Kernel confusion...two different lists of installed kernels? Easy way to uninstall old kernels?

[RallyDarkstrike]

Hi all - on my little HP Stream laptop with very little hard drive space (32GB eMMC and a 256GB MicroSD card), I've got the OS installed on the eMMC drive. To save space, I'm deleting old stuff this evening.

In the MX Package Manager, it shows as me only having one kernel installed - the 'Debian 64-bit' kernel. This is an older MX install that has been around for awhile and updated to newer versions of MX as time has gone on. Conky is showing me my current Kernel is 6.4.0-1mx-ahs-amd64'.

What's confusing is, if in Terminal, if I run 'dpkg --list | grep linux-image' to list the kernels, it shows a LOT. There are like 15 entries for kernel 5.10.* - one for 5.16 - one for 5.17 - 12 for 6.1 - and one for 6.4.4.........but I don't see any 6.4.0 kernels anywhere in that 'dpkg --list | grep linux-image' listing...?

On my other Lenovo Thinkpad T520 laptop running Linux Mint, it's really easy to manage kernels as there is a function built into their Updater to do so.

is there an easy way to remove old kernels on MX? I would think the MX Package Installer would be it....but what it is showing me versus what 'dpkg --list | grep linux-image' is showing me does not match up at all?

Any help or suggestions would be appreciated, thanks! :)

[Buck Fankers]

Run excellent MX Cleanup tool. There is a button: "List and select kernels to remove"

[Stevo]

QSI please.

Guessing that you have MX 21 with an AHS 6.4 backported kernel.

Debian pushes many updates of its default kernel for the life of a release. For safety's sake, none of the prior versions are automatically removed. MX Cleanup helps with system housekeeping once you are satisfied that a kernel can safely be removed.

[oops]

... keeping at least 2 kernels is a good practice.

[MadMax]

Agreed. MX Cleanup is your friend here.

The entry in MXPI in the popular apps only shows "Debian 64-bit" for all regular Debian kernel releases. Switch to the tab will all packages and search for linux-image there. Then you will see every single package. DON'T remove kernels from MXPI, though. Always use MX Cleanup or apt if you're familiar with the terminal.

Code: Select all

sudo apt autoremove --dry-run

This will show you packages that apt deems safe to be removed including old kernels. This will always keep one older, your current kernel and usually the kernel that came with the initial installation untouched.


EDIT: On another note in terms of freeing space

Code: Select all

sudo apt clean

removes the package cache (the downloaded .deb files). From my experience this can be a life saver for filled up / drives.

[Stevo]

"Debian 64-bit" will install the Debian kernel metapackage, which is not a kernel itself, but just will then bring in the current version of the default Debian amd64 kernel for that release. 5.10 for the Debian 11 MX 21 is based upon. Debian updates the metapackage at the same time the current kernel gets an upgrade.

[RallyDarkstrike]

Run excellent MX Cleanup tool. There is a button: "List and select kernels to remove"

Just tried and it only shows 6.1.0-23-amd64 ?

[RallyDarkstrike]

QSI please.

Guessing that you have MX 21 with an AHS 6.4 backported kernel.

Debian pushes many updates of its default kernel for the life of a release. For safety's sake, none of the prior versions are automatically removed. MX Cleanup helps with system housekeeping once you are satisfied that a kernel can safely be removed.

MX Cleanup only lists one other kernel, which is WAY less than the Terminal command I listed above lists?

QSI:

Code: Select all

System:    Kernel: 6.4.0-1mx-ahs-amd64 [6.4.4-1~mx23+1] x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 12.2.0 
           parameters: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-6.4.0-1mx-ahs-amd64 root=UUID=<filter> ro quiet 
           splash init=lib/systemd/systemd init=/lib/systemd/systemd 
           Desktop: Xfce 4.18.1 tk: Gtk 3.24.36 info: xfce4-panel wm: xfwm 4.18.0 vt: 7 
           dm: LightDM 1.26.0 Distro: MX-23.3_x64 Libretto October 20  2021 
           base: Debian GNU/Linux 12 (bookworm) 
Machine:   Type: Laptop System: HP product: HP Stream Laptop 14-cb1xxx v: N/A serial: <filter> 
           Chassis: type: 10 serial: <filter> 
           Mobo: HP model: 84FB v: 97.20 serial: <filter> UEFI: Insyde v: F.27 date: 12/07/2023 
Battery:   ID-1: BAT0 charge: 34.2 Wh (94.0%) condition: 36.4/36.4 Wh (100.0%) volts: 12.3 
           min: 11.6 model: HP Primary type: Li-ion serial: N/A status: Discharging 
CPU:       Info: Dual Core model: Intel Celeron N4000 bits: 64 type: MCP arch: Goldmont Plus 
           family: 6 model-id: 7A (122) stepping: 1 microcode: 40 cache: L2: 4 MiB 
           flags: lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 vmx bogomips: 4377 
           Speed: 1482 MHz min/max: 800/2600 MHz Core speeds (MHz): 1: 2487 2: 2487 
           Vulnerabilities: Type: itlb_multihit status: Not affected 
           Type: l1tf status: Not affected 
           Type: mds status: Not affected 
           Type: meltdown mitigation: PTI 
           Type: mmio_stale_data status: Not affected 
           Type: retbleed status: Not affected 
           Type: spec_store_bypass mitigation: Speculative Store Bypass disabled via prctl 
           Type: spectre_v1 mitigation: usercopy/swapgs barriers and __user pointer sanitization 
           Type: spectre_v2 mitigation: Enhanced / Automatic IBRS, IBPB: conditional, RSB filling, 
           PBRSB-eIBRS: Not affected 
           Type: srbds status: Not affected 
           Type: tsx_async_abort status: Not affected 
Graphics:  Device-1: Intel GeminiLake [UHD Graphics 600] vendor: Hewlett-Packard driver: i915 
           v: kernel bus-ID: 00:02.0 chip-ID: 8086:3185 class-ID: 0300 
           Device-2: Chicony HP Webcam type: USB driver: uvcvideo bus-ID: 1-6:4 chip-ID: 04f2:b52d 
           class-ID: 0e02 serial: <filter> 
           Display: x11 server: X.Org 1.21.1.7 compositor: xfwm4 v: 4.18.0 driver: 
           loaded: modesetting unloaded: fbdev,vesa display-ID: :0.0 screens: 1 
           Screen-1: 0 s-res: 1366x768 s-dpi: 96 s-size: 361x203mm (14.2x8.0") 
           s-diag: 414mm (16.3") 
           Monitor-1: eDP-1 res: 1366x768 hz: 60 dpi: 112 size: 309x173mm (12.2x6.8") 
           diag: 354mm (13.9") 
           OpenGL: renderer: Mesa Intel UHD Graphics 600 (GLK 2) v: 4.6 Mesa 22.3.6 
           direct render: Yes 
Audio:     Device-1: Intel Celeron/Pentium Silver Processor High Definition Audio 
           vendor: Hewlett-Packard driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel 
           alternate: snd_soc_skl,snd_sof_pci_intel_apl bus-ID: 00:0e.0 chip-ID: 8086:3198 
           class-ID: 0403 
           Sound Server-1: ALSA v: k6.4.0-1mx-ahs-amd64 running: yes 
           Sound Server-2: PulseAudio v: 16.1 running: yes 
           Sound Server-3: PipeWire v: 1.0.0 running: yes 
Network:   Device-1: Realtek RTL8822BE 802.11a/b/g/n/ac WiFi adapter vendor: Hewlett-Packard 
           driver: rtw_8822be v: N/A modules: rtw88_8822be port: 1000 bus-ID: 01:00.0 
           chip-ID: 10ec:b822 class-ID: 0280 
           IF: wlan0 state: up mac: <filter> 
Bluetooth: Device-1: Realtek Realtek Bluetooth 4.2 Adapter type: USB driver: btusb v: 0.8 
           bus-ID: 1-5:3 chip-ID: 0bda:b00b class-ID: e001 serial: <filter> 
