Update Failed to install!

[steve7233]

I just applied todays updates and one of them failed. I dont reemember which one. Is therre a log file some place that tells which one falied? Here is the error message:

subprocess installed post-installation script returned error exit status 1

Could this be another storage problem with the little ASUS 901 Netbook SSD? Where the device overflows during a write? This seems to be a big issue since several people are using ASUS netbooks to run kubuntu and Ubuntu ect...

[claydoh]

look at /var/log/apt/term.log.

Your eee pc may not have enough room to be comfortable, even after uninstalling stuff. 4gb is just not enough unless you are using Lubuntu or one of the netbook-specific distros. I haven't tried KDE on my eee pc 701 but running a lighter desktop such as Lxde works well, but space is still at a premium. An sdcard as your /home makes it so much easier in every way if you have enough ram. You can simply copy your home folder (aka /home/<your-username>) to the sdcard while running a livecd, and then if you reinstall, use the 4gb drive as your root (/) folder, and your sdcard as /home -- selecting NOT to format the card when you install. The minimum specfications for installing K(U)buntu is 5gb I believe. I saw a 16gb microsd card - with adapter - for 19 dollars - at Walmart today. I would have grabbed one if I didn't already have an 8 and a 16 already.

[KDE_dude]

I had the same problem the first time I updated my machine after installing 12.04. I tried rebooting and updating it again and that worked.

[steve7233]

According to the partition manager I have a 3.75 Gib SSD (SDA) and a 15 Gib SSD (SDB) in my Eee 901.

[claydoh]

According to the partition manager I have a 3.75 Gib SSD (SDA) and a 15 Gib SSD (SDB) in my Eee 901.

That should be enough space combined, but I will bet that sdb is not being utilized. The installer will use the primary drive for everything (/, /home, etc) unless you specify using the manual partitioning setup option.

[steve7233]

That should be enough space combined, but I will bet that sdb is not being utilized. The installer will use the primary drive for everything (/, /home, etc) unless you specify using the manual partitioning setup option.

How do I do that?

[SteveRiley]

During the disk peparation phase of the installation, you should select Manual. Then place / (the root file system) on sda1 and place /home on sdb1.

[steve7233]

During the disk peparation phase of the installation, you should select Manual. Then place / (the root file system) on sda1 and place /home on sdb1.

This was an upgrade from karmic. When I installed karmic I told the installer/partition manager to make several partitions out of SDA and SDB for \, \var, \temp, \boot and \home. I assumed the mount points would transfer with each upgrade. So why am i running out of disk space when i do some updates as some updates work and others fail? I just updated some more this morning and some updates worked but at least on failed with error 1. Now the computer zips through kdm and login but desktop still takes forever to load. FF is still runing flacky so is plasmoid.

[SteveRiley]

How big are those partitions, and how much free space is left on each?

[Snowhog]

One thing that can/will/does consume space (on the root partition), especially due to distribution upgrades, are the kernels.

Open a konsole and type:

dpkg --list | grep linux-image | awk '{print $2}'

Copy and paste the output in your reply.

[SteveRiley]

dpkg --list | grep linux-image | awk '{print $2}'

Mr. Hog, paragon of efficiency that you are, wouldn't you prefer to avoid an unnecessary extra pipe?

dpkg --list | awk '/linux-image/ {print $2}'

[Snowhog]

Actually, yes, I would! Thank your Sir SR.

[steve7233]

One thing that can/will/does consume space (on the root partition), especially due to distribution upgrades, are the kernels.

Open a konsole and type:

dpkg --list | grep linux-image | awk '{print $2}'

Copy and paste the output in your reply.

steve723@steve723-ASUS-Eee-PC-Netbook:~$ dpkg --list | grep linux-image | awk '{print $2}'
linux-image-2.6.31-14-generic
linux-image-2.6.31-17-generic
linux-image-2.6.31-19-generic
linux-image-2.6.31-21-generic
linux-image-2.6.32-21-generic
linux-image-2.6.32-22-generic
linux-image-2.6.32-23-generic
linux-image-2.6.32-24-generic
linux-image-2.6.32-40-generic
linux-image-2.6.35-32-generic
linux-image-2.6.38-16-generic
linux-image-3.0.0-26-generic
linux-image-3.2.0-30-generic
linux-image-3.2.0-31-generic
steve723@steve723-ASUS-Eee-PC-Netbook:~$

[steve7233]

How big are those partitions, and how much free space is left on each?

steve723@steve723-ASUS-Eee-PC-Netbook:~$ df

Filesystem     1K-blocks    Used Available Use% Mounted on

/dev/sdb1        5905972 5218072    387888  94% /

udev              497616       4    497612   1% /dev

tmpfs             203256     900    202356   1% /run

none                5120       0      5120   0% /run/lock

none              508132      92    508040   1% /run/shm

/dev/sda5        1874267  718562   1055702  41% /var

/dev/sdb5        9606084 6622028   2496084  73% /home

/dev/sda1         225806  199622     14137  94% /boot

It would be easier to read if the bash formatting codes were retained in a copy\paste.

[Snowhog]

Yep, lots of kernels there.

You really only need to keep the current and prior kernel for the current version of Kubuntu you are running, 12.04 in this case.

To regain valuable space in your root partition, remove completely, the following kernels and associated cruft:

linux-image-2.6.31-14-generic
linux-image-2.6.31-17-generic
linux-image-2.6.31-19-generic
linux-image-2.6.31-21-generic
linux-image-2.6.32-21-generic
linux-image-2.6.32-22-generic
linux-image-2.6.32-23-generic
linux-image-2.6.32-24-generic
linux-image-2.6.32-40-generic
linux-image-2.6.35-32-generic
linux-image-2.6.38-16-generic
linux-image-3.0.0-26-generic

In a konsole, you type:

sudo apt-get purge linux-image-x.x.x-xx-generic

replacing the x's with the numbers of the kernel shown above. Do this for each one. So, as an example, to remove completely the linux-image-2.6.31-14-generic kernel, you type:

sudo apt-get purge linux-image-2.6.31-14-generic

After you have removed all in the list above type:

sudo update-grub2

to update grub.