Can't clean /boot folder

[lipesmile]

I'm trying to install vsftpd on Ubuntu 18.04 LTS, but when I run apt-get install vsftpd I get this error:

    You might want to run apt --fix-broken install to correct these.
    
    The following packages have unmet dependencies:

    linux-image-generic : Depends: linux-image-4.15.0-42-generic but it is not going to be installed
    
    Recommends: thermald but it is not going to be installed
    linux-modules-extra-4.15.0-39-generic : Depends: linux-image-4.15.0-39-generic but it is not going to be installed or
    
    linux-image-unsigned-4.15.0-39-generic but it is not going to be installed
    
    linux-modules-extra-4.15.0-42-generic : Depends: linux-image-4.15.0-42-generic but it is not going to be installed or
    
    linux-image-unsigned-4.15.0-42-generic but it is not going to be installed
    
    E: Unmet dependencies. Try 'apt --fix-broken install' with no packages (or specify a solution).

I've tried run apt --fix-broken install and apt-get install -f vsftpd but with no sucess.


df -h output:

    Filesystem      Size  Used Avail Use% Mounted on
    /dev/root        39G  7.3G   30G  21% /
    devtmpfs        989M     0  989M   0% /dev
    tmpfs           992M     0  992M   0% /dev/shm
    tmpfs           992M  680K  992M   1% /run
    tmpfs           5.0M     0  5.0M   0% /run/lock
    tmpfs           992M     0  992M   0% /sys/fs/cgroup
    /dev/xvda1      232M  224M     0 100% /boot
    tmpfs           199M     0  199M   0% /run/user/0

df -i output:

    Filesystem      Inodes  IUsed   IFree IUse% Mounted on
    /dev/root      2537760 337826 2199934   14% /
    devtmpfs        253100    434  252666    1% /dev
    tmpfs           253889      1  253888    1% /dev/shm
    tmpfs           253889    606  253283    1% /run
    tmpfs           253889      4  253885    1% /run/lock
    tmpfs           253889     18  253871    1% /sys/fs/cgroup
    /dev/xvda1       62248    326   61922    1% /boot
    tmpfs           253889     10  253879    1% /run/user/0

apt-cache policy linux-image-generic output:

    linux-image-generic:
      Installed: 4.15.0.42.44
      Candidate: 4.15.0.42.44
      Version table:
     *** 4.15.0.42.44 500
            500 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu bionic-updates/main amd64 Packages
            500 http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu bionic-security/main amd64 Packages
            100 /var/lib/dpkg/status
         4.15.0.20.23 500
            500 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu bionic/main amd64 Packages
         4.4.0.139.145 500
            500 http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial-security/main amd64 Packages

uname -r output:

    4.15.0-36-generic

I also tried this command:

    dpkg -l linux-image-\* | grep ^ii

it shows only one kernel:

    ii  linux-image-4.15.0-36-generic          4.15.0-36.39  amd64        Signed kernel image generic

When I try to remove:

    apt-get remove linux-image-4.15.0-36-generic

The return is:

    ou might want to run 'apt --fix-broken install' to correct these.
    The following packages have unmet dependencies:
     linux-image-generic : Depends: linux-image-4.15.0-42-generic but it is not going to be installed
                           Recommends: thermald but it is not going to be installed
     linux-modules-extra-4.15.0-36-generic : Depends: linux-image-4.15.0-36-generic but it is not going to be installed or
                                                      linux-image-unsigned-4.15.0-36-generic but it is not going to be installed
     linux-modules-extra-4.15.0-39-generic : Depends: linux-image-4.15.0-39-generic but it is not going to be installed or
                                                      linux-image-unsigned-4.15.0-39-generic but it is not going to be installed
     linux-modules-extra-4.15.0-42-generic : Depends: linux-image-4.15.0-42-generic but it is not going to be installed or
                                                      linux-image-unsigned-4.15.0-42-generic but it is not going to be installed
    E: Unmet dependencies. Try 'apt --fix-broken install' with no packages (or specify a solution).

[TheFu]

/dev/xvda1      232M  224M     0 100% /boot

shows that /boot is full.


