Hi

I am getting the errors towards the end when trying to remove a kernel I installed. I need help to find out why and fix them.

thank you

debian:~# dpkg -l linux-image* | grep ^ii
ii linux-image-2.6.15-1-686 2.6.15-8 Linux kernel 2.6.15 image on PPro/Celeron/PI
ii linux-image-2.6.16.060919 2.6.16.060919-10.00.Custom Linux kernel binary image for version 2.6.16
debian:~# cd /boot/
debian:/boot# dpkg -P linux-image-2.6.16.060919
(Reading database ... 83816 files and directories currently installed.)
Removing linux-image-2.6.16.060919 ...
Running postrm hook script /sbin/update-grub.
Searching for GRUB installation directory ... found: /boot/grub
Testing for an existing GRUB menu.lst file ... found: /boot/grub/menu.lst
Searching for splash image ... none found, skipping ...
Found kernel: /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.15-1-686
Updating /boot/grub/menu.lst ... done

The link /vmlinuz is a damaged link
Removing symbolic link vmlinuz
Unless you used the optional flag in lilo,
you may need to re-run your boot loader[lilo]
Purging configuration files for linux-image-2.6.16.060919 ...
Running postrm hook script /sbin/update-grub.
Searching for GRUB installation directory ... found: /boot/grub
Testing for an existing GRUB menu.lst file ... found: /boot/grub/menu.lst
Searching for splash image ... none found, skipping ...
Found kernel: /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.15-1-686
Updating /boot/grub/menu.lst ... done

dpkg: error processing linux-image-2.6.16.060919 (--purge):
subprocess post-removal script returned error exit status 128
Errors were encountered while processing:
linux-image-2.6.16.060919


I use grup and not lilo.

How did you build that kernel image? Did you build it as a .deb package or from source? In latter case, removing it with dpkg isn't going to work, as there is no package associated with it in it's database. Removing it is actually less complicated as you might think:
# remove the entries in /boot/grub/menu.lst pointing to that kernel
# remove sym-links in /boot to the image, System.map and initrd image
# replace these sym-links to sym-links to the remaining kernel stuff
# remove the kernel-image, System.map and initrd.img
# Done!

All steps require root-privileges.

When some package does not want to get uninstalled, try

dpkg --purge --force-all package

That should do the trick. I get these problems on Debian Testing if I don't update often enough.

I did what Dutch Master and basileus said but here is the results


debian:/boot# dpkg --purge --force-all linux-image-2.6.16
(Reading database ... 83467 files and directories currently installed.)
Removing linux-image-2.6.16 ...
Purging configuration files for linux-image-2.6.16 ...
Running postrm hook script /sbin/update-grub.
Searching for GRUB installation directory ... found: /boot/grub
Testing for an existing GRUB menu.lst file ... found: /boot/grub/menu.lst
Searching for splash image ... none found, skipping ...
Found kernel: /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.15-1-686
Updating /boot/grub/menu.lst ... done

dpkg: error processing linux-image-2.6.16 (--purge):
subprocess post-removal script returned error exit status 128
Errors were encountered while processing:
linux-image-2.6.16
debian:/boot# cd
debian:~# dpkg -l linux-image-2.6.16
Desired=Unknown/Install/Remove/Purge/Hold
| Status=Not/Installed/Config-files/Unpacked/Failed-config/Half-installed
|/ Err?=(none)/Hold/Reinst-required/X=both-problems (Status,Err: uppercase=bad)
||/ Name Version Description
+++-=============================-=============================-==========================================================================
pc linux-image-2.6.16 Custom.060920 Linux kernel binary image for version 2.6.16
debian:~# ls -l /boot/
total 6493
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 65416 2006-03-06 23:30 config-2.6.15-1-686
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 1024 2006-09-21 11:17 grub
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 4722380 2006-09-19 21:09 initrd.img-2.6.15-1-686
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 680667 2006-03-07 02:31 System.map-2.6.15-1-686
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 1147143 2006-03-07 02:30 vmlinuz-2.6.15-1-686
debian:~#

why pc is in the PACAKGE-STATE field?
how do I clean it all out?

thanks

also it is worth saying that I just re-installed the package "custom kenrel" and here is the result of the output,
notice there is not initred files in /boot..

**********************************
debian:/usr/src# dpkg -i linux-image-2.6.16.1_2.6.16.1-10.00.Custom_i386.deb
Selecting previously deselected package linux-image-2.6.16.1.
(Reading database ... 83467 files and directories currently installed.)
Unpacking linux-image-2.6.16.1 (from linux-image-2.6.16.1_2.6.16.1-10.00.Custom_i386.deb) ...
Done.
Setting up linux-image-2.6.16.1 (2.6.16.1-10.00.Custom) ...
Running depmod.
Running postinst hook script /sbin/update-grub.
Searching for GRUB installation directory ... found: /boot/grub
Testing for an existing GRUB menu.lst file ... found: /boot/grub/menu.lst
Searching for splash image ... none found, skipping ...
Found kernel: /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.16.1
Found kernel: /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.15-1-686
Updating /boot/grub/menu.lst ... done


debian:/usr/src# ls -l /boot/
total 8371
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 65416 2006-03-06 23:30 config-2.6.15-1-686
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 64090 2006-09-21 06:58 config-2.6.16.1
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 1024 2006-09-21 11:23 grub
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 4722380 2006-09-19 21:09 initrd.img-2.6.15-1-686
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 680667 2006-03-07 02:31 System.map-2.6.15-1-686
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 667323 2006-09-21 09:53 System.map-2.6.16.1
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 1147143 2006-03-07 02:30 vmlinuz-2.6.15-1-686
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 1179229 2006-09-21 09:53 vmlinuz-2.6.16.1
debian:/usr/src#