Solved: Upgrade has initramfs failure.

[paxmark1]

A few weeks prior to Buster went stable I did a clean lvm install onto a new ssd. /home and all that stayed on the spinning rust on /DATA I have read the info on Planet Debian about the recent point release and also saw the caution for grub2 that was mentioned on Siduction. (I have an old atom netbook on debian sid running wayland and sway.)

Quiet year on Debian stable. The most recent upgrade spit out

[code
p...@dbnbuster:~$ sudo dpkg --configure -a
Setting up initramfs-tools (0.133+deb10u1) ...
update-initramfs: deferring update (trigger activated)
Processing triggers for initramfs-tools (0.133+deb10u1) ...
update-initramfs: Generating /boot/initrd.img-4.19.0-10-amd64

gzip: stdout: No space left on device
E: mkinitramfs failure cpio 141 gzip 1
update-initramfs: failed for /boot/initrd.img-4.19.0-10-amd64 with 1.
dpkg: error processing package initramfs-tools (--configure):
installed initramfs-tools package post-installation script subprocess returned error exit status 1
Errors were encountered while processing:
initramfs-tools
[/code]

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df
Filesystem                     1K-blocks      Used Available Use% Mounted on
udev                             5843788         0   5843788   0% /dev
tmpfs                            1174468      1116   1173352   1% /run
/dev/mapper/dbnbuster--vg-root  28703652   9340024  17882516  35% /
tmpfs                            5872332    245880   5626452   5% /dev/shm
tmpfs                               5120         4      5116   1% /run/lock
tmpfs                            5872332         0   5872332   0% /sys/fs/cgroup
/dev/sda1                         240972    197909     30622  87% /boot
/dev/mapper/dbnbuster--vg-home 438705664  83713752 332637176  21% /home
/dev/mapper/raunes--vg-home    336341160  99359728 219873260  32% /home2
/dev/mapper/raunes--vg-DATA    950152924 424762436 477055640  48% /DATA
tmpfs                            1174464        32   1174432   1% /run/user/1000
/dev/sdd1                       15835080        32  15835048   1% /media/paxmark/USB20FD

I did do journalctl --vacuum-size=0.6G and apt autolclean - all via sudo. after this happened.

I could review how to scroll backwards in tmux to get the original error message.

Pretty dull repos and not utilizing backports much. Virtuabox and Spideroak. I also use the binary from expressvpn.

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inxi -br
System:    Host: dbnbuster Kernel: 4.19.0-9-amd64 x86_64 bits: 64 Desktop: LXQt 0.14.1 Distro: Debian GNU/Linux 10 (buster) 
Machine:   Type: Desktop System: Gigabyte product: H81M-S2H GSM v: N/A serial: <root required> 
           Mobo: Gigabyte model: H81M-S2H GSM v: x.x serial: <root required> BIOS: American Megatrends v: F2 date: 08/11/2015 
CPU:       Dual Core: Intel Core i3-4170 type: MT MCP speed: 798 MHz min/max: 800/3700 MHz 
Graphics:  Device-1: Intel 4th Generation Core Processor Family Integrated Graphics driver: i915 v: kernel 
           Display: x11 server: X.Org 1.20.4 driver: modesetting unloaded: fbdev,vesa resolution: 1920x1080~60Hz 
           OpenGL: renderer: Mesa DRI Intel Haswell v: 4.5 Mesa 18.3.6 
Network:   Device-1: Realtek RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet driver: r8169 
           Device-2: Ralink RT5372 Wireless Adapter type: USB driver: rt2800usb 
Drives:    Local Storage: total: 2.30 TiB used: 588.90 GiB (25.0%) 
Repos:     Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list 
           1: deb http://debian.mirror.rafal.ca/debian/ buster main non-free contrib
           2: deb-src http://debian.mirror.rafal.ca/debian/ buster main non-free contrib
           3: deb http://security.debian.org/debian-security buster/updates main contrib non-free
           4: deb-src http://security.debian.org/debian-security buster/updates main contrib non-free
           5: deb http://download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/debian bionic contrib
           Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/spideroakone.list 
           1: deb https://apt.spideroak.com/ubuntu/ release restricted
Info:      Processes: 232 Uptime: 12d 10h 20m Memory: 11.20 GiB used: 3.19 GiB (28.5%) Shell: bash inxi: 3.0.32 

I did look at BTS for initrmafs Only semi-recent thing that caught my eye was #962509 - but does not look like my problem.

