Ubuntu 18.04 LTS Why are kernels installed on /boot and not /boot/efi?
This is more of a knowledge based question. I came upon it because for the longest time I have been getting an out of disk space error in the /boot partition when I try to update my computer. And after upgrading to 18.04 from 16, I had no choice but to find a way to increase my /boot partition.
This is sort of the partitions I had
Unfortunately (in my situation) my main partition had an lvm2 pv file system so shrinking it was very risky and complex. So then I noticed that only 2% of my /boot/efi was being used and using a live OS, I used GParted to shrink the /boot/efi from the right and then expanded /boot from the left.
It all worked well and good. But I started researching more about these two types of boot partitions and I read around that the /boot partition is not really needed anymore. If that is the case, why are all my ubuntu kernels installed in /boot? And is there a way for me to merge them, thereby giving me more space for future updates? Or have I made a huge mistake resizing in the way that I did?
Apologies if this is a basic question for some of you. I haven't delved into such details of Ubuntu before.
boot partitioning 18.04 uefi
asked Dec 30 '18 at 19:46
nbznbz
1013
add a comment |
This is more of a knowledge based question. I came upon it because for the longest time I have been getting an out of disk space error in the /boot partition when I try to update my computer. And after upgrading to 18.04 from 16, I had no choice but to find a way to increase my /boot partition.
This is sort of the partitions I had
Unfortunately (in my situation) my main partition had an lvm2 pv file system so shrinking it was very risky and complex. So then I noticed that only 2% of my /boot/efi was being used and using a live OS, I used GParted to shrink the /boot/efi from the right and then expanded /boot from the left.
It all worked well and good. But I started researching more about these two types of boot partitions and I read around that the /boot partition is not really needed anymore. If that is the case, why are all my ubuntu kernels installed in /boot? And is there a way for me to merge them, thereby giving me more space for future updates? Or have I made a huge mistake resizing in the way that I did?
Apologies if this is a basic question for some of you. I haven't delved into such details of Ubuntu before.
boot partitioning 18.04 uefi
asked Dec 30 '18 at 19:46
nbznbz
1013
LVs are useful to 1) Make several drives appear to you as one, or 2) To build system-wide encryption upon. If #1, starting a system from an LV is complex. If #2, Ubuntu cannot boot when it's own system files are encrypted jibberish. Resizing the LV is rarely necessary - normal maintenance should free up enough space in /boot - my /boot is nearly 40% smaller than yours, with no problems. DO NOT muck with EFI dir unless you want an unbootable system.
– user535733
Dec 30 '18 at 20:23
@user535733 I used tweak to remove old kernels along with purge and autoremove and all those various things. But it just didn't seem enough. I used to have 16.04 and then I upgraded to 18.04 and since then the maintenance didn't help. And the only mucking around I did with EFI was to reduce it's space because only 2% of it was being used.
– nbz
Jan 1 at 9:38
@user535733 I also noticed on further investigating my boot directory that there are fairly large initrd.img files of older kernels. They never seem to get removed in the old kernel clean up. Could this be because of upgrading from 16.04 to 18.04 with a swap partition and NOT a swapfile?
– nbz
Jan 2 at 16:14
No, initrd.img files are cleaned out routinely and automagically when older kernels are removed PROPERLY. If initrd.img files remain, then look at the the workflow of removal, and wonder why you have not noticed all the error messages.
– user535733
Jan 2 at 18:42
add a comment |
This is more of a knowledge based question. I came upon it because for the longest time I have been getting an out of disk space error in the /boot partition when I try to update my computer. And after upgrading to 18.04 from 16, I had no choice but to find a way to increase my /boot partition.
This is sort of the partitions I had
Unfortunately (in my situation) my main partition had an lvm2 pv file system so shrinking it was very risky and complex. So then I noticed that only 2% of my /boot/efi was being used and using a live OS, I used GParted to shrink the /boot/efi from the right and then expanded /boot from the left.