           Report: hciconfig ID: hci0 rfk-id: 6 state: down bt-service: enabled,running rfk-block: 
           hardware: no software: yes address: <filter> 
           Info: acl-mtu: 1021:8 sco-mtu: 255:16 link-policy: rswitch hold sniff park 
           link-mode: peripheral accept 
Drives:    Local Storage: total: 267.87 GiB used: 182.59 GiB (68.2%) 
           ID-1: /dev/mmcblk0 maj-min: 179:0 vendor: HP model: DF4032 size: 29.12 GiB block-size: 
           physical: 512 B logical: 512 B type: SSD serial: <filter> rev: 0x8 scheme: GPT 
           SMART Message: Unknown smartctl error. Unable to generate data. 
           ID-2: /dev/sda maj-min: 8:0 type: USB vendor: Generic model: SD MMC MS PRO 
           size: 238.75 GiB block-size: physical: 512 B logical: 512 B type: SSD serial: <filter> 
           rev: 1.00 scheme: MBR 
           SMART Message: Unknown USB bridge. Flash drive/Unsupported enclosure? 
Partition: ID-1: / raw-size: 26.87 GiB size: 26.28 GiB (97.80%) used: 14.65 GiB (55.7%) fs: ext4 
           dev: /dev/mmcblk0p2 maj-min: 179:2 
           ID-2: /boot/efi raw-size: 256 MiB size: 252 MiB (98.46%) used: 279 KiB (0.1%) fs: vfat 
           dev: /dev/mmcblk0p1 maj-min: 179:1 
           ID-3: /home raw-size: 238.3 GiB size: 233.5 GiB (97.99%) used: 166.89 GiB (71.5%) 
           fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sda1 maj-min: 8:1 
Swap:      Kernel: swappiness: 20 (default 60) cache-pressure: 100 (default) 
           ID-1: swap-1 type: partition size: 2 GiB used: 1.05 GiB (52.6%) priority: -2 
           dev: /dev/mmcblk0p3 maj-min: 179:3 
Sensors:   System Temperatures: cpu: 52.0 C mobo: N/A 
           Fan Speeds (RPM): N/A 
Repos:     Packages: 2664 note: see --pkg apt: 2651 lib: 1320 flatpak: 13 
           No active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list 
           No active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/atareao-ubuntu-atareao-kinetic.list 
           Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/debian-stable-updates.list 
           1: deb http://deb.debian.org/debian/ bookworm-updates main contrib non-free
           Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/debian.list 
           1: deb http://deb.debian.org/debian/ bookworm main contrib non-free non-free-firmware
           2: deb http://security.debian.org/debian-security/ bookworm-security main contrib non-free non-free-firmware
           Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/google-chrome.list 
           1: deb [arch=amd64] https://dl.google.com/linux/chrome/deb/ stable main
           Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/google-earth-pro.list 
           1: deb [arch=amd64] http://dl.google.com/linux/earth/deb/ stable main
           No active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/inkscape_dev-ubuntu-stable-hirsute.list 
           No active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/mx-bullseyeold.list 
           Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/mx.list 
           1: deb http://mirror.its.dal.ca/mxlinux/mx/repo/ bookworm main non-free
           No active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/skype-stable.list 
           Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/teamviewer.list 
           1: deb http://linux.teamviewer.com/deb/ stable main
           No active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/various.list 
Info:      Processes: 265 Uptime: 26d 12h 30m wakeups: 1 Memory: 3.64 GiB used: 1.77 GiB (48.6%) 
           Init: systemd v: 252 runlevel: 5 default: 5 tool: systemctl Compilers: gcc: 12.2.0 
           alt: 10/12 Client: shell wrapper v: 5.2.15-release inxi: 3.3.06 
Boot Mode: UEFI

