Ubuntu

auto update leaves detritus in boot sector

Asked by Tim Randall

I am merely competent with a computer, and have no interest in becoming a power user. Keeping up with software changes already takes more time from my day than I would like. I switched one laptop to ubuntu 14.04 LTS six months ago. Everything was great until an auto update failed because my boot sector was full. Details told me to run sudo apt-get clean.
First - Why doesn't auto update remove old files? If I have version 32, 34, 37 and 39 in the boot and it is installing version 43 then it should delete, or ask me if I want to delete, 32, 34, and 37, when it installs 43 instead of letting an infinite amount of obsolete junk accumulate there.
Second - Details should give me a link to useful instructions. That page should tell me everything a newbie needs from how to get into terminal, to how to move to the boot directory, to how to choose which files to remove, and give examples of commands to type.
Third - What is the deal with "sudo apt-get clean" ? There is no such command on my computer. I could not find good instructions, tried half a dozen commands before I found "sudo apt-get rm" filename - would work.
Fourth - If Ubuntu wants to win over Windows and IOS users it should really find a way to make sudo commands work from 'files'. If a user tries to do something in files that requires super user permission then pop up a dialog that asks for the password.

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actionparsnip
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Best actionparsnip (andrew-woodhead666) said : 		#1

/boot is not the "boot sector" in Any way. It's a folder that is used to store kernels and unit which is the mother of all processes.

sudo apt-get clean is a command and an option. If you can run:

sudo apt-get update

Then sudo apt-get clean

Will work as well. It's not a different command. Apt-get is the command. The bit after us telling apt-get what to do. The 'clean' option clears out the old debs from /var/cache/apt/archives which are used when you run updates or install applications.

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actionparsnip (andrew-woodhead666) said : 		#2

If you want to keep kernels down the Ubuntu tweak can do it for you. The old kernels are kept so you can roll back if needed. They do get out of hand easily but aren't hard to manage.

There is an Ubuntu guide which will help with basic stuff but I suggest you just get used to the OS as Linux is clearly something new to you.

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Tim Randall (gnumale) said : 		#3

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