Ttgjyuk

I am unable to clean my disk space by running autoclean, nor can I upgrade because I am continually asked to run apt-get -f install however due to a full disk it will not install. autoclean doesn't work purge doesn't work. These are my results when I try to run upgrade:

agiles@agiles-23-1015:~$ sudo apt-get upgrade
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree 
Reading state information... Done
You might want to run 'apt-get -f install' to correct these.
The following packages have unmet dependencies:
 linux-image-extra-4.4.0-128-generic : Depends: linux-image-4.4.0-128-generic but it is not installed
 linux-image-extra-4.4.0-130-generic : Depends: linux-image-4.4.0-130-generic but it is not installed
 linux-image-extra-4.4.0-131-generic : Depends: linux-image-4.4.0-131-generic but it is not installed
 linux-image-generic : Depends: linux-image-4.4.0-131-generic but it is not installed
E: Unmet dependencies. Try using -f.

When I run -f install:

agiles@agiles-23-1015:~$ sudo apt-get -f install
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree 
Reading state information... Done
Correcting dependencies... Done
The following packages were automatically installed and are no longer required:
 linux-headers-4.4.0-124 linux-headers-4.4.0-124-generic linux-headers-4.4.0-128 linux-headers-4.4.0-128-generic linux-headers-4.4.0-130
 linux-headers-4.4.0-130-generic linux-image-4.4.0-124-generic linux-image-4.4.0-128-generic linux-image-4.4.0-130-generic linux-image-extra-4.4.0-124-generic
 linux-image-extra-4.4.0-128-generic linux-image-extra-4.4.0-130-generic
Use 'sudo apt autoremove' to remove them.
The following additional packages will be installed:
 linux-image-4.4.0-128-generic linux-image-4.4.0-130-generic linux-image-4.4.0-131-generic
Suggested packages:
 fdutils linux-doc-4.4.0 | linux-source-4.4.0 linux-tools
The following NEW packages will be installed:
 linux-image-4.4.0-128-generic linux-image-4.4.0-130-generic linux-image-4.4.0-131-generic
0 upgraded, 3 newly installed, 0 to remove and 194 not upgraded.
7 not fully installed or removed.
Need to get 0 B/66.4 MB of archives.
After this operation, 204 MB of additional disk space will be used.
Do you want to continue? [Y/n] y
(Reading database ... 425417 files and directories currently installed.)
Preparing to unpack .../linux-image-4.4.0-131-generic_4.4.0-131.157_amd64.deb ...
Examining /etc/kernel/preinst.d/
run-parts: executing /etc/kernel/preinst.d/intel-microcode 4.4.0-131-generic /boot/vmlinuz-4.4.0-131-generic
Done.
Unpacking linux-image-4.4.0-131-generic (4.4.0-131.157) ...
dpkg: error processing archive /var/cache/apt/archives/linux-image-4.4.0-131-generic_4.4.0-131.157_amd64.deb (--unpack):
 cannot copy extracted data for './boot/vmlinuz-4.4.0-131-generic' to '/boot/vmlinuz-4.4.0-131-generic.dpkg-new': failed to write (No space left on device)
No apport report written because the error message indicates a disk full error
 dpkg-deb: error: subprocess paste was killed by signal (Broken pipe)
Examining /etc/kernel/postrm.d .
run-parts: executing /etc/kernel/postrm.d/initramfs-tools 4.4.0-131-generic /boot/vmlinuz-4.4.0-131-generic
run-parts: executing /etc/kernel/postrm.d/zz-update-grub 4.4.0-131-generic /boot/vmlinuz-4.4.0-131-generic
Preparing to unpack .../linux-image-4.4.0-128-generic_4.4.0-128.154_amd64.deb ...
Examining /etc/kernel/preinst.d/
run-parts: executing /etc/kernel/preinst.d/intel-microcode 4.4.0-128-generic /boot/vmlinuz-4.4.0-128-generic
Done.
Unpacking linux-image-4.4.0-128-generic (4.4.0-128.154) ...
dpkg: error processing archive /var/cache/apt/archives/linux-image-4.4.0-128-generic_4.4.0-128.154_amd64.deb (--unpack):
 cannot copy extracted data for './boot/vmlinuz-4.4.0-128-generic' to '/boot/vmlinuz-4.4.0-128-generic.dpkg-new': failed to write (No space left on device)
No apport report written because the error message indicates a disk full error
 dpkg-deb: error: subprocess paste was killed by signal (Broken pipe)
Examining /etc/kernel/postrm.d .
run-parts: executing /etc/kernel/postrm.d/initramfs-tools 4.4.0-128-generic /boot/vmlinuz-4.4.0-128-generic
run-parts: executing /etc/kernel/postrm.d/zz-update-grub 4.4.0-128-generic /boot/vmlinuz-4.4.0-128-generic
Preparing to unpack .../linux-image-4.4.0-130-generic_4.4.0-130.156_amd64.deb ...
Examining /etc/kernel/preinst.d/
run-parts: executing /etc/kernel/preinst.d/intel-microcode 4.4.0-130-generic /boot/vmlinuz-4.4.0-130-generic
Done.
Unpacking linux-image-4.4.0-130-generic (4.4.0-130.156) ...
dpkg: error processing archive /var/cache/apt/archives/linux-image-4.4.0-130-generic_4.4.0-130.156_amd64.deb (--unpack):
 cannot copy extracted data for './boot/vmlinuz-4.4.0-130-generic' to '/boot/vmlinuz-4.4.0-130-generic.dpkg-new': failed to write (No space left on device)
No apport report written because the error message indicates a disk full error
 dpkg-deb: error: subprocess paste was killed by signal (Broken pipe)
Examining /etc/kernel/postrm.d .
run-parts: executing /etc/kernel/postrm.d/initramfs-tools 4.4.0-130-generic /boot/vmlinuz-4.4.0-130-generic
run-parts: executing /etc/kernel/postrm.d/zz-update-grub 4.4.0-130-generic /boot/vmlinuz-4.4.0-130-generic
Errors were encountered while processing:
 /var/cache/apt/archives/linux-image-4.4.0-131-generic_4.4.0-131.157_amd64.deb
 /var/cache/apt/archives/linux-image-4.4.0-128-generic_4.4.0-128.154_amd64.deb
 /var/cache/apt/archives/linux-image-4.4.0-130-generic_4.4.0-130.156_amd64.deb
E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)

You likely have a separate /boot partition, or a very small root partition. Unfortunately, the Ubuntu upgrade does not automatically remove kernels. As a result, is space is limited, it may fill up, possible to the extent that you cannot anymore use the apt tools to remove old kernels.

If you have a single partition for Ubuntu that contains both system and data (your Home folder) then just temporarily move data away so the apt tools have disk space to work. Otherwise, read on.

• First attempt to directly delete files related to your oldest kernel from the /boot directory. See the accepted answer in this Askbuntu question. This should free sufficient space on /boot to have the rest of the cleaning done by the apt tools.


• Then complete your interrupted installation using the command sudo apt-get -f install. This should install your latest kernel and bring your packages again in a consistent state.


• After that, use sudo apt autoremove to clean out the remaining old kernels automatically, except the one but last kernel.

If all works, remember to regularly issue a 'sudo apt autoremove'. This is not done automatically in Ubuntu, unfortunately.

This is a bit of an old question, however... As @vanadium mentioned, you are likely out of space in the /boot partition. Thus, a cleaning is in order.

My way of cleaning up boot is like so:

find . -maxdepth 1 -not -type d -not -name "*-4.4.0-116-*" -delete

Replace 4.4.0-116 with the current kernel being used. You can determine that with uname -r. In this case 4.4.0-116 was the current kernel on a server I was cleaning.