How to remove old kernels safely

satimis · 08-20-2004, 11:06 AM

Hi folks,

Fedora Core 2
(upgraded from RH8)

I have 4 (four) kernels running on the PC which is the result of running 'yum update'. Kindly advise how to remove the old kernels without endangering the OS. I suppose running GRUB as bootloader. Is there a way to confirm it.

TIA

B.R.
satimis

masand · 08-20-2004, 11:11 AM

hi
pl. submit ur system configuration
r u using multiprocessors????
what kernels du u have installd ???

regards
gaurav

satimis · 08-20-2004, 11:19 AM

Hi masand,

Tks for your response.

Quote:

pl. submit ur system configuration
r u using multiprocessors????
what kernels du u have installd ???

$ uname -a
Linux localhost.localdomain 2.6.8-1.521 #1 Mon Aug 16 09:01:18 EDT 2004 i686 athlon i386 GNU/Linux

Kernel -2.6.8-1
Single processor
AMD Athlon 1.4G
512MB
IDE HD
IDE Writer
IDE CDRom

B.R.
satimis

doublejoon · 08-20-2004, 11:35 AM

I just do a "rpm -qa | grep kernel" to list installed kernels
Then "rpm -e whaterkernel you don't use anymore"
I usually keep the kernel next to the latest in case of problems

masand · 08-20-2004, 11:50 AM

hi

u can see the rpms of the installed kernel from the above command
could u post the the kernels u have got installed

also u may not require

kernel-SMP
kernel-BOOT

regards

satimis · 08-20-2004, 09:45 PM

Hi DOUBLEJOON,

Tks for your advice.

Quote:

I just do a "rpm -qa | grep kernel" to list installed kernels

$ rpm -qa | grep kernel
kernel-2.6.6-1.435.2.3
kernel-source-2.6.5-1.358
kernel-2.6.8-1.521
kernel-2.6.5-1.358
kernel-2.6.7-1.494.2.2
kernel-utils-2.4-9.1.131

Quote:

I usually keep the kernel next to the latest in case of problems

That is what I need exactly. But what I'm worrying whether there will be any side effect after removing the old kernels with

# rpm -e kernel-xxx

Do I need to touch GRUB/LILO. How to find out which bootloader I'm currently running.

TIA

B.R.
satimis

satimis · 08-20-2004, 09:50 PM

Hi masand,

Tks for your advice.

Quote:

u can see the rpms of the installed kernel from the above command
could u post the the kernels u have got installed

also u may not require

kernel-SMP
kernel-BOOT

$ rpm -qa | grep kernel-*
kernel-2.6.6-1.435.2.3
kernel-source-2.6.5-1.358
kernel-2.6.8-1.521
kernel-2.6.5-1.358
kernel-2.6.7-1.494.2.2
kernel-utils-2.4-9.1.131

$ rpm -qa | grep kernel-SMP
$ rpm -qa | grep kernel-BOOT
all no output

B.R.
satimis

masand · 08-20-2004, 11:43 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by satimis
Hi masand,

Tks for your advice.

$ rpm -qa | grep kernel-*
kernel-2.6.6-1.435.2.3
kernel-source-2.6.5-1.358
kernel-2.6.8-1.521
kernel-2.6.5-1.358
kernel-2.6.7-1.494.2.2
kernel-utils-2.4-9.1.131

$ rpm -qa | grep kernel-SMP
$ rpm -qa | grep kernel-BOOT
all no output

B.R.
satimis

hi there
i was just telling u that u can safely remove theeses kernels as these are of less use to u

the kernels u hae installed are the various version of the kernel
1. is 2.6.6
2. kernel source --u need to keep that if u want to compile ur kernel
3. is 2.6.8
4. is 2.6.5
5. is 2.6.7
6. small kernel utils package required for kernel compiling and other work(need not remove that)

it is upto u to chose which kernel out of the 2.6.8-2.6.6-2.6.5 or 2.6.7
se that the kernel u8 use supports all ur functionalities
and u have the rpms of these

so in the near future if u require those u do not have a problem in that

regards
gaurav

satimis · 08-21-2004, 01:53 AM

Hi masand,

Quote:

it is upto u to chose which kernel out of the 2.6.8-2.6.6-2.6.5 or 2.6.7
se that the kernel u8 use supports all ur functionalities
and u have the rpms of these

so in the near future if u require those u do not have a problem in that

which is 'kernel u8' ???

After deleting
# rpm -e kernel-2.6.6-1.435.2.3
# rpm -e kernel-2.6.5-1.358

Do I need to comment out follows on /etc/grub.conf

Code:

....
default=0
timeout=10
splashimage=(hd0,0)/grub/splash.xpm.gz
title Fedora Core (2.6.8-1.521)
       root (hd0,0)
       kernel /vmlinuz-2.6.8-1.521 ro root=LABEL=/
       initrd /initrd-2.6.8-1.521.img
title Fedora Core (2.6.7-1.494.2.2)
       root (hd0,0)
       kernel /vmlinuz-2.6.7-1.494.2.2 ro root=LABEL=/
       initrd /initrd-2.6.7-1.494.2.2.img
#title Fedora Core (2.6.6-1.435.2.3)
#        root (hd0,0)
#       kernel /vmlinuz-2.6.6-1.435.2.3 ro root=LABEL=/
#        initrd /initrd-2.6.6-1.435.2.3.img
#title Fedora Core (2.6.5-1.358)
#        root (hd0,0)
#        kernel /vmlinuz-2.6.5-1.358 ro root=LABEL=/
#        initrd /initrd-2.6.5-1.358.img

and remove following files on /boot/

Code:

initrd-2.6.5-1.358.img
initrd-2.6.6-1.435.2.3.img  
vmlinuz-2.6.5-1.358
vmlinuz-2.6.6-1.435.2.3

Tks

B.R.
satimis

masand · 08-21-2004, 02:17 AM

hi there

i wrongly typed there
that was kernel u
8 was not supposed to be there

after u have removed ur kernel then u can edit ur grub.conf
remove files from /boot partiton
when u install ur kernel then these files are again there at these locations

regards
gaurav

satimis · 08-21-2004, 05:56 AM

Hi masand,

Tks for your further advice.

I'll remove following 2 old kernels only after the latest kernel, kernel-2.6.8-1.521, running a week without problem;

kernel-2.6.6-1.435.2.3
kernel-2.6.5-1.358

I suppose 'kernel-2.6.5-1.358' is the default kernel when I upgraded FC2 from RH8

B.R.
satimis

masand · 08-21-2004, 08:06 AM

hi there
yes u r correct
2.6.5 is te default kernel which came with fedora 2

regards