29 comment

1. Hi there,

   Does these commands work for SUSE 10.3? I tried

   # rpm -q kernel

   does not return the list, but message says:

   package kernel is not installed

   1. you should write like
      rpm -e kernel “packagename”.
      first check which do you want to uninstall by writing uname -r.

2. SuSE does not leave old kernels behind (as long as nothing have been modified), it updates the kernel. Where as RedHat does an install.

3. hey the method is wrong for Fedora.

   $ sudo apt-get remove linux-image-2.6.22-14-generic

   doesn’t usually work as default packman in Fedora is yum and there is no package like linux-image.

   it simply called kernel in Fedora.

4. Nilesh,

   apt-get only works on Debian / Ubuntu and other Debian based distro. For fedora, use yum or rpm command.

5. vivek, first you in the post said that remove old kernel using ur cmd on Fedora. Now you updated it and u r tellin
   me now ?? lol. i know that’s why i suggested. :)

6. Nilesh, yup, it was a typo. Thanks for the heads up and your post. :)

7. I remove old kernels in CentOS using yum. I usually check the current running kernel:

   #uname -r

   query the list of kernels:

   #rpm -qa kernel*

   and then remove older kernels using yum:

   #yum remove kernel-x

8. Hi, for your kind information:

   sade@sade-desktop:~$ dpkg --list 'linux-image*'
   Desired=Unknown/Install/Remove/Purge/Hold
   | Status=Not/Inst/Cfg-files/Unpacked/Failed-cfg/Half-inst/trig-aWait/Trig-pend
   |/ Err?=(none)/Hold/Reinst-required/X=both-problems (Status,Err: uppercase=bad)
   ||/ Name           Version        Description
   +++-==============-==============-============================================
   un  linux-image             (no description available)
   un  linux-image-2.          (no description available)
   ii  linux-image-2. 2.6.27-7.16    Linux kernel image for version 2.6.27 on x86
   ii  linux-image-2. 2.6.27-9.19    Linux kernel image for version 2.6.27 on x86
   ii  linux-image-ge 2.6.27.9.13    Generic Linux kernel image
   sade@sade-desktop:~$ sudo apt-get remove linux-image-2. 2.6.27-7.16
   [sudo] password for sade: 
   Reading package lists... Done
   Building dependency tree       
   Reading state information... Done
   E: Couldn't find package linux-image-2.
   sade@sade-desktop:~$ sudo apt-get remove linux-image 2.6.27-7.16
   Reading package lists... Done
   Building dependency tree       
   Reading state information... Done
   Package linux-image is not installed, so not removed
   E: Couldn't find package 2.6.27-7.16
   sade@sade-desktop:~$

9. Hi Vivek, keep up the great work!

   I just removed all my kernels on accident. Now when I boot from DVD I do not have /dev/cdrom, nor /dev/scdX, and I cannot get to kernel rpm packages.
   I also cannot chroot /mnt/sysimage
   The error is: cannot run command ‘/bin/sh’: No such file or directory

   Please suggest how to restore this system.
   Best regards,
   Chris

10. PS – I booted from DVD with: linux rescue

11. I used sudo apt-get remove linux-image-2.6.28-11-generic and removed the old kernel. But the configuration files are not removed. It shows
    rc linux-image-2. 2.6.28-11.42 Linux kernel image for version 2.6.28 on x86
    Is there any way to clean up the configuration files also of the removed kernel?

12. None of this worked for 9.04, 9.10 or 10.04.
    Guess i start using something else then Ubuntu since they allways have to rename functions

13. @Shibu: dpkg –purge linux-image-2. 2.6.28-11.42

14. This command removes all the old kernels:

    dpkg -l 'linux-*' | sed '/^ii/!d;/'"$(uname -r | sed "s/\(.*\)-\([^0-9]\+\)/\1/")"'/d;s/^[^ ]* [^ ]* \([^ ]*\).*/\1/;/[0-9]/!d' | xargs sudo apt-get -y purge
    

    1. Ahmad – thanks for this command, brilliant!

    2. This works a treat! Thanks a ton!
       I really do need to teach myself some sed love…

    3. A wonderful command. However in my situation some kernels were “not empty so not removed” which means I have still ten old kernels taking 150 Mb a piece. I will keep looking for a solution and get back to you all if I find it.