It all worked well and good. But I started researching more about these two types of boot partitions and I read around that the /boot partition is not really needed anymore. If that is the case, why are all my ubuntu kernels installed in /boot? And is there a way for me to merge them, thereby giving me more space for future updates? Or have I made a huge mistake resizing in the way that I did?
Apologies if this is a basic question for some of you. I haven't delved into such details of Ubuntu before.
boot partitioning 18.04 uefi
asked Dec 30 '18 at 19:46
nbznbz
1013
This is more of a knowledge based question. I came upon it because for the longest time I have been getting an out of disk space error in the /boot partition when I try to update my computer. And after upgrading to 18.04 from 16, I had no choice but to find a way to increase my /boot partition.
This is sort of the partitions I had
Unfortunately (in my situation) my main partition had an lvm2 pv file system so shrinking it was very risky and complex. So then I noticed that only 2% of my /boot/efi was being used and using a live OS, I used GParted to shrink the /boot/efi from the right and then expanded /boot from the left.
It all worked well and good. But I started researching more about these two types of boot partitions and I read around that the /boot partition is not really needed anymore. If that is the case, why are all my ubuntu kernels installed in /boot? And is there a way for me to merge them, thereby giving me more space for future updates? Or have I made a huge mistake resizing in the way that I did?
Apologies if this is a basic question for some of you. I haven't delved into such details of Ubuntu before.
boot partitioning 18.04 uefi
boot partitioning 18.04 uefi
asked Dec 30 '18 at 19:46
nbznbz
1013
asked Dec 30 '18 at 19:46
nbznbz
1013
asked Dec 30 '18 at 19:46
nbznbz
1013
asked Dec 30 '18 at 19:46
nbznbz
1013
asked Dec 30 '18 at 19:46
nbznbz
1013
1013
LVs are useful to 1) Make several drives appear to you as one, or 2) To build system-wide encryption upon. If #1, starting a system from an LV is complex. If #2, Ubuntu cannot boot when it's own system files are encrypted jibberish. Resizing the LV is rarely necessary - normal maintenance should free up enough space in /boot - my /boot is nearly 40% smaller than yours, with no problems. DO NOT muck with EFI dir unless you want an unbootable system.
– user535733
Dec 30 '18 at 20:23
@user535733 I used tweak to remove old kernels along with purge and autoremove and all those various things. But it just didn't seem enough. I used to have 16.04 and then I upgraded to 18.04 and since then the maintenance didn't help. And the only mucking around I did with EFI was to reduce it's space because only 2% of it was being used.
– nbz
Jan 1 at 9:38
@user535733 I also noticed on further investigating my boot directory that there are fairly large initrd.img files of older kernels. They never seem to get removed in the old kernel clean up. Could this be because of upgrading from 16.04 to 18.04 with a swap partition and NOT a swapfile?
– nbz
Jan 2 at 16:14
No, initrd.img files are cleaned out routinely and automagically when older kernels are removed PROPERLY. If initrd.img files remain, then look at the the workflow of removal, and wonder why you have not noticed all the error messages.
– user535733
Jan 2 at 18:42
add a comment |
LVs are useful to 1) Make several drives appear to you as one, or 2) To build system-wide encryption upon. If #1, starting a system from an LV is complex. If #2, Ubuntu cannot boot when it's own system files are encrypted jibberish. Resizing the LV is rarely necessary - normal maintenance should free up enough space in /boot - my /boot is nearly 40% smaller than yours, with no problems. DO NOT muck with EFI dir unless you want an unbootable system.
– user535733
Dec 30 '18 at 20:23
@user535733 I used tweak to remove old kernels along with purge and autoremove and all those various things. But it just didn't seem enough. I used to have 16.04 and then I upgraded to 18.04 and since then the maintenance didn't help. And the only mucking around I did with EFI was to reduce it's space because only 2% of it was being used.
– nbz
Jan 1 at 9:38
@user535733 I also noticed on further investigating my boot directory that there are fairly large initrd.img files of older kernels. They never seem to get removed in the old kernel clean up. Could this be because of upgrading from 16.04 to 18.04 with a swap partition and NOT a swapfile?
