 3.13.0-35.62 amd64 Linux kernel extra modules for version 3.13.0 on 64 bit x86 SMP
ii linux-image-extra-3.13.0-37-generic 3.13.0-37.64 amd64 Linux kernel extra modules for version 3.13.0 on 64 bit x86 SMP
ii linux-image-extra-3.13.0-39-generic 3.13.0-39.66 amd64 Linux kernel extra modules for version 3.13.0 on 64 bit x86 SMP
ii linux-image-extra-3.13.0-40-generic 3.13.0-40.69 amd64 Linux kernel extra modules for version 3.13.0 on 64 bit x86 SMP
ii linux-image-extra-3.13.0-43-generic 3.13.0-43.72 amd64 Linux kernel extra modules for version 3.13.0 on 64 bit x86 SMP
ii linux-image-extra-3.13.0-44-generic 3.13.0-44.73 amd64 Linux kernel extra modules for version 3.13.0 on 64 bit x86 SMP
rc linux-image-extra-3.13.0-45-generic 3.13.0-45.74 amd64 Linux kernel extra modules for version 3.13.0 on 64 bit x86 SMP
ii linux-image-extra-3.13.0-46-generic 3.13.0-46.79 amd64 Linux kernel extra modules for version 3.13.0 on 64 bit x86 SMP
ii linux-image-extra-3.13.0-48-generic 3.13.0-48.80 amd64 Linux kernel extra modules for version 3.13.0 on 64 bit x86 SMP
ii linux-image-extra-3.13.0-49-generic 3.13.0-49.83 amd64 Linux kernel extra modules for version 3.13.0 on 64 bit x86 SMP
ii linux-image-extra-3.13.0-51-generic 3.13.0-51.84 amd64 Linux kernel extra modules for version 3.13.0 on 64 bit x86 SMP
rc linux-image-extra-3.13.0-52-generic 3.13.0-52.86 amd64 Linux kernel extra modules for version 3.13.0 on 64 bit x86 SMP
rc linux-image-extra-3.13.0-53-generic 3.13.0-53.89 amd64 Linux kernel extra modules for version 3.13.0 on 64 bit x86 SMP
ii linux-image-extra-3.13.0-54-generic 3.13.0-54.91 amd64 Linux kernel extra modules for version 3.13.0 on 64 bit x86 SMP
ii linux-image-extra-3.13.0-55-generic 3.13.0-55.94 amd64 Linux kernel extra modules for version 3.13.0 on 64 bit x86 SMP
ii linux-image-generic 3.13.0.55.62 amd64 Generic Linux kernel image
ii linux-libc-dev:amd64 3.13.0-57.95 amd64 Linux Kernel Headers for development
ii linux-sound-base 1.0.25+dfsg-0ubuntu4 all base package for ALSA and OSS sound systems
ii syslinux-common 3:4.05+dfsg-6+deb8u1 all collection of boot loaders (common files)
ii syslinux-legacy 2:3.63+dfsg-2ubuntu5 amd64 Bootloader for Linux/i386 using MS-DOS floppies
ii syslinux-themes-debian 12-3ubuntu0.14.04.1 all collection of boot loaders (theme metapackage)
ii syslinux-themes-debian-wheezy 12-3ubuntu0.14.04.1 all collection of boot loaders (debian-wheezy theme)

[ajgreeny]

Oh boy!!

You have 18 kernels on your machine; most users like to keep just 2, the current one and the previous version.

If the sutoremove command is not working you may have to try removing just one kernel manually with synaptic package manager, which you should have installed in Lubuntu.
Start with a search (name only) for 3.13.0-24 and mark for complete removal all the installed packages, which will probably include the image and image-header packages. If that is successful, close synaptic and see if the autoremove command now works, which it may now as there is some free space.

If autoremove works, as it now may, leaving you with just two kernels, all is done, except that you should remember to run the autoremove command every few weeks to avoid this build up of excess kernels again.

Good luck!

[Bashing-om]

HL84; K;

Let's see if this will fly:


sudo dpkg -P linux-image-3.13.0-{24,32,34,35,37,39,40,43,44,45,46,48,49,51,52,53}-generic
sudo dpkg -P linux-image-extra-3.13.0-{24,32,34,35,37,39,40,43,44,45,46,48,49,51,52,53}-generic
sudo dpkg -P linux-headers-3.13.0-{24,32,34,37,39,40,43,44,46,48,49,51,53}-generic
sudo dpkg -P linux-headers-3.13.0-{24,32,34,37,39,40,43,44,46,48,49,51,53}


else:



we get real dirty

[HL84]

It freed up 2.2GB of disk space and I am able to go from here. Installing and removing works perfectly fine now. Thank you very much.

[Bashing-om]

HL84; Great !

Verify the system overall status:


sudo apt update
sduo apt upgrade


Verify the package management system:


sudo apt-get -f install
sudo dpkg -C




finer than a frog's hair ?

[HL84]

Unfortunately it didn't work. I just assumed it did. ;) But I now reinstalled the system. :grin: I forget to backup some Bookmarks of the Firefox but other than that I hope or guess I backupped everything. I did all the installations and updates and have now 5GB freed compared to before. So everything should be working fine. But I have a small problem. It says:

W: Duplicate sources.list entry http://ppa.launchpad.net/yannubuntu/boot-repair/ubuntu/ saucy/main amd64 Packages (/var/lib/apt/lists/ppa.launchpad.net_yannubuntu_boot-repair_ubuntu_dists_saucy_main_binary-amd64_Packages)
W: Duplicate sources.list entry http://ppa.launchpad.net/yannubuntu/boot-repair/ubuntu/ saucy/main i386 Packages (/var/lib/apt/lists/ppa.launchpad.net_yannubuntu_boot-repair_ubuntu_dists_saucy_main_binary-i386_Packages)
Do you know how to remove both of them? I don't even need the boot-repair-app anymore right now.

Edit: I figured out that it works with y-ppa-manager. Now everything works fine. Thanks for your time and effort.

[ajgreeny]

Open up software-sources from the menu and then go to the "Other software" tab where you will find that repository and can either disable it or remove it completely.

[Bashing-om]

HL84; Good 'nuff .


The nuclear solution always works, and is one of the beauties of this our operating system of choice.




happy trails to you