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Have Ubuntu quit making a separate partition for /boot on install by default? In my experience, this was the reason most non tech savvy people quit using linux

Have Ubuntu quit making a separate partition for /boot on install by default? In my experience, this was the reason most non tech savvy people quit using linux a decade ago. The symptom was always the same : "I can't upgrade anymore". And the reason was always the same : like 20 different kernels in /boot, which has no more free space and was breaking upgrade process for any package. EDIT : sorry to have to ask that, by the way : I'm on kde neon myself, but I always make my own partition scheme, so I can't answer that question.

mmagin 9y ago
Most Linux distributions do that by default today, Ubuntu included. It is definitely one of those things where the default case has been made to cover everything and has gotten really complicated. But the upgrade tool really should be smart enough to clean up the oldest kernels when /boot gets full. That's pretty sad if they haven't fixed that yet.
- jackweirdy 9y ago
  I think it's a fear thing. Do you wanna be the dev who introduces a bug to the /boot cleanup code and accidentally nukes all the kernels?
  - theWatcher37 9y ago
    Well, I always wanted to be famous!
  - zie 9y ago
    It's basically done already: apt-get autoremove It's just not enabled by default, you have to put it in /etc/cron.monthly, if you want it to just run for you.
pwg 9y ago
The separate /boot partition is partially a leftover and partly a method of increasing the likely-hood of the install working on a larger group of hardware. Older machine bios'es often had a hard size limit of where on disk they could read boot data. Having /boot be a small partition at the start of the disk meant a greater likely-hood that the new install would boot properly. Newer Linux boot loaders have largely eliminated the need, but old compatibility items everywhere tend to stay stuck well beyond the point where they ceased actually being necessary anymore (partially due to the "if it is not broke, don't fix it" mindset). But the problem you describe is not a failure of having /boot be a small separate partition. It is a failure of the upgrade scripts not cleaning up old, no longer used, kernel files.

mmagin 9y ago

Most Linux distributions do that by default today, Ubuntu included. It is definitely one of those things where the default case has been made to cover everything and has gotten really complicated. But the upgrade tool really should be smart enough to clean up the oldest kernels when /boot gets full. That's pretty sad if they haven't fixed that yet.

jackweirdy 9y ago
I think it's a fear thing. Do you wanna be the dev who introduces a bug to the /boot cleanup code and accidentally nukes all the kernels?
- theWatcher37 9y ago
  Well, I always wanted to be famous!
- zie 9y ago
  It's basically done already: apt-get autoremove It's just not enabled by default, you have to put it in /etc/cron.monthly, if you want it to just run for you.

pwg 9y ago

The separate /boot partition is partially a leftover and partly a method of increasing the likely-hood of the install working on a larger group of hardware. Older machine bios'es often had a hard size limit of where on disk they could read boot data. Having /boot be a small partition at the start of the disk meant a greater likely-hood that the new install would boot properly. Newer Linux boot loaders have largely eliminated the need, but old compatibility items everywhere tend to stay stuck well beyond the point where they ceased actually being necessary anymore (partially due to the "if it is not broke, don't fix it" mindset). But the problem you describe is not a failure of having /boot be a small separate partition. It is a failure of the upgrade scripts not cleaning up old, no longer used, kernel files.