– nbz
Jan 2 at 16:14
No, initrd.img files are cleaned out routinely and automagically when older kernels are removed PROPERLY. If initrd.img files remain, then look at the the workflow of removal, and wonder why you have not noticed all the error messages.
– user535733
Jan 2 at 18:42
LVs are useful to 1) Make several drives appear to you as one, or 2) To build system-wide encryption upon. If #1, starting a system from an LV is complex. If #2, Ubuntu cannot boot when it's own system files are encrypted jibberish. Resizing the LV is rarely necessary - normal maintenance should free up enough space in /boot - my /boot is nearly 40% smaller than yours, with no problems. DO NOT muck with EFI dir unless you want an unbootable system.
– user535733
Dec 30 '18 at 20:23
LVs are useful to 1) Make several drives appear to you as one, or 2) To build system-wide encryption upon. If #1, starting a system from an LV is complex. If #2, Ubuntu cannot boot when it's own system files are encrypted jibberish. Resizing the LV is rarely necessary - normal maintenance should free up enough space in /boot - my /boot is nearly 40% smaller than yours, with no problems. DO NOT muck with EFI dir unless you want an unbootable system.
– user535733
Dec 30 '18 at 20:23
@user535733 I used tweak to remove old kernels along with purge and autoremove and all those various things. But it just didn't seem enough. I used to have 16.04 and then I upgraded to 18.04 and since then the maintenance didn't help. And the only mucking around I did with EFI was to reduce it's space because only 2% of it was being used.
– nbz
Jan 1 at 9:38
@user535733 I used tweak to remove old kernels along with purge and autoremove and all those various things. But it just didn't seem enough. I used to have 16.04 and then I upgraded to 18.04 and since then the maintenance didn't help. And the only mucking around I did with EFI was to reduce it's space because only 2% of it was being used.
– nbz
Jan 1 at 9:38
@user535733 I also noticed on further investigating my boot directory that there are fairly large initrd.img files of older kernels. They never seem to get removed in the old kernel clean up. Could this be because of upgrading from 16.04 to 18.04 with a swap partition and NOT a swapfile?
– nbz
Jan 2 at 16:14
@user535733 I also noticed on further investigating my boot directory that there are fairly large initrd.img files of older kernels. They never seem to get removed in the old kernel clean up. Could this be because of upgrading from 16.04 to 18.04 with a swap partition and NOT a swapfile?
– nbz
Jan 2 at 16:14
No, initrd.img files are cleaned out routinely and automagically when older kernels are removed PROPERLY. If initrd.img files remain, then look at the the workflow of removal, and wonder why you have not noticed all the error messages.
– user535733
Jan 2 at 18:42
No, initrd.img files are cleaned out routinely and automagically when older kernels are removed PROPERLY. If initrd.img files remain, then look at the the workflow of removal, and wonder why you have not noticed all the error messages.
– user535733
Jan 2 at 18:42
add a comment |
1 Answer
1
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I think this answer from Unix & Linux Stack Exchange makes sense of it:
The EFI System Partition is the partition the EFI firmware (in ROM on the motherboard) knows of and from which the firmware can load EFI applications like boot loaders. So the ESP is the place where you put GRUB2 for the firmware to load and run. The /boot directory/partition is the place for GRUB to find files it needs, like you said. However, there is no reason the ESP and /boot can't be the same partition.
answered Dec 30 '18 at 19:50
Kristopher IvesKristopher Ives
2,25611119
I've read seen this one already. I was looking for a more in depth explanation. But maybe simplicity is the better way to go in this case.
– nbz
Jan 1 at 9:39
add a comment |
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1 Answer
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I think this answer from Unix & Linux Stack Exchange makes sense of it:
The EFI System Partition is the partition the EFI firmware (in ROM on the motherboard) knows of and from which the firmware can load EFI applications like boot loaders. So the ESP is the place where you put GRUB2 for the firmware to load and run. The /boot directory/partition is the place for GRUB to find files it needs, like you said. However, there is no reason the ESP and /boot can't be the same partition.
answered Dec 30 '18 at 19:50
Kristopher IvesKristopher Ives
2,25611119
I've read seen this one already. I was looking for a more in depth explanation. But maybe simplicity is the better way to go in this case.