TIA

[Hallvor]

Try

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# apt autoremove

I got the same problem on my laptops.

[Dai_trying]

I notice you do not have a lot of space in /boot/ which might be a cause as my initrd.img files are 62Mb (which are in /boot/ and maybe there is not enough room to put another one there. You could try removing your oldest kernel(s) to see if that clears it up.

[Hallvor]

Dai_trying: apt autoremove fixes the problem.

[Dai_trying]

Of course, sorry I dont't often run auto*(anything) but yes it will.

[p.H]

apt autoremove fixes the problem.

Not always. It depend whether at least one kernel is eligible for auto-removal, i.e. there are at least 3 kernels installed.

I agree with Dai_trying : it is better to explain why the problem happens and what must be done to correct it (by any means, including but not limited to autoremove) than just throwing a "magic" command without any explanation.

[Hallvor]

And then some users would remove the wrong kernel.

Users asking for help may do it to learn, others just want their system to work.

A user who was interested in learning would perhaps make an effort and find one of the many threads.

A search on Google for "stdout: No space left on device" gave me 2.000.000 hits...

Assuming that the user just wanted a quick fix was not all that far fetched.

[p.H]

And then some users would remove the wrong kernel.

Why would they remove the wrong kernel ?

Users asking for help may do it to learn, others just want their system to work.

Fine, I am not here for the latter. AFAIK this forum is not a help desk.

A search on Google for "stdout: No space left on device" gave me 2.000.000 hits...

So what ? The first answers seem to address the issue (even though for Ubuntu). Add more keywords such as "Debian" and "initramfs" if you want more specific answers.

[Hallvor]

Why would they remove the wrong kernel ?

https://duckduckgo.com/?q=why+do+people ... fab&ia=web

Fine, I am not here for the latter. AFAIK this forum is not a help desk.

Fine. Then why did you respond to this thread with the "help desk" question? Why not just ignore it and move on?

This forum is what the users make it, and the OP is certainly no help vampire, so I don't see the problem; and if you do see a problem with me replying, it wouldn't be any of your business anyway.

So what?

The point is that the OP could have found the answer himself in a few seconds, and telling him to make a Google search makes more sense than trying to school him about Debian.

[p.H]

Then why did you respond to this thread with the "help desk" question?

What "help desk" question ?

if you do see a problem with me replying, it wouldn't be any of your business anyway.

I see a problem in your reply claiming that "apt autoremove fixes the problem". It fixed the problem for you, but that does not mean that it fixes the problem for every one in every case. In a recent similar thread, it did not fix the problem.

Whether you like it or not, what you post in a public forum is everyone's business. If I disagree with what you say, I'll say it.

The point is that the OP could have found the answer himself in a few seconds

Thanks for clarifying, I did not understand it that way.

telling him to make a Google search makes more sense than trying to school him about Debian.

Whatever it means, I was not trying to "school him about Debian".

[Hallvor]

What "help desk" question ?

Take a wild guess.

I see a problem in your reply claiming that "apt autoremove fixes the problem".

The worst case scenario is that it won't work. The worst case scenario if the OP slips up while manually deleting kernels is much more severe.

As for your thread, that was a dist-upgrade, not this specific point upgrade. There is no comparison.

I guess we'll have to wait and see of the OP replies to see if it works or not.

Whether you like it or not, what you post in a public forum is everyone's business. If I disagree with what you say, I'll say it.

Did I post bad advice? No. So STFU.

[paxmark1]

1. apt autoremove fixed the problem. thanks. /boot is presently at 60% from 87% So if the kernel is 27% that would have taken it up too much. Might fiddle with resizing /boot some day. I guess the kernels are getting bigger.

I do use apt autoremove a bit in sid, but I always check very closely before doing so. This is something that I had not seen since 2016 when I started this new computer with stretch testing. Nor in Siduction or #! on on the amdC-50 - rest in peace.

No, not a vampire. I am more of a small fish in a small pond, I reply to posts ( I did anyway) in the SparkyLinux forum and ask the occasional rare question in Siduction for my wayland sway.

Again thanks.

[Hallvor]

I am glad it worked. Please edit the title of your first post in this thread and mark it as solved.

[sickpig]

it is better to explain why the problem happens and what must be done to correct it (by any means, including but not limited to autoremove) than just throwing a "magic" command without any explanation.

very true, explanations are quite helpful in making the readers understand how to prevent such issues if they come across them. I have always found it quite useful to search these forums and learn from explanations.