15. i have the following problem

    {
    [root@yousaf Yousaf]# uname
    Linux
    [root@yousaf Yousaf]# uname -r
    2.6.33.3-85.fc13.i686
    [root@yousaf Yousaf]# rpm -q kernel
    kernel-2.6.33.3-85.fc13.i686
    [root@yousaf Yousaf]# rpm -e kernel-2.6.33.-85.fc13.i686
    error: package kernel-2.6.33.-85.fc13.i686 is not installed
    [root@yousaf Yousaf]# sudo rpm -e kernel-2.6.33.-85.fc13.i686
    error: package kernel-2.6.33.-85.fc13.i686 is not installed
    }

    What i do some problem i have face in many software when i want to remove that

    1. use this cmd
       rpm -r kernel-2.6.33.3-85.fc13.i686
       or
       yum remove kernel-2.6.33.3-85.fc13.i686

       besure to install previous version of kernel

16. Nice,,

17. yum list installed | grep kernel-*
    yum remove (or erase) kernel-*

    then check your all rest kernels…

18. I think this is exactly what I’m looking for. However, I have the problem that when I try:

    sudo apt-get remove linux-image-3.5.0-17-generic

    I get:

    The following packages have unmet dependencies:
    linux-image-extra-3.5.0-17-generic : Depends: linux-image-3.5.0-17-generic but it is not going to be installed
    linux-image-extra-3.5.0-32-generic : Depends: linux-image-3.5.0-32-generic but it is not going to be installed
    linux-image-generic : Depends: linux-image-3.5.0-32-generic but it is not going to be installed
    E: Unmet dependencies. Try ‘apt-get -f install’ with no packages (or specify a solution).

    Of course, sudo apt-get -f install fails with the following message:

    dpkg: error processing /var/cache/apt/archives/linux-image-3.5.0-32-generic_3.5.0-32.53_amd64.deb (–unpack):
    cannot copy extracted data for ‘./boot/System.map-3.5.0-32-generic’ to ‘/boot/System.map-3.5.0-32-generic.dpkg-new’: failed to write (No space left on device)
    No apport report written because the error message indicates a disk full error

    Apparently my boot partition is too full for me to run sudo apt-get -f install, which I need to run in order to clean up my boot partition! Any thoughts?

    1. I am having the same issue on my Ubuntu 12.04 LTS machine. Any suggestions or help is appreciated.

       1. Try this. Check what you are currently running:
          $ uname -r
          3.13.0-53-generic

          Go into root shell:
          $ sudo -s

          List some of the init files in the /boot directory; cd into /boot and run:
          # ls init*

          initrd.img-3.13.0-45-generic initrd.img-3.13.0-46-generic initrd.img-3.13.0-48-generic initrd.img-3.13.0-49-generic initrd.img-3.13.0-51-generic initrd.img-3.13.0-52-generic initrd.img-3.13.0-53-generic

          Clear some of the files you don’t need, without actually removing them:
          # echo “” > initrd.img-3.13.0-45-generic
          # echo “” > initrd.img-3.13.0-46-generic
          # echo “” > initrd.img-3.13.0-48-generic
          # echo “” > initrd.img-3.13.0-49-generic

          Exit the root shell. You should now have space to run:
          $ sudo apt-get -f install
          $ sudo apt-get autoremove

          1. Thanks a lot! That worked for me!

19. For Oracle Linux you have to do:
    rpm -qa kernel-uek
    rpm -e kernel-uek-

    Works only for Oracle kernels!

20. Hi, I wrote a shell script for GNU/Linux Debian base systems such as Ubuntu boxes.
    You can find it at github:
    https://github.com/PixEye/PixShellScripts/blob/master/clean-old-kernels.sh
    Hope this helps.

21. Why is it so hard to remove it.
    Why are they been kept (more than 1 for stability reasons) for so long?
    Why is linux so bad at everything?

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