Re: Culling old versions of Kernel from /usr/lib/modules/
On Fri, 24 Mar 2023 21:39:33 +0000 (UTC)
KCB Leigh <kcbl2003@yahoo.co.uk> wrote:
> This message is related to the 'Re: solution to / full' thread.
>
> I am running my computer from a Debian 11.6 OS on a 25GB partition on
> a USB stick. The root partition is now 70% full, with over 4GB (16%)
> of the volume occupied by /usr/lib/modules/ (3.5GB) &
> /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu (1.4GB) - as far as I can tell, this latter
> directory only has essential, current files. I have been using this
> volume for over a year, & the modules directory now has over a
> dozen kernels from previous versions of the operating system. I can
> see the need to retain the last couple of versions, but within the
> space constraints, I really cannot afford to keep all of these old
> kernels, each consuming 307-323MB.
>
> MY QUESTION:
> - Is there some utility that pares these files, or must one do this
> manually?
Just kernels? apt autoremove will remove anything which is no longer
part of the dependency tree, with the exception that it will leave two
kernels i.e. the current and previous versions.
This is normally a good idea, since occasionally a new kernel has a
problem, and grub will allowing booting to either the current or
previous one.
Sometimes a package will be replaced by another with a different name
(not just the version number part) perhaps as a result of restructuring
(does not apply to Stable) and the previous versions will not normally
be removed in the course of the upgrade. Autoremove will get rid of
these.
It's not an automatic process, in terms of actually happening without
manual intervention, as there may be a reason you don't want it done
routinely. But an ordinary apt upgrade will normally display the
obsolete package names and suggest the use of autoremove.
--
Joe
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