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I have tried to run the updater to install 14.04. It aborts half-way through with the error message there is too little space in the /boot folder. It recommends emptying the trash and running apt-get clean. I emptied the trash and ran apt-get clean, but this apparently accomplished nothing. Same problem. Inspecting the /boot folder seems to show there are a lot of older files left over from interim updates, but since I don't know what may be vital, I haven't attempted deletion. Is apt-get clean broken? And if so, is my only recourse a clean install? That would be annoying.

Braiam
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user261718
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  • Please see this http://askubuntu.com/questions/89710/how-do-i-free-up-more-space-in-boot and try to cleanup your system accordingly – Alok Yadav Apr 21 '14 at 17:02

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Basically, each time you upgrade the kernel, it doesn't remove older versions. This is a good idea since sometimes, you might want to go back to the older version. However, it is unlikely you will want to go several versions back. So, yes, those are safe to remove.

Alok's link is fine. I personally use Ubuntu Tweak, which has an option to clean up old kernels. Any of the options are fine, but you might feel "safer" with Ubuntu Tweak, even though it does the same thing as what Alok's link does but puts a fancy GUI up front.

PS: apt-get clean is not broken. It clears out the local repository of retrieved packages but not the /boot directory. You need enough space in the boot directory for the new kernel in 14.04. Actually, the problem you are experiencing isn't because of 14.04. The next time you upgrade the kernel in 13.10, you would have the same problem. It's just by coincidence that you're seeing /boot used up when upgrading to 14.04.

Ray
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