3

I will give a bit of a back story to how I got this issue, The first issue I has was I have a full /boot disk and could not do anything. I moved some of the unused config files to another disk and managed to get enough space to remove some of the kernels as instructed by other posts on this site and many others.

Now, it asks me to do apt-get -f install when ever I try install, remove.. etc anything with apt-get. I looked around and it mentioned to do dpkg --configure -a So I tried that and that did not fix the issue.

Here are some outputs.

root@DownloadServer:/boot# apt-get -f install
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree       
Reading state information... Done
Correcting dependencies... Done
The following extra packages will be installed:
  linux-generic
The following packages will be upgraded:
  linux-generic
1 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 4 not upgraded.
1 not fully installed or removed.
Need to get 0 B/1,720 B of archives.
After this operation, 0 B of additional disk space will be used.
Do you want to continue [Y/n]? y
dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of linux-generic:
 linux-generic depends on linux-image-generic (= 3.2.0.43.51); however:
  Version of linux-image-generic on system is 3.2.0.44.53.
 linux-generic depends on linux-headers-generic (= 3.2.0.43.51); however:
  Version of linux-headers-generic on system is 3.2.0.44.53.
dpkg: error processing linux-generic (--configure):
 dependency problems - leaving unconfigured
No apport report written because MaxReports has already been reached
                                                                    Errors were encountered while processing:
 linux-generic
E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)

..

root@DownloadServer:/boot# dpkg --configure -a
dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of linux-generic:
 linux-generic depends on linux-image-generic (= 3.2.0.43.51); however:
  Version of linux-image-generic on system is 3.2.0.44.53.
 linux-generic depends on linux-headers-generic (= 3.2.0.43.51); however:
  Version of linux-headers-generic on system is 3.2.0.44.53.
dpkg: error processing linux-generic (--configure):
 dependency problems - leaving unconfigured
Errors were encountered while processing:
 linux-generic

Not sure if this info is useful but I'm running on 3.2.0-34-generic - (uname -r)

Please let me know if you need more info. Thanks in advance.

EDIT for more info:

root@DownloadServer:/boot# dpkg -l | grep linux-image
ii  linux-image-3.2.0-33-generic    3.2.0-33.52                  Linux kernel image for version 3.2.0 on 64 bit x86 SMP
ii  linux-image-3.2.0-34-generic    3.2.0-34.53                  Linux kernel image for version 3.2.0 on 64 bit x86 SMP
ii  linux-image-3.2.0-35-generic    3.2.0-35.55                  Linux kernel image for version 3.2.0 on 64 bit x86 SMP
ii  linux-image-3.2.0-36-generic    3.2.0-36.57                  Linux kernel image for version 3.2.0 on 64 bit x86 SMP
ii  linux-image-3.2.0-37-generic    3.2.0-37.58                  Linux kernel image for version 3.2.0 on 64 bit x86 SMP
ii  linux-image-3.2.0-38-generic    3.2.0-38.61                  Linux kernel image for version 3.2.0 on 64 bit x86 SMP
ii  linux-image-3.2.0-39-generic    3.2.0-39.62                  Linux kernel image for version 3.2.0 on 64 bit x86 SMP
ii  linux-image-3.2.0-40-generic    3.2.0-40.64                  Linux kernel image for version 3.2.0 on 64 bit x86 SMP
ii  linux-image-3.2.0-41-generic    3.2.0-41.66                  Linux kernel image for version 3.2.0 on 64 bit x86 SMP
ii  linux-image-3.2.0-43-generic    3.2.0-43.68                  Linux kernel image for version 3.2.0 on 64 bit x86 SMP
ii  linux-image-3.2.0-44-generic    3.2.0-44.69                  Linux kernel image for version 3.2.0 on 64 bit x86 SMP
ii  linux-image-generic             3.2.0.44.53                  Generic Linux kernel image
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  • Please edit your post to include the output of dpkg -l | grep linux-image You may want to read this post if you haven't already.
    – douggro
    May 24, 2013 at 15:04
  • @douggro Added.. May 24, 2013 at 15:45
  • The problem may lie in the config files that you moved (which files, from where, to where, deleted?) causing the kernel mis-match. Your base kernel is 44 and you have the matching 44 image but uname is reporting 34 is in use. You might try apt-get dist-upgrade and see if that yields progress.
    – douggro
    May 24, 2013 at 16:30

1 Answer 1

3

Timely thread. I got hit with this today - really a pain.

This answer put me back in business: Unmet dependencies: linux-generic

Now, I just have to remember to watch the space on /boot before running apt-get dist-upgrade. :-[

That other question said that it would be okay to re-install linux-generic at some point, but for now I'm looking down the business end of a double-barrel deadline, so I'll leave it out for now.

UPDATE: Tested adding back the linux-generic package (deadlines be damned) - no issues. Commands below.

Summary:

sudo apt-get remove linux-generic

Read the linked question above if this sounds scary. Your problem should now be fixed,and if you want safely add linux-generic back.

sudo apt-get install linux-generic

and subsequent test (not sure if this is the best way to test):

sudo apt-get install

No errors. Rebuild avoided, 3-day weekend saved. Whew.

3
  • Amazing! I never thought of that becuause I thought it would kill the server, I'm still frightened to reboot. May 24, 2013 at 20:54
  • It shouldn't be an issue based on the thread I linked above - all of the kernel images should still be there with grub entries. I was easily able to re-add the package after removing. I'm sure it will be fine, but I'll reboot my system as a test when I get back to the office tomorrow and post here.
    – cschooley
    May 27, 2013 at 14:53
  • Tested reboot - no problems.
    – cschooley
    May 28, 2013 at 20:12

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