dpkg: error processing package - Unable to repair/remove linux image version using apt and dpkg
I'm having an issue with apt and dpkg updating my linux kernel version.
Help would be greatly appreciated and I'm also looking at this as a good linux learning opportunity for myself :)
I've looked at many similar solutions online which suggest commands which when run end up in the same or very similar errors to what I've shown below or that I might have a full /boot dir but I don't believe this is the issue as it's reporting 50%. I'm unable to remove kernel versions to free up space anyway (see below errors):
The state I would like to get in would be to have the most up to date kernel version and have a couple of previous versions as fallbacks.
Currently $ dpkg --list 'linux-image-*' returns 50 or so versions (variations of 5.4*, 5.8* and 5.11*)
$ sudo du -sh /boot
337M /boot
$ sudo df /boot
Filesystem 1K-blocks Used Available Use% Mounted on
/dev/nvme0n1p2 721392 328124 340804 50% /boot
My current kernel version is:
$ uname -r
5.11.0-27-generic
OS:
~$ uname -a
Linux thomas-labtop 5.11.0-27-generic #29~20.04.1-Ubuntu SMP Wed Aug 11 15:58:17 UTC 2021 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux
$ lsb_release -a
No LSB modules are available.
Distributor ID: Ubuntu
Description: Ubuntu 20.04.3 LTS
Release: 20.04
Codename: focal
When I run sudo apt --fix-broken install I'm getting:
$ sudo apt --fix-broken install
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
The following packages will be REMOVED
linux-image-5.11.0-34-generic
0 to upgrade, 0 to newly install, 1 to remove and 5 not to upgrade.
2 not fully installed or removed.
After this operation, 10.2 MB disk space will be freed.
Do you want to continue? [Y/n] y
(Reading database ... 238716 files and directories currently installed.)
Removing linux-image-5.11.0-34-generic (5.11.0-34.36~20.04.1) ...
/etc/kernel/postrm.d/initramfs-tools:
update-initramfs: Deleting /boot/initrd.img-5.11.0-34-generic
/etc/kernel/postrm.d/zz-update-grub:
Sourcing file `/etc/default/grub'
Sourcing file `/etc/default/grub.d/init-select.cfg'
Generating grub configuration file ...
Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-5.11.0-27-generic
Found initrd image: /boot/initrd.img-5.11.0-27-generic
Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-5.11.0-25-generic
Found initrd image: /boot/initrd.img-5.11.0-25-generic
Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-5.4.0-84-generic
Found initrd image: /boot/initrd.img-5.4.0-84-generic
Adding boot menu entry for UEFI Firmware Settings
/etc/grub.d/35_fwupd: line 5: /usr/share/grub: Is a directory
run-parts: /etc/kernel/postrm.d/zz-update-grub exited with return code 126
dpkg: error processing package linux-image-5.11.0-34-generic (--remove):
installed linux-image-5.11.0-34-generic package post-removal script subprocess returned error exit status 1
dpkg: too many errors, stopping
Errors were encountered while processing:
linux-image-5.11.0-34-generic
Processing was halted because there were too many errors.
E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)
I have tried purging the image using dpkg and I have also tried setting it to install:
$ echo "linux-image-5.11.0-34-generic install" | sudo dpkg --set-selections
Subsequent apt commands end up setting it back to removed anyways.
I have been trying various remove, purge and install commands. Since linux-image-5.11.0-34-generic is in a half-installed state I figured I could either completely remove it so I can install it fresh or finish the current installation but have been unable to successfully prevent it being marked as removed.
The current state of dpkg --list 'linux-image*' is
$ dpkg --list 'linux-image*'
Desired=Unknown/Install/Remove/Purge/Hold
| Status=Not/Inst/Conf-files/Unpacked/halF-conf/Half-inst/trig-aWait/Trig-pend
|/ Err?=(none)/Reinst-required (Status,Err: uppercase=bad)
||/ Name Version Architecture Description
+++-======================================-=====================-============-=================================
un linux-image <none> <none> (no description available)
ii linux-image-5.11.0-25-generic 5.11.0-25.27~20.04.1 amd64 Signed kernel image generic
ii linux-image-5.11.0-27-generic 5.11.0-27.29~20.04.1 amd64 Signed kernel image generic
rH linux-image-5.11.0-34-generic 5.11.0-34.36~20.04.1 amd64 Signed kernel image generic
un linux-image-5.4.0-42-generic <none> <none> (no description available)
un linux-image-5.4.0-53-generic <none> <none> (no description available)
un linux-image-5.4.0-54-generic <none> <none> (no description available)
un linux-image-5.4.0-56-generic <none> <none> (no description available)
un linux-image-5.4.0-58-generic <none> <none> (no description available)
un linux-image-5.4.0-59-generic <none> <none> (no description available)
un linux-image-5.4.0-72-generic <none> <none> (no description available)
un linux-image-5.4.0-73-generic <none> <none> (no description available)
un linux-image-5.4.0-74-generic <none> <none> (no description available)
un linux-image-5.4.0-77-generic <none> <none> (no description available)
un linux-image-5.4.0-80-generic <none> <none> (no description available)
un linux-image-5.4.0-81-generic <none> <none> (no description available)
...
...
...
more below
Based on the lines:
/etc/grub.d/35_fwupd: line 5: /usr/share/grub: Is a directory
run-parts: /etc/kernel/postrm.d/zz-update-grub exited with return code 126
I looked into how to resolve this. Solutions online have suggested removing certain grub packages and reinstalling them. Given my current issues with apt I've refrained from doing this in case it makes the state of my machine even worse. Also I'm unable to run any state changing apt commands anyways.
Below is the content of /etc/grub.d/35_fwupd:
$ cat /etc/grub.d/35_fwupd
#! /bin/bash
# SPDX-License-Identifier: LGPL-2.1+
set -e
${pkgdatadir:?}
# shellcheck source=/dev/null
. "$pkgdatadir/grub-mkconfig_lib"
if [ -f /var/lib/fwupd/uefi_capsule.conf ] &&
ls /sys/firmware/efi/efivars/fwupd-*-0abba7dc-e516-4167-bbf5-4d9d1c739416 1>/dev/null 2>&1; then
source /var/lib/fwupd/uefi_capsule.conf
if [ "${EFI_PATH}" != "" ] && [ "${ESP}" != "" ]; then
echo "Adding Linux Firmware Updater entry" >&2
cat << EOF
menuentry 'Linux Firmware Updater' \$menuentry_id_option 'fwupd' {
EOF
${grub_probe:?}
prepare_grub_to_access_device '`${grub_probe} --target=device \${ESP}` | sed -e "s/^/\t/"'
cat << EOF
chainloader ${EFI_PATH}
}
EOF
fi
fi```
