Kernel Upgrade Problem.

Rexversusu · 09-22-2004, 09:33 PM

I'm having a problem upgrading my kernel from 2.6.7-1-k7 to 2.6.8-1-k7.

This is the error message that I get....

Quote:

dpkg: error processing /var/cache/apt/archives/kernel-image-2.6.8-1-k7_2.6.8-2_i386.deb (--unpack):
failed in buffer_write(fd) (8, ret=-1): backend dpkg-deb during `./boot/config-2.6.8-1-k7': No space left on device
dpkg-deb: subprocess paste killed by signal (Broken pipe)
Errors were encountered while processing:
/var/cache/apt/archives/kernel-image-2.6.8-1-k7_2.6.8-2_i386.deb
E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)

What exactly is happening here? I'm way too much of a newb to figure it out.

My best guess is that there is not enough space in my boot file?

zero79 · 09-22-2004, 09:46 PM

yeah, looks like you don't have enough free space in "/boot". the only solution is te get in there and clean out some unneeded files (old kernels that you don't use any more, etc.). just be careful because a broken /boot will render you with an unbootable system, so make a boot floppy before messing around.

Rexversusu · 09-22-2004, 09:57 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by zero79
yeah, looks like you don't have enough free space in "/boot". the only solution is te get in there and clean out some unneeded files (old kernels that you don't use any more, etc.). just be careful because a broken /boot will render you with an unbootable system, so make a boot floppy before messing around.

So, if my lilo.conf file looked something like this...

Quote:

image=/vmlinuz
label=Linux
initrd=/initrd.img
read-only
# restricted
# alias=1

image=/vmlinuz.old
label=LinuxOLD
read-only
optional
# restricted
# alias=2

Would it be safe to remove the "old" linux? I'm really not sure how to clean files out of my boot sector. I'm assuming this old linux is what is taking up space in my /boot directory.

short101 · 09-23-2004, 08:04 AM

Dunno if I would go removing kernels just yet if I was you. I think maybe firstly you want to have a look at how much space is left on the partition that you have your /boot directory on. Is your whole system on one partition or does your /boot have its own partition. If your system is all on one partition, then start going through maybe your home directory and clean out any old stuff, maybe old emails, music , movies etc, that you may not use any more. Then I suppose its maybe your apt cache thats getting full. You can clean that out as well. Read the apt howto at debian.org. have a bit of a look around and see whats taking up the space, check if its still used/important/needed and go from there.

zero79 · 09-23-2004, 05:43 PM

that's a good point.

use the "df" command to see your disk partitions/mount points and how much space is available.

if you only have your old kernel and this new kernel that you're trying to install, i would suggest not removing the old kernel just yet. when you are ready, remove the old kernel with

apt-get remove kernel-image-<kernel version>-1-<processor architecture>

although, it may be possible that just "/var" is full. if so, you gotta clean that out or use "qtparted" (apt-get install qtparted) to resize the partition.