hanging initrds

[der.hans]

moin moin,

one of my Ubuntu systems has a bunch of /boot/initrd files for kernels
that have been removed.

I believe initrd is generated at kernel package install time ( and
probably regenerated if certain packages such as firmware are updated ),
so removing the old initrd files won't bork package management. It's been
a while since I've reviewed specifics, so no idea if things have changed.

'dpkg -S ínitrd' doesn't reveal any package ownership for initrd files at all.
'apt-cache search initrd' doesn't bring up anything useful for this.

'dpkg -L' on a kernel package doesn't reveal any initrd files.

Looking for the version of one of the initrd files where the kernel files
are missing shows that the kernel packages have indeed been removed.

$ dpkg -l | grep 4.4.0-77
rc  linux-image-4.4.0-77-generic          4.4.0-77.98
amd64        Linux kernel image for version 4.4.0 on 64 bit x86 SMP
rc  linux-image-extra-4.4.0-77-generic    4.4.0-77.98
amd64        Linux kernel extra modules for version 4.4.0 on 64 bit x86
SMP

So, overall it looks like these can just be removed. Any contrary opinions
or experience?

I did try purging a couple of the linux-image packages, but the initrd
files persisted.

Purging a kernel that was installed did get rid of the initrd for that
kernel, so maybe it's matter of reinstalling the old kernels and purging
them, except that there isn't room to install anything because the initrds
have filled /boot...

ciao,

der.hans
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