Note: I suspect that issue is related to the fact that some 'package(s)' (virtualbox in your case) are simply 'removed' (letting their settings still active).
Myself always 'purge' the package when removing them. Virtualbox is also install on a few machines here; and never had apt refusing the autoremoval. That it. Also seen many users reporting against 'dpkg' (apport choice) most of the time, with a title such "package xxxx failed to install, package is already installed and configured" . I also never had such an issue; so also suspecting old settings left behind, disturbing the autoremoval process. That said, "apt-get autoremove" should really 'purge' not only 'remove' to avoid a durty system. -- You received this bug notification because you are a member of Ubuntu Touch seeded packages, which is subscribed to apt in Ubuntu. https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1636203 Title: apt-get autoremove not removing old kernels when package virtualbox-5.1 is installed Status in apt package in Ubuntu: New Bug description: 'apt-get autoremove` does not remove old 'linux-image-*` packages as long as virtualbox-5.1 package is installed on system. % cat /etc/lsb-release DISTRIB_ID=Ubuntu DISTRIB_RELEASE=16.04 DISTRIB_CODENAME=xenial DISTRIB_DESCRIPTION="Ubuntu 16.04.1 LTS" % lsb_release -rd Description: Ubuntu 16.04.1 LTS Release: 16.04 % apt-cache policy apt apt: Installed: 1.2.12~ubuntu16.04.1 Candidate: 1.2.12~ubuntu16.04.1 There are 7 different kernel versions installed =============================================== % dpkg -l | grep linux-im | cut -c 1-80 ii linux-image-4.4.0-31-generic 4.4.0-31.50 ii linux-image-4.4.0-34-generic 4.4.0-34.53 ii linux-image-4.4.0-36-generic 4.4.0-36.55 ii linux-image-4.4.0-38-generic 4.4.0-38.57 ii linux-image-4.4.0-42-generic 4.4.0-42.62 ii linux-image-4.4.0-43-generic 4.4.0-43.63 ii linux-image-4.4.0-45-generic 4.4.0-45.66 ii linux-image-extra-4.4.0-43-generic 4.4.0-43.63 ii linux-image-extra-4.4.0-45-generic 4.4.0-45.66 ii linux-image-generic 4.4.0.45.48 % ls -1 /boot/vmlinuz-* /boot/vmlinuz-4.4.0-31-generic /boot/vmlinuz-4.4.0-34-generic /boot/vmlinuz-4.4.0-36-generic /boot/vmlinuz-4.4.0-38-generic /boot/vmlinuz-4.4.0-42-generic /boot/vmlinuz-4.4.0-43-generic /boot/vmlinuz-4.4.0-45-generic Running kernel ============== % uname -r 4.4.0-43-generic Only 4.4.0-43 and 4.4.0-45 protected from autoremove ==================================================== % cat /etc/apt/apt.conf.d/01autoremove-kernels // DO NOT EDIT! File autogenerated by /etc/kernel/postinst.d/apt-auto-removal APT::NeverAutoRemove { "^linux-image-4\.4\.0-43-generic$"; "^linux-image-4\.4\.0-45-generic$"; "^linux-headers-4\.4\.0-43-generic$"; "^linux-headers-4\.4\.0-45-generic$"; "^linux-image-extra-4\.4\.0-43-generic$"; "^linux-image-extra-4\.4\.0-45-generic$"; "^linux-signed-image-4\.4\.0-43-generic$"; "^linux-signed-image-4