Shouldn MX Cleanup have an option to automatically delete old kernels after a user specified number of days ?

[AA BB]

MX cleanup doesnt delete old kernels, so over time they pile up wasting disk space.
It seems to me there is no point is saving more than one old kernel.
Should MX Cleanup have an option to automatically delete old kernels after a user specified number of days ?

[dolphin_oracle]

It does remove old kernels just not automatically.

[retroD0d0]

Hi, doesn't

Code: Select all

sudo apt autoremove

remove them for you?

edit/ I see, you mean add that to the cron joblist? good idea i suppose, but since running 'apt autoremove' is such a common maintenance task I can see why the devs didn't think it was necessary.

[Adrian]

It could be a bit dangerous, sometimes things get marked as autoremovable that you don't want to remove, I think it requires user approval not an automatic job -- I mean if that was considered OK, why doesn't Debian do that by default?

Also, it's configuration dependent, I think by default it removes the second to last older kernel, it doesn't remove the previous old kernel, so if you have something like .14, .15, .16 (where .16 is the latest) it would remove the -14 and leave .15 and .16 on your computer).

[asqwerth]

IIRC, a pop up reminder will show up during an upgrade if your /boot [assuming it's a separate partition] is too full with kernels. So at least there is a reminder at an crucial point in time.

Otherwise, I'm not sure I'm comfortable with the system automatically removing kernels for me without notice,

[m_pav]

With Linux, unlike MS and Apple, YOU are the highest level Administrator, nobody trumps you, therefore, with great power comes great responsibility and accountability for your own machine, which means you have the job of a systems administrator, maintaining your own machine/s

To give that away as a Linux user is to reduce yourself to the level of a fish in a bowl, in other words, the equivalent to a Windows home edition or an Apple user

[DukeComposed]

With Linux, unlike MS and Apple, YOU are the highest level Administrator, nobody trumps you, therefore, with great power comes great responsibility and accountability for your own machine, which means you have the job of a systems administrator

While it's true that Linux requires users to develop a good deal of system administration experience, nobody complains because logs get rotated automatically, either. Maybe another way to look at this is from the opposite direction: "How would people feel if automatic kernel pruning was the default?"

Sure, this one particular user would be happy and probably have a slim /boot partition. Meanwhile, a lot of people who don't update their kernels every other week are going to be out of luck when the last good kernel they used six month ago gets purged without their knowledge or consent.

And "consent" is a big one here, because there are plenty of users, on this forum and off of it, who clean their systems of any "extra" files with an aggressive, zealous fervor. People don't come here to create threads saying "I ran BleachBit with all the checkboxes checked and lost something important, but that's OK,I understand it was my fault and I'm not going to make a big deal about it."

Kernels are not a "get rid of old ones every so often and don't worry about it" thing. Kernels are where the drivers live, and drivers dictate whether or not your hardware works. So a user wiping an old kernel from his or her machine might inadvertently render their machine unusable, and in a way that could be very difficult to undo without a backup as old as the kernel. Some folks have a daily driver kernel and a tinkering/gaming/experimental kernel and they don't necessarily track new kernels as vociferously as you do.

If you want this functionality on your system you can write a script to wipe old kernels and schedule it to run with a cronjob. There's no need to ask the MX devs to write a "shoot self in foot" button into MX Cleanup to do it for you. But before you go and write that script and run it, ask yourself what you're going to do if you get the script wrong and it accidentally removes a kernel it shouldn't have removed.

And then I think you'll have your answer.

[oops]

... It is not a good idea to remove a kernel engine automaticaly.

[MikeR]

My $0.02: as a long-time (several decades) Linux user, I'm with @oops !!
Also you could check out /usr/bin/cleanup-notifier-mx
(written by one of the gurus on this forum)

HTH

[AA BB]

If MX Cleanup cant safely remove large amounts wasteful disk space it should be eliminated.
I dont see how saving every previous Linux kernel insures system safety,
MX Cleanup keeping the current kernel plus one or two previous ones should be sufficient safety.

PS: Today's update to MX Cleanup has eliminated ALL out-of-date kernel removal... overkill, for sure