Recently, I've updated my Ubuntu 16.04 machine from online.net due to the meltdownattack.com.
But it didn't go so well 😢
The installation process yielded a couple of errors:
Running depmod.
update-initramfs: deferring update (hook will be called later)
Examining /etc/kernel/postinst.d.
run-parts: executing /etc/kernel/postinst.d/apt-auto-removal 4.4.0-104-generic /boot/vmlinuz-4.4.0-104-generic
run-parts: executing /etc/kernel/postinst.d/initramfs-tools 4.4.0-104-generic /boot/vmlinuz-4.4.0-104-generic
update-initramfs: Generating /boot/initrd.img-4.4.0-104-generic
gzip: stdout: No space left on device
E: mkinitramfs failure cpio 141 gzip 1
update-initramfs: failed for /boot/initrd.img-4.4.0-104-generic with 1.
run-parts: /etc/kernel/postinst.d/initramfs-tools exited with return code 1
Failed to process /etc/kernel/postinst.d at /var/lib/dpkg/info/linux-image-4.4.0-104-generic.postinst line 1052.
dpkg: error processing package linux-image-4.4.0-104-generic (--configure):
subprocess installed post-installation script returned error exit status 2
dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of linux-image-extra-4.4.0-104-generic:
linux-image-extra-4.4.0-104-generic depends on linux-image-4.4.0-104-generic; however:
Package linux-image-4.4.0-104-generic is not configured yet.
dpkg: error processing package linux-image-extra-4.4.0-104-generic (--configure):
dependency problems - leaving unconfigured
dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of linux-image-generic:
linux-image-generic depends on linux-image-4.4.0-104-generic; however:
Package linux-image-4.4.0-104-generic is not configured yet.
linux-image-generic depends on linux-image-extra-4.4.0-104-generic; however:
Package linux-image-extra-4.4.0-104-generic is not configured yet.
dpkg: error processing package linux-image-generic (--configure):
dependency problems - leaving unconfigured
Setting up linux-headers-4.4.0-104 (4.4.0-104.127) ...
Setting up linux-headers-4.4.0-104-generic (4.4.0-104.127) ...
Setting up linux-headers-generic (4.4.0.104.109) ...
dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of linux-generic:
linux-generic depends on linux-image-generic (= 4.4.0.104.109); however:
Package linux-image-generic is not configured yet.
dpkg: error processing package linux-generic (--configure):
dependency problems - leaving unconfigured
Setting up linux-libc-dev:amd64 (4.4.0-104.127) ...
Setting up nodejs (8.9.4-1nodesource1) ...
Setting up python-pkg-resources (33.1.1-1+certbot~xenial+1) ...
Setting up python-setuptools (33.1.1-1+certbot~xenial+1) ...
Setting up python3-certifi (2017.4.17-2+ubuntu16.04.1+certbot+1) ...
Setting up python3-pkg-resources (33.1.1-1+certbot~xenial+1) ...
Setting up python3-chardet (3.0.4-1+ubuntu16.04.1+certbot+2) ...
Setting up python3-idna (2.5-1+ubuntu16.04.1+certbot+1) ...
Setting up python3-six (1.11.0-1+ubuntu16.04.1+certbot+1) ...
Setting up python3-urllib3 (1.21.1-1+ubuntu16.04.1+certbot+1) ...
Setting up python3-requests (2.18.1-1+ubuntu16.04.1+certbot+1) ...
Setting up unattended-upgrades (0.90ubuntu0.9) ...
Processing triggers for initramfs-tools (0.122ubuntu8.10) ...
update-initramfs: Generating /boot/initrd.img-4.4.0-103-generic
gzip: stdout: No space left on device
E: mkinitramfs failure cpio 141 gzip 1
update-initramfs: failed for /boot/initrd.img-4.4.0-103-generic with 1.
dpkg: error processing package initramfs-tools (--configure):
subprocess installed post-installation script returned error exit status 1
Processing triggers for libc-bin (2.23-0ubuntu9) ...
Errors were encountered while processing:
linux-image-4.4.0-104-generic
linux-image-extra-4.4.0-104-generic
linux-image-generic
linux-generic
initramfs-tools
E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)This pretty much means that there's no space left on my /boot partition to install new kernels 😿
Sadly, I've rebooted thinking that there shouldn't be any problem. Wrong again. I could no longer connect through SSH to my machine so I was even more sad.
I've contacted the support department of online.net but they don't offer help with these matters.
After a bit of investigation, I managed to find a proper solution. Here's how below:
- Switch your machine to rescue mode, from the console.
- Use the generated credentials to connect to your machine.
- Prepare to chroot into your machine partitions by running:
$ sudo mkdir /media
$ cd /media
$ sudo fdisk -l
Périphérique Amorçage Start Fin Secteurs Size Id Type
/dev/sda1 * 2048 409599 407552 199M 83 Linux
/dev/sda2 409600 1002115071 1001705472 477,7G 83 Linux
/dev/sda3 1002115072 1004263423 2148352 1G 82 partition d'échange Linux / Solaris
/dev/sda4 1004263424 1953523711 949260288 452,7G 83 Linux
# /dev/sda1 is the /boot partition
# /dev/sda2 is the / partition
# /dev/sda4 is the /home partition
# First mount temporary api filesystems
$ sudo mount /dev/sda2 /media
$ sudo mount -t proc proc proc/
$ sudo mount --rbind /sys sys/
$ sudo mount --rbind /dev dev/
$ sudo mount --rbind /run run/
# Mount the rest of the partitions
$ sudo mount /dev/sda1 /media/boot
$ sudo mount /dev/sda4 /media/home- chroot into your
machine environment
$ sudo chroot /media /bin/bash- Recover by uninstalling existing kernel packages:
# First check kernel packages to be removed
$ kernelver=$(uname -r | sed -r 's/-[a-z]+//')
$ dpkg -l linux-{image,headers}-"[0-9]*" | awk '/ii/{print $2}' | grep -ve $kernelver
# Remove the packages that take space
$ apt-get purge $(dpkg -l linux-{image,headers}-"[0-9]*" | awk '/ii/{print $2}' | grep -ve "$(uname -r | sed -r 's/-[a-z]+//')")
$ exit- Important Unmount partitions
$ cd /
$ sudo umount --recursive /media
- Switch your machine to Normal mode now.
Profit 💰.