Bug#1112541: linux: initrd grew significantly from 6.12.38+deb13 to 6.16.3+deb14 causing ENOSPACE
Control: tags -1 + moreinfo
Hi Paul,
On Sat, Aug 30, 2025 at 05:48:48PM +0200, Paul Gevers wrote:
> Source: linux
> Version: 6.16.3-1
> Severity: normal
>
> Hi,
>
> Not sure if this is actionable and indeed beyond expectations, but just in
> case this points at a problem in the packaging. Feel free to close if I just
> need to deal with this.
>
> I just upgraded my forky system and the upgrade failed:
> update-initramfs: Generating /boot/initrd.img-6.16.3+deb14-amd64
> zstd: error 70 : Write error : cannot write block : No space left on device
> E: mkinitramfs failure zstd -q -9 -T0 70
> update-initramfs: failed for /boot/initrd.img-6.16.3+deb14-amd64 with 1.
> run-parts: /etc/kernel/postinst.d/initramfs-tools exited with return code 1
> dpkg: error processing package linux-image-6.16.3+deb14-amd64 (--configure):
> installed linux-image-6.16.3+deb14-amd64 package post-installation script
> subprocess returned error exit status 1
> Setting up linux-libc-dev (6.16.3-1) ...
> dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of linux-image-amd64:
> linux-image-amd64 depends on linux-image-6.16.3+deb14-amd64 (= 6.16.3-1);
> however:
> Package linux-image-6.16.3+deb14-amd64 is not configured yet.
>
> dpkg: error processing package linux-image-amd64 (--configure):
> dependency problems - leaving unconfigured
> Errors were encountered while processing:
> linux-image-6.16.3+deb14-amd64
> linux-image-amd64
> Error: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)
>
>
> I don't have a big /boot system, as the default boot partition used to be
> (way too) small. I recall that I once enable something to only install
> required modules into the initrd, which helped me along until today.
>
> /boot right after upgrade:
> paul@toba ~ $ df -h /boot
> Filesystem Size Used Avail Use% Mounted on
> /dev/nvme0n1p2 456M 281M 151M 66% /boot
> paul@toba ~ $ ls -al /boot/
> total 273416
> drwxr-xr-x 5 root root 1024 Aug 30 17:32 .
> drwxr-xr-x 18 root root 4096 Aug 30 17:31 ..
> -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 283225 Jul 3 21:01 config-6.12.35+deb13-amd64
> -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 283270 Jul 16 09:13 config-6.12.38+deb13-amd64
> -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 289665 Aug 24 23:29 config-6.16.3+deb14-amd64
> drwx------ 3 root root 4096 Jan 1 1970 efi
> drwxr-xr-x 5 root root 1024 Aug 20 18:36 grub
> -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 120238850 Jul 22 19:33
> initrd.img-6.12.35+deb13-amd64
> -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 120394731 Aug 30 08:39
> initrd.img-6.12.38+deb13-amd64
> drwx------ 2 root root 12288 Nov 17 2024 lost+found
> -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 83 Jul 3 21:01
> System.map-6.12.35+deb13-amd64
> -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 83 Jul 16 09:13
> System.map-6.12.38+deb13-amd64
> -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 92 Aug 24 23:29 System.map-6.16.3+deb14-amd64
> -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 12093376 Jul 3 21:01 vmlinuz-6.12.35+deb13-amd64
> -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 12097472 Jul 16 09:13 vmlinuz-6.12.38+deb13-amd64
> -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 13162432 Aug 24 23:29 vmlinuz-6.16.3+deb14-amd64
>
> /boot after $(sudo apt remove linux-image-6.12.35+deb13-amd64):
> paul@toba ~ $ df -h /boot
> Filesystem Size Used Avail Use% Mounted on
> /dev/nvme0n1p2 456M 337M 95M 79% /boot
> paul@toba ~ $ ls -al /boot/
> total 330986
> drwxr-xr-x 5 root root 1024 Aug 30 17:36 .
> drwxr-xr-x 18 root root 4096 Aug 30 17:35 ..
> -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 283270 Jul 16 09:13 config-6.12.38+deb13-amd64
> -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 289665 Aug 24 23:29 config-6.16.3+deb14-amd64
> drwx------ 3 root root 4096 Jan 1 1970 efi
> drwxr-xr-x 5 root root 1024 Aug 30 17:36 grub
> -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 120394731 Aug 30 08:39
> initrd.img-6.12.38+deb13-amd64
> -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 191341702 Aug 30 17:36 initrd.img-6.16.3+deb14-amd64
> drwx------ 2 root root 12288 Nov 17 2024 lost+found
> -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 83 Jul 16 09:13
> System.map-6.12.38+deb13-amd64
> -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 92 Aug 24 23:29 System.map-6.16.3+deb14-amd64
> -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 12097472 Jul 16 09:13 vmlinuz-6.12.38+deb13-amd64
> -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 13162432 Aug 24 23:29 vmlinuz-6.16.3+deb14-amd64
>
> Note the increase from 120394731 to 191341702 for the initrd.
Can you please with lsinitramfs list the contents for both and provide
those for comparison?
Regards,
Salvatore
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