3

I'll start by saying I'am a total beginner in Linux. I have Ubuntu 12.04.1 LTS installed on a separate machine and I use it for storing data and hosting some services. I usually use Webmin to update my packages (and other simple stuff) and I didn't do it for quite a while. Today I tried to update them and this is what I saw with every single package (215 times):

Installing package(s) with command apt-get -y install appmenu-gtk ..
dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of linux-image-generic-pae:
 linux-image-generic-pae depends on linux-image-3.2.0-37-generic-pae; however:
  Package linux-image-3.2.0-37-generic-pae is not installed.
dpkg: error processing linux-image-generic-pae (--configure):
 dependency problems - leaving unconfigured
Setting up postfix (2.9.1-5) ...

Postfix configuration was untouched.  If you need to make changes, edit
/etc/postfix/main.cf (and others) as needed.  To view Postfix configuration
values, see postconf(1).

After modifying main.cf, be sure to run '/etc/init.d/postfix reload'.

Running newaliases
newaliases: fatal: bad string length 0 < 1: setgid_group = 
dpkg: error processing postfix (--configure):
 subprocess installed post-installation script returned error exit status 75
dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of bsd-mailx:
 bsd-mailx depends on default-mta | mail-transport-agent; however:
  Package default-mta is not installed.
  Package postfix which provides default-mta is not configured yet.
  Package mail-transport-agent is not installed.
  Package postfix which provides mail-transport-agent is not configured yet.
dpkg: error processing bsd-mailx (--configure):
 dependency problems - leaving unconfigured
dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of linux-generic-pae:
 linux-generic-pae depends on linux-image-generic-pae (= 3.2.0.37.44); however:
  Package linux-image-generic-pae is not configured yet.
 linux-generic-pae depends on linux-headers-generic-pae (= 3.2.0.37.44); however:
  Version of linux-headers-generic-pae on system is 3.2.0.38.46.
dpkg: error processing linux-generic-pae (--configure):
 dependency problems - leaving unconfigured
dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of mailutils:
 mailutils depends on default-mta | mail-transport-agent; however:
  Package default-mta is not installed.
  Package postfix which provides default-mta is not configured yet.
  Package mail-transport-agent is not installed.
  Package postfix which provides mail-transport-agent is not configured yet.
dpkg: error processing mailutils (--configure):
 dependency problems - leaving unconfigured
Processing triggers for libc-bin ...
ldconfig deferred processing now taking place
Errors were encountered while processing:
 linux-image-generic-pae
 postfix
 bsd-mailx
 linux-generic-pae
 mailutils
Reading package lists...
Building dependency tree...
Reading state information...
You might want to run 'apt-get -f install' to correct these:
The following packages have unmet dependencies:
 linux-generic-pae : Depends: linux-headers-generic-pae (= 3.2.0.37.44) but 3.2.0.38.46 is to be installed
 linux-image-generic-pae : Depends: linux-image-3.2.0-37-generic-pae but it is not going to be installed
E: Unmet dependencies. Try 'apt-get -f install' with no packages (or specify a solution).

As adviced in this error message i connected through SSH and run: sudo apt-get -f install

Here is the result:

Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree       
Reading state information... Done
Correcting dependencies... Done
The following packages were automatically installed and are no longer required:
  gir1.2-gconf-2.0 libutouch-grail1 libunity6 libidl-common libglew1.5
  linux-headers-3.2.0-25 linux-headers-3.2.0-25-generic-pae libglewmx1.5 libutouch-evemu1
  libidl0 libdee-1.0-1 libutouch-frame1 linux-headers-3.2.0-25-generic liborbit2
  libutouch-geis1
Use 'apt-get autoremove' to remove them.
The following extra packages will be installed:
  linux-generic-pae linux-image-3.2.0-38-generic-pae linux-image-generic-pae
Suggested packages:
  fdutils linux-doc-3.2.0 linux-source-3.2.0 linux-tools
The following NEW packages will be installed:
  linux-image-3.2.0-38-generic-pae
The following packages will be upgraded:
  linux-generic-pae linux-image-generic-pae
2 upgraded, 1 newly installed, 0 to remove and 217 not upgraded.
5 not fully installed or removed.
Need to get 0 B/38.2 MB of archives.
After this operation, 113 MB of additional disk space will be used.
Do you want to continue [Y/n]? y
(Reading database ... 526203 files and directories currently installed.)
Unpacking linux-image-3.2.0-38-generic-pae (from .../linux-image-3.2.0-38-generic-pae_3.2.0-38.61_i386.deb) ...
Done.
dpkg: error processing /var/cache/apt/archives/linux-image-3.2.0-38-generic-pae_3.2.0-38.61_i386.deb (--unpack):
 failed in write on buffer copy for backend dpkg-deb during `./boot/vmlinuz-3.2.0-38-generic-pae': No space left on device
No apport report written because the error message indicates a disk full error
                                                                              dpkg-deb: error: subprocess paste was killed by signal (Broken pipe)
Examining /etc/kernel/postrm.d .
run-parts: executing /etc/kernel/postrm.d/initramfs-tools 3.2.0-38-generic-pae /boot/vmlinuz-3.2.0-38-generic-pae
run-parts: executing /etc/kernel/postrm.d/zz-update-grub 3.2.0-38-generic-pae /boot/vmlinuz-3.2.0-38-generic-pae
Errors were encountered while processing:
 /var/cache/apt/archives/linux-image-3.2.0-38-generic-pae_3.2.0-38.61_i386.deb
E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)

Generally, I can see that I have a problem with linux-image-3.2.0-37-generic-pae or simply "linux kernel image".

Can you please suggest any steps that I should take to fix that? Or maybe there is a way to reinstall Ubuntu components without messing up my configurations? (kinda like in Windows ?) Please keep in mind I'am a beginner user.

1 Answer 1

0

You will first have to solve this problem:

dpkg: error processing /var/cache/apt/archives/linux-image-3.2.0-38-generic-pae_3.2.0-38.61_i386.deb (--unpack):
failed in write on buffer copy for backend dpkg-deb during `./boot/vmlinuz-3.2.0-38-generic-pae': No space left on device
No apport report written because the error message indicates a disk full error

You can use df in a command shell to find out which of your filesystems is full.

5
  • So I managed to clean my /boot up to 60% by following this thread. Then I run sudo apt-get -f install and I get dpkg: error processing /var/cache/apt/archives/linux-image-3.2.0-38-generic-pae_3.2.0-38.61_i386.deb (--unpack): corrupted filesystem tarfile - corrupted package archive No apport report written because MaxReports is reached already. Did I mess something up already?
    – Booyaches
    Feb 27, 2013 at 21:44
  • I also discovered that every time when I run anything like sudo apt-get -f autoremove it puts a new set of linux image files into my /boot directory overfilling it.
    – Booyaches
    Feb 27, 2013 at 22:12
  • What if I connected my machine to monitor and keyboard and simply update to Ubuntu 12.10. Would that override those errors, or would that even be possible?
    – Booyaches
    Feb 27, 2013 at 23:05
  • I would start by only removing the file that is reported corrupt and retrying. So rm /var/cache/apt/archives/linux-image-3.2.0-38-generic-pae_3.2.0-38.61_i386.deb and give it another try.
    – zwets
    Mar 1, 2013 at 13:34
  • I solved it by upgrading to 12.10 and removing postfix, bsd-mailx and mailutils. Thank you for your time :-)
    – Booyaches
    Mar 2, 2013 at 15:16

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .