Safe to remove /usr/src/linux-headers after purging older linux images?

Question

I'm running Ubuntu 12.04, and two active linux images 3.2.0-37 and 3.2.0-36. In the /usr/src/ directory i find:

linux-headers-3.2.0-23    
linux-headers-3.2.0-23-generic    
linux-headers-3.2.0-26    
linux-headers-3.2.0-26-generic
linux-headers-3.2.0-29    
linux-headers-3.2.0-29-generic
linux-headers-3.2.0-31    
linux-headers-3.2.0-31-generic    
linux-headers-3.2.0-32    
linux-headers-3.2.0-32-generic    
linux-headers-3.2.0-33    
linux-headers-3.2.0-33-generic    
linux-headers-3.2.0-34    
linux-headers-3.2.0-34-generic    
linux-headers-3.2.0-35    
linux-headers-3.2.0-35-generic    
linux-headers-3.2.0-36    
linux-headers-3.2.0-36-generic     
linux-headers-3.2.0-37     
linux-headers-3.2.0-37-generic

Today I sudo apt-get purge linux-image-x.x.x.x-generic *34 and *35

I have to add that /boot contains only *36 and *37.

Is it safe to remove all of these except *37 and *36 ? Thank you in advance.

Answer 1

Those are header files are contained in the linux-headers-* and linux-headers-*-generic packages. It should be safe to remove them through apt-get. Maybe apt-get autoremove will already suggest that to you. Please do not remove them manually!

Answer 2

I just had this issue, and the suggestion to use apt-get autoremove did not work for me.

I resolved it by doing:

sudo apt-get purge linux-headers-3.2.0-23

on such linux headers that lived in /usr/src. I did not remove the headers that correspond to the kernel currently being used.

Restarted the server successfully.

Answer 3

To anyone coming in off a Google search years later: You can also uninstall old kernels in the Synaptic Package Manager. Just double check which one you're currently using by typing 'uname -a' into the terminal.

Answer 4

16.04 and newer versions of Ubuntu

sudo apt-get autoremove

This command removes packages that were automatically installed to resolve a dependency, but are now no longer depended on.