Initramfs is causing my boot to have low space

[faeanxrchy]

fae@Gnome-Home:~$ ls /boot
config-6.10.3-200.fc40.x86_64         lost+found
config-6.9.12-200.fc40.x86_64         symvers-6.10.3-200.fc40.x86_64.xz
efi                                   symvers-6.9.12-200.fc40.x86_64.xz
grub2                                 System.map-6.10.3-200.fc40.x86_64
initramfs-6.10.3-200.fc40.x86_64.img  System.map-6.9.12-200.fc40.x86_64
initramfs-6.9.12-200.fc40.x86_64.img  vmlinuz-6.10.3-200.fc40.x86_64
loader                                vmlinuz-6.9.12-200.fc40.x86_64
fae@Gnome-Home:~$ 

[faeanxrchy]

Thank you for sharing it! I look forward to going through it.

[barryascott]

@faeanxrchy

And when you say “Use the file manager as root the delete files” could you please explain what you mean and what i should do instead?

The way gui file managers work is to move files you “delete” into the wastebasket or trash folder. They do this so you can undo a delete you did not intend to do, usually a nice feature. You are then expected to empty the trash to really delete the file and get the disk space back.

If you are not in the habit of emptying the trash then you will find you home folder will slowly fill up.

Command line tools do not work this way rm really deletes the file.

[faeanxrchy]

Interesting…

So, let me see if i understand this.

I’m familiar with GUI trash cans for the home directory and the ability to empty or restore files that are in that bin, as well as tools like Bleach Bit and their use case.

Is the trash folder for the boot directory something that fills up over time, just based on regular use? And does it need to be regularly emptied through the rm command?

Or was my issue of a nearly full boot/trash directory exclusively a consequence of what may have been me trying to delete system files through the GUI, instead of using the rm command, (which i don’t recall doing, but could be the case), resulting in the files not being properly deleted or maybe through using the auto remove command (just a hypothesis) and not something that’s likely to come up again?

[barryascott]

@faeanxrchy

Or was my issue of a nearly full boot/trash directory exclusively a consequence of what may have been me trying to delete system files through the GU

Yes that. As you worked on /boot the files you delete went into the /boot specific trash can.
Usually each mount point will have its own trash can folder.

When we are doing system admin its often the case that we will use command line (CLI) tools because they all tend to do one job predicatably and well. Its also very easy to share the output of the CLI tools with others, as you see we like to do on this forum.

And it also means that we can script repetitive or complex task using the same CLI tools that we use for adhoc admin.

[faeanxrchy]

Oh!

I didn’t know usually each mount point has it’s own trash folder, that’s great to know! Thank you

Also, regarding the auto-remove command - Would that typically delete everything properly? Or would that move those unused files, etc to a trash directory that would then need to be emptied?

[py0xc3 (Chris)]

I’m happy to see that your issue could be solved. However, especially in cases when you have not an experienced troubleshooter like Jeff available (and if troubleshooting starts to involve many people), it is not only about providing technical data:

@faeanxrchy

Also, just to clear up any confusion, the comments i deleted were just 1 non formatted block of code that i formatted, then posted and one conclusion that i came to then rewrote and fortunately, neither contained any information that is now missing and would make it hard to understand the topic or succeeding posts/comments. Now that i have a better grasp on how this website works i’ll make sure to just edit comments in the future.

I meant comments like that the one you said that you are about to send several code blocks or that the spam bot blocked some parts you posted. If posts are deleted after they have been answered or after they have been taken for granted in subsequent posts and then readers end up here, they read subsequent posts that answer to something that is no longer there, or read posts that take something for granted that is no longer there, or they get code blocks without explicit context. It can be confusing if the previous context is no longer available for reading.

Keep in mind that other people maybe have the same problem and end up here (sometimes long after the discussion has begun), or they review a topic to see if they can help. The context evolves in a topic, and posts presume often preceding posts, in different ways. That makes it hard for human readers to understand what given/remaining posts or information are about. It’s not just about missing technical data or so. That’s why it is a better practice to avoid deleting comments after other comments have followed. We have already to presume a lot in text-only multicultural communication, and we have to reduce the presumptions as good as possible to avoid misunderstandings. Hope that makes some sense

By the way, thanks for marking a solution. That’s really helpful for subsequent readers with comparable problems, and many don’t do that once their issue was solved. That’s appreciated!

[computersavvy (Jeff V)]

@faeanxrchy

Is the trash folder for the boot directory something that fills up over time, just based on regular use? And does it need to be regularly emptied through the rm command?

The trash folder should never exist in any of the system partitions. It can only be created by root using the gui file manager in those areas since the normal user cannot write in system areas.

You deleted that folder and its content so unless you repeat the process that created it initially it should not return and the problem will not be repeated.

In the users home directory it usually is not a problem. The trash automatically is deleted after 30 days (the delay time can be configured by the user but 30 days is default).

As a new user it is common for errors to occur and that is a natural part of learning something new. We make a mistake, we learn how to fix it, we move forward. Don’t let the learning curve deter you. Life is a lifelong learning experience. The rewards are great in the long run.

[computersavvy (Jeff V)]

@faeanxrchy

Also, regarding the auto-remove command - Would that typically delete everything properly?

Auto-remove?
Where? The one in the file manager?
If that is what you are asking about then it seems the setting for the delay before the final removal is the answer. Be aware that the auto-remove in the file manager only works when the original user is actively using the file manager. Thus files in the trash may actually remain for years if that user does not open the file manager again within that file system (partition).

[faeanxrchy]

I’d honestly completely forgotten about those comments, thank you for bringing that to my attention, Chris! I appreciate it!

I completely understand where you’re coming from and will make an effort to be more conscious of that in the future. I haven’t used forums before, so please let me know if there are any other ways i can improve my forum etiquette and be as helpful to others as i can

[faeanxrchy]

Awesome! Thank you for help me understand Linux better! I won’t let the learning curve deter me, don’t worry, i’m enjoying it

[faeanxrchy]

I’ve created a new topic for trying to reinstall the rescue disk that i’ve linked here, so we don’t fill keep adding to this post:

I need to create a new rescue disk - Reinstalling the kernel core didn't work. Would this?

When trying to resolve a /boot space issue i mistakingly deleted the rescue image. I tried reinstalling the kernel call, which didn’t create a new rescue image. Would this work instead? sudo dnf reinstall dracut sudo dracut --force Thank you for your help.