– nbz
Jan 1 at 9:39
add a comment |
I think this answer from Unix & Linux Stack Exchange makes sense of it:
The EFI System Partition is the partition the EFI firmware (in ROM on the motherboard) knows of and from which the firmware can load EFI applications like boot loaders. So the ESP is the place where you put GRUB2 for the firmware to load and run. The /boot directory/partition is the place for GRUB to find files it needs, like you said. However, there is no reason the ESP and /boot can't be the same partition.
answered Dec 30 '18 at 19:50
Kristopher IvesKristopher Ives
2,25611119
I've read seen this one already. I was looking for a more in depth explanation. But maybe simplicity is the better way to go in this case.
– nbz
Jan 1 at 9:39
add a comment |
I think this answer from Unix & Linux Stack Exchange makes sense of it:
The EFI System Partition is the partition the EFI firmware (in ROM on the motherboard) knows of and from which the firmware can load EFI applications like boot loaders. So the ESP is the place where you put GRUB2 for the firmware to load and run. The /boot directory/partition is the place for GRUB to find files it needs, like you said. However, there is no reason the ESP and /boot can't be the same partition.
answered Dec 30 '18 at 19:50
Kristopher IvesKristopher Ives
2,25611119
I think this answer from Unix & Linux Stack Exchange makes sense of it:
The EFI System Partition is the partition the EFI firmware (in ROM on the motherboard) knows of and from which the firmware can load EFI applications like boot loaders. So the ESP is the place where you put GRUB2 for the firmware to load and run. The /boot directory/partition is the place for GRUB to find files it needs, like you said. However, there is no reason the ESP and /boot can't be the same partition.
answered Dec 30 '18 at 19:50
Kristopher IvesKristopher Ives
2,25611119
answered Dec 30 '18 at 19:50
Kristopher IvesKristopher Ives
2,25611119
answered Dec 30 '18 at 19:50
Kristopher IvesKristopher Ives
2,25611119
answered Dec 30 '18 at 19:50
Kristopher IvesKristopher Ives
2,25611119
2,25611119
I've read seen this one already. I was looking for a more in depth explanation. But maybe simplicity is the better way to go in this case.
– nbz
Jan 1 at 9:39
add a comment |
I've read seen this one already. I was looking for a more in depth explanation. But maybe simplicity is the better way to go in this case.
– nbz
Jan 1 at 9:39
I've read seen this one already. I was looking for a more in depth explanation. But maybe simplicity is the better way to go in this case.
– nbz
Jan 1 at 9:39
I've read seen this one already. I was looking for a more in depth explanation. But maybe simplicity is the better way to go in this case.
– nbz
Jan 1 at 9:39
add a comment |
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LVs are useful to 1) Make several drives appear to you as one, or 2) To build system-wide encryption upon. If #1, starting a system from an LV is complex. If #2, Ubuntu cannot boot when it's own system files are encrypted jibberish. Resizing the LV is rarely necessary - normal maintenance should free up enough space in /boot - my /boot is nearly 40% smaller than yours, with no problems. DO NOT muck with EFI dir unless you want an unbootable system.
– user535733
Dec 30 '18 at 20:23
@user535733 I used tweak to remove old kernels along with purge and autoremove and all those various things. But it just didn't seem enough. I used to have 16.04 and then I upgraded to 18.04 and since then the maintenance didn't help. And the only mucking around I did with EFI was to reduce it's space because only 2% of it was being used.
– nbz
Jan 1 at 9:38
@user535733 I also noticed on further investigating my boot directory that there are fairly large initrd.img files of older kernels. They never seem to get removed in the old kernel clean up. Could this be because of upgrading from 16.04 to 18.04 with a swap partition and NOT a swapfile?
– nbz
Jan 2 at 16:14
No, initrd.img files are cleaned out routinely and automagically when older kernels are removed PROPERLY. If initrd.img files remain, then look at the the workflow of removal, and wonder why you have not noticed all the error messages.
– user535733
Jan 2 at 18:42