[RallyDarkstrike]

... keeping at least 2 kernels is a good practice.

Yes, there are two I intend to keep, the one I'm currently running as it's been fine...and the 6.1.0 kernel that MX Cleanup shows.

But the Terminal command I mentioned in my first post lists like....15, so I just wanted to clear those away to get some space back on my little eMMC internal storage on this laptop :)

[RallyDarkstrike]

Agreed. MX Cleanup is your friend here.

The entry in MXPI in the popular apps only shows "Debian 64-bit" for all regular Debian kernel releases. Switch to the tab will all packages and search for linux-image there. Then you will see every single package. DON'T remove kernels from MXPI, though. Always use MX Cleanup or apt if you're familiar with the terminal.

Code: Select all

sudo apt autoremove --dry-run

This will show you packages that apt deems safe to be removed including old kernels. This will always keep one older, your current kernel and usually the kernel that came with the initial installation untouched.


EDIT: On another note in terms of freeing space

Code: Select all

sudo apt clean

removes the package cache (the downloaded .deb files). From my experience this can be a life saver for filled up / drives.

Thanks for the reply. MX Cleanup is only showing one kernel that can be removed though....but the Terminal command I mentioned in my first post implies that there are like...15 kernels that I could remove?

Copy/paste from that Terminal window:

Code: Select all

(11:04 PM)darkstrike @ minidarkstrike ~ $ --> dpkg --list | grep linux-image
rc  linux-image-5.10.0-10-amd64              5.10.84-1                               amd64        Linux 5.10 for 64-bit PCs (signed)
rc  linux-image-5.10.0-11-amd64              5.10.92-2                               amd64        Linux 5.10 for 64-bit PCs (signed)
rc  linux-image-5.10.0-12-amd64              5.10.103-1                              amd64        Linux 5.10 for 64-bit PCs (signed)
rc  linux-image-5.10.0-13-amd64              5.10.106-1                              amd64        Linux 5.10 for 64-bit PCs (signed)
rc  linux-image-5.10.0-14-amd64              5.10.113-1                              amd64        Linux 5.10 for 64-bit PCs (signed)
rc  linux-image-5.10.0-15-amd64              5.10.120-1                              amd64        Linux 5.10 for 64-bit PCs (signed)
rc  linux-image-5.10.0-16-amd64              5.10.127-2                              amd64        Linux 5.10 for 64-bit PCs (signed)
ic  linux-image-5.10.0-17-amd64              5.10.136-1                              amd64        Linux 5.10 for 64-bit PCs (signed)
rc  linux-image-5.10.0-18-amd64              5.10.140-1                              amd64        Linux 5.10 for 64-bit PCs (signed)
rc  linux-image-5.10.0-19-amd64              5.10.149-2                              amd64        Linux 5.10 for 64-bit PCs (signed)
rc  linux-image-5.10.0-20-amd64              5.10.158-2                              amd64        Linux 5.10 for 64-bit PCs (signed)
rc  linux-image-5.10.0-21-amd64              5.10.162-1                              amd64        Linux 5.10 for 64-bit PCs (signed)
ic  linux-image-5.10.0-22-amd64              5.10.178-3                              amd64        Linux 5.10 for 64-bit PCs (signed)
ic  linux-image-5.10.0-23-amd64              5.10.179-3                              amd64        Linux 5.10 for 64-bit PCs (signed)
rc  linux-image-5.10.0-9-amd64               5.10.70-1                               amd64        Linux 5.10 for 64-bit PCs (signed)
ic  linux-image-5.16.0-5mx-amd64-unsigned    5.16.14-1~mx21+1                        amd64        Linux 5.16 for 64-bit PCs
ic  linux-image-5.17.0-2mx-amd64-unsigned    5.17.6-1~mx21+1                         amd64        Linux 5.17 for 64-bit PCs
rc  linux-image-6.1.0-10-amd64               6.1.38-2                                amd64        Linux 6.1 for 64-bit PCs (signed)
rc  linux-image-6.1.0-11-amd64               6.1.38-4                                amd64        Linux 6.1 for 64-bit PCs (signed)
rc  linux-image-6.1.0-13-amd64               6.1.55-1                                amd64        Linux 6.1 for 64-bit PCs (signed)
rc  linux-image-6.1.0-15-amd64               6.1.66-1                                amd64        Linux 6.1 for 64-bit PCs (signed)
rc  linux-image-6.1.0-16-amd64               6.1.67-1                                amd64        Linux 6.1 for 64-bit PCs (signed)
rc  linux-image-6.1.0-17-amd64               6.1.69-1                                amd64        Linux 6.1 for 64-bit PCs (signed)
rc  linux-image-6.1.0-18-amd64               6.1.76-1                                amd64        Linux 6.1 for 64-bit PCs (signed)
rc  linux-image-6.1.0-20-amd64               6.1.85-1                                amd64        Linux 6.1 for 64-bit PCs (signed)
rc  linux-image-6.1.0-21-amd64               6.1.90-1                                amd64        Linux 6.1 for 64-bit PCs (signed)
rc  linux-image-6.1.0-22-amd64               6.1.94-1                                amd64        Linux 6.1 for 64-bit PCs (signed)
ii  linux-image-6.1.0-23-amd64               6.1.99-1                                amd64        Linux 6.1 for 64-bit PCs (signed)
ii  linux-image-6.4.0-1mx-ahs-amd64-unsigned 6.4.4-1~mx23+1                          amd64        Linux 6.4 for 64-bit PCs
ii  linux-image-amd64                        6.1.99-1                                amd64        Linux for 64-bit PCs (meta-package)

As for sudo apt autoremove, I use that all the time, so that's already cleared whatever it deems is clearable. sudo apt clean just runs and seemingly does nothing? Just returns me to a prompt immediately?