Incorrect instructions leave automatic updates blocked when /boot is full

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

Once this bug is fixed in the Linux package, it will never come back. So making a special case in the Update Manager for this possibility will be over-engineering.

This message still exists and is still not helpful for cases where /boot does not have enough space.

Hello. I submitted this bug in 2015. See bug #1460396. In that report I included a short patch for update-manager which would allow checking for enough space for a new kernel, but it got little attention.

Although @Alberto mentioned patching update-manager would be over-engineering, it's better to at least add a check, than to do nothing.. Since 2015..

My solution makes sure there is enough room for the current kernel size + 10MB headroom in case of a large increase.

It does no harm to make a simple check prior to an upgrade and prompt the user that they may not have enough room for the upgrade, and to go to a URL with instructions on how to run an apt autoremove, or to use synaptic to remove specific old kernels, etc. No harm. It's better to give a recommendation instead of letting users who are just that, users, fend for themselves.

Tyler Dinsmoor,
currently update-manager does not let you run update, if /boot is full, so I do not see where you patch is needed. It is just that update-manager can not recover from this issue or properly advice user to do something that helps.

Using synaptic or apt autoremove might not work in such a case currently. linux-purge is designed to work better then. (https://launchpad.net/linux-purge)

This bug was fixed in the package update-manager - 1:17.10.10

---------------
update-manager (1:17.10.10) artful; urgency=medium

  * UpdateManager/UpdatesAvailable.py: Provide instructions when mount points
    have insufficient free space for the upgrade to complete. (LP: #1477455)

 -- Brian Murray <email address hidden> Wed, 20 Sep 2017 12:28:03 -0700

I see the change here:
http://launchpadlibrarian.net/337696593/update-manager_1%3A17.10.9_1%3A17.10.10.diff.gz
As for /boot, the instruction for freeing space is to use 'sudo apt autoremove'. But that just might not work due to broken dependencies or Bug #1678187. On the other hand, it might remove more packages than desired according to https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/unattended-upgrades/+bug/1624644/comments/11
Anyway, I think
sudo apt-get install --fix-broken --auto-remove linux-generic
might work better than
sudo apt autoremove
or
sudo apt-get install --fix-broken,
if linux-generic is the package that has broken dependencies (which is the most common case).

Using 'sudo apt autoremove' to free up space in /boot, may not be enough to resolve the issue for everyone. One recommendation to free up more space in /boot is to switch from gzip compression for initrd.img by editing /etc/initramfs-toosl/initramfs.conf to xz compression. I think that should also be included in the SRU which suggests 'sudo apt autoremove'.

The wording I've come up with is 'Consider switching to COMPRESS=xz in initramfs.conf.'. Does that seem okay Matthew?

Brian,

Just wanted to note the average user isn't going to understand that message.

Brian, how does changing the setting help when /boot is full? Will existing initrd.img files be created with better compression automatically?

Brian,
The file is /etc/initramfs-tools/initramfs.conf
I tested with "COMPRESS=xz", but when I boot a kernel for which the setting has been applied, (encrypted) swap does not work (in Ubuntu 14.04).

Hello Stuart, or anyone else affected,

Accepted update-manager into zesty-proposed. The package will build now and be available at https://launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/update-manager/1:17.04.8 in a few hours, and then in the -proposed repository.

Please help us by testing this new package. See https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Testing/EnableProposed for documentation on how to enable and use -proposed.Your feedback will aid us getting this update out to other Ubuntu users.

If this package fixes the bug for you, please add a comment to this bug, mentioning the version of the package you tested and change the tag from verification-needed-zesty to verification-done-zesty. If it does not fix the bug for you, please add a comment stating that, and change the tag to verification-failed-zesty. In either case, details of your testing will help us make a better decision.

Further information regarding the verification process can be found at https://wiki.ubuntu.com/QATeam/PerformingSRUVerification . Thank you in advance!

Hello Stuart, or anyone else affected,

Accepted update-manager into xenial-proposed. The package will build now and be available at https://launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/update-manager/1:16.04.10 in a few hours, and then in the -proposed repository.

Please help us by testing this new package. See https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Testing/EnableProposed for documentation on how to enable and use -proposed.Your feedback will aid us getting this update out to other Ubuntu users.

If this package fixes the bug for you, please add a comment to this bug, mentioning the version of the package you tested and change the tag from verification-needed-xenial to verification-done-xenial. If it does not fix the bug for you, please add a comment stating that, and change the tag to verification-failed-xenial. In either case, details of your testing will help us make a better decision.

Further information regarding the verification process can be found at https://wiki.ubuntu.com/QATeam/PerformingSRUVerification . Thank you in advance!

I followed the test case from the bug description using the version of update-manager in zesty-proposed, 17.04.8, and can confirm that a new error message was displayed which suggested using 'sudo apt autoremove' to clean up old kernels.

I followed the test case from the bug description using the version of update-manager in zesty-proposed, 16.04.10, and can confirm that a new error message was displayed which suggested using 'sudo apt autoremove' to clean up old kernels.

This bug was fixed in the package update-manager - 1:17.04.8

---------------
update-manager (1:17.04.8) zesty; urgency=medium

  * UpdateManager/UpdatesAvailable.py: Provide instructions when mount points
    have insufficient free space for the upgrade to complete. (LP: #1477455)
  * test_update_origin.py: fix the extended origin matcher test as it was
    making wrong assumptions, not checking if packages actually had ANY package
    in -security. This should fix the current autopkgtest failures.
    (LP: #1717360)

 -- Brian Murray <email address hidden> Wed, 20 Sep 2017 14:36:07 -0700

The verification of the Stable Release Update for update-manager has completed successfully and the package has now been released to -updates. Subsequently, the Ubuntu Stable Release Updates Team is being unsubscribed and will not receive messages about this bug report. In the event that you encounter a regression using the package from -updates please report a new bug using ubuntu-bug and tag the bug report regression-update so we can easily find any regressions.

This bug was fixed in the package update-manager - 1:16.04.10

---------------
update-manager (1:16.04.10) xenial; urgency=medium

  * UpdateManager/UpdatesAvailable.py: Provide instructions when mount points
    have insufficient free space for the upgrade to complete. (LP: #1477455)
  * test_update_origin.py: fix the extended origin matcher test as it was
    making wrong assumptions, not checking if packages actually had ANY package
    in -security. This should fix the current autopkgtest failures.
    (LP: #1717360)

 -- Brian Murray <email address hidden> Wed, 20 Sep 2017 14:39:17 -0700