I have 2 kernels on a debian server in my /boot/ and it looks like this:

$ df -h .
Filesystem      Size  Used Avail Use% Mounted on
/dev/vda1       228M   53M  164M  25% /boot

and

$ ll
total 43362
drwxr-xr-x  4 root root     1024 Nov 20 06:30 ./
drwxr-xr-x 23 root root     4096 Oct  5 06:30 ../
-rw-r--r--  1 root root   157842 Jul 14 17:45 config-3.16.0-6-amd64
-rw-r--r--  1 root root   157842 Oct  4 09:42 config-3.16.0-7-amd64
drwxr-xr-x  5 root root     5120 Oct  6 10:04 grub/
-rw-r--r--  1 root root 16077029 Jul 15 06:49 initrd.img-3.16.0-6-amd64
-rw-r--r--  1 root root 16079820 Nov 20 06:30 initrd.img-3.16.0-7-amd64
drwxr-xr-x  2 root root    12288 Apr  7  2016 lost+found/
-rw-r--r--  1 root root  2684515 Jul 14 17:45 System.map-3.16.0-6-amd64
-rw-r--r--  1 root root  2686499 Oct  4 09:42 System.map-3.16.0-7-amd64
-rw-r--r--  1 root root  3172432 Jul 14 17:44 vmlinuz-3.16.0-6-amd64
-rw-r--r--  1 root root  3174656 Oct  4 09:39 vmlinuz-3.16.0-7-amd64

shows the expected files. So something larger than expected is down there on your box. Start looking for files that don't belong. Perhaps an fsck is needed for that file system? How big is /boot/lost+found?

I'm guessing you are running this inside some virtual machine - perhaps Xen?

Fix the space issue first.

[Impavidus]

Don't remove linux-image-4.15.0-36-generic. It's the kernel you're currently running and the only one correctly installed. Fortunately, your command to remove it failed.

First have a look at all the kernel packages not correctly installed:

dpkg --list linux-\*

Make sure you've got a big terminal window, so that all the output fits. Then we'll see which packages to remove.

[lipesmile]

I raw the command and the output is this:

Desired=Unknown/Install/Remove/Purge/Hold
| Status=Not/Inst/Conf-files/Unpacked/halF-conf/Half-inst/trig-aWait/Trig-pend
|/ Err?=(none)/Reinst-required (Status,Err: uppercase=bad)
||/ Name           Version      Architecture Description
+++-==============-============-============-=================================
ii  linux-base     4.5ubuntu1   all          Linux image base package
un  linux-doc-4.15 <none>       <none>       (no description available)
ii  linux-firmware 1.173.1      all          Firmware for Linux kernel drivers
un  linux-firmware <none>       <none>       (no description available)
iU  linux-generic  4.15.0.42.44 amd64        Complete Generic Linux kernel and
un  linux-headers  <none>       <none>       (no description available)
un  linux-headers- <none>       <none>       (no description available)
iU  linux-headers- 4.15.0-30.32 all          Header files related to Linux ker
un  linux-headers- <none>       <none>       (no description available)
iU  linux-headers- 4.15.0-32.35 all          Header files related to Linux ker
ii  linux-headers- 4.15.0-32.35 amd64        Linux kernel headers for version
iU  linux-headers- 4.15.0-33.36 all          Header files related to Linux ker
ii  linux-headers- 4.15.0-33.36 amd64        Linux kernel headers for version
ii  linux-headers- 4.15.0-36.39 all          Header files related to Linux ker
ii  linux-headers- 4.15.0-36.39 amd64        Linux kernel headers for version
iU  linux-headers- 4.15.0-39.42 all          Header files related to Linux ker
ii  linux-headers- 4.15.0-39.42 amd64        Linux kernel headers for version
iU  linux-headers- 4.15.0-42.45 all          Header files related to Linux ker
ii  linux-headers- 4.15.0-42.45 amd64        Linux kernel headers for version
ii  linux-headers- 4.15.0.42.44 amd64        Generic Linux kernel headers
un  linux-image    <none>       <none>       (no description available)
ri  linux-image-4. 4.15.0-30.32 amd64        Signed kernel image generic
ri  linux-image-4. 4.15.0-32.35 amd64        Signed kernel image generic
ri  linux-image-4. 4.15.0-33.36 amd64        Signed kernel image generic
ii  linux-image-4. 4.15.0-36.39 amd64        Signed kernel image generic
in  linux-image-4. <none>       amd64        (no description available)
in  linux-image-4. <none>       amd64        (no description available)
un  linux-image-4. <none>       <none>       (no description available)
rc  linux-image-ex 4.4.0-124.14 amd64        Linux kernel extra modules for ve
iU  linux-image-ge 4.15.0.42.44 amd64        Generic Linux kernel image
un  linux-image-un <none>       <none>       (no description available)
un  linux-image-un <none>       <none>       (no description available)
un  linux-image-un <none>       <none>       (no description available)
un  linux-image-un <none>       <none>       (no description available)
un  linux-image-un <none>       <none>       (no description available)
un  linux-image-un <none>       <none>       (no description available)
un  linux-initramf <none>       <none>       (no description available)
un  linux-kernel-h <none>       <none>       (no description available)
un  linux-kernel-l <none>       <none>       (no description available)
ii  linux-libc-dev 4.15.0-39.42 amd64        Linux Kernel Headers for developm
ii  linux-modules- 4.15.0-30.32 amd64        Linux kernel extra modules for ve
ii  linux-modules- 4.15.0-32.35 amd64        Linux kernel extra modules for ve
ii  linux-modules- 4.15.0-33.36 amd64        Linux kernel extra modules for ve
ii  linux-modules- 4.15.0-36.39 amd64        Linux kernel extra modules for ve
in  linux-modules- <none>       amd64        (no description available)
in  linux-modules- <none>       amd64        (no description available)
ii  linux-modules- 4.15.0-30.32 amd64        Linux kernel extra modules for ve
ii  linux-modules- 4.15.0-32.35 amd64        Linux kernel extra modules for ve
ii  linux-modules- 4.15.0-33.36 amd64        Linux kernel extra modules for ve
ii  linux-modules- 4.15.0-36.39 amd64        Linux kernel extra modules for ve
iU  linux-modules- 4.15.0-39.42 amd64        Linux kernel extra modules for ve
iU  linux-modules- 4.15.0-42.45 amd64        Linux kernel extra modules for ve
un  linux-restrict <none>       <none>       (no description available)
un  linux-source-4 <none>       <none>       (no description available)
un  linux-tools    <none>       <none>       (no description available)

[CatKiller]

It's all those linux-headers and linux-modules packages for Linux versions other than the one you're using that you want to remove. The other versions of linux-image have been marked for removal, but haven't yet been removed. Once you're down to just the one complete set of packages for the one version of Linux, you should have the space to upgrade to the newest version of Linux, which is what your initial install request required.

[Impavidus]

It would have been easier if you had made the terminal window a bit larger to make the output fit, but I think this will help to remove some old kernels:

sudo dpkg --purge linux-image-4.15.0-30-generic linux-modules-4.15.0-30-generic linux-modules-extra-4.15.0-30-generic
sudo dpkg --purge linux-image-4.15.0-32-generic linux-modules-4.15.0-32-generic linux-modules-extra-4.15.0-32-generic
sudo dpkg --purge linux-image-4.15.0-33-generic linux-modules-4.15.0-33-generic linux-modules-extra-4.15.0-33-generic

You can, in the same way, remove the linux-headers-* packages with those version numbers and also all kernel and header packages with version number 4.15.0-39 and 4.4.0-124, which is a leftover from before your last release upgrade. Just keep 4.15.0-36 (your current kernel) and 4.15.0-42 (the new one you want to get installed).

Then show the output of

dpkg --list linux-\*
df -h

This time, make the terminal window big, so we get full output. With a bit of luck, you can then fix the package manager with

sudo apt install -f

[TheFu]

sudo apt autoremove

and

sudo apt autoclean

will probably remove all the stuff that isn't needed anymore, if the APT DB isn't too messed up. Those commands can't hurt.

apt-get allows using regex pattern matching on package names, unlike the other "apt" commands.

[lipesmile]

I've tried this commands but with no sucess, this linux heardes still there.

[Impavidus]

So what do you get from the commands I gave you in post #6? The full output may help.

Note that there was a small error in the first three commands, as they need sudo. I fixed the above post. You can run them again; it can't hurt.

[lipesmile]

So what do you get from the commands I gave you in post #6? The full output may help.

Note that there was a small error in the first three commands, as they need sudo. I fixed the above post. You can run them again; it can't hurt.

I ran the commands as root and they return this for me:

# dpkg --purge linux-image-4.15.0-30-generic linux-modules-4.15.0-30-generic linux-modules-extra-4.15.0-30-generic
dpkg: warning: ignoring request to remove linux-image-4.15.0-30-generic which isn't installed
dpkg: warning: ignoring request to remove linux-modules-4.15.0-30-generic which isn't installed
dpkg: warning: ignoring request to remove linux-modules-extra-4.15.0-30-generic which isn't installed
# sudo dpkg --purge linux-image-4.15.0-32-generic linux-modules-4.15.0-32-generic linux-modules-extra-4.15.0-32-generic
dpkg: warning: ignoring request to remove linux-image-4.15.0-32-generic which isn't installed
dpkg: warning: ignoring request to remove linux-modules-4.15.0-32-generic which isn't installed
dpkg: warning: ignoring request to remove linux-modules-extra-4.15.0-32-generic which isn't installed
# sudo dpkg --purge linux-image-4.15.0-33-generic linux-modules-4.15.0-33-generic linux-modules-extra-4.15.0-33-generic
dpkg: warning: ignoring request to remove linux-image-4.15.0-33-generic which isn't installed
dpkg: warning: ignoring request to remove linux-modules-4.15.0-33-generic which isn't installed
dpkg: warning: ignoring request to remove linux-modules-extra-4.15.0-33-generic which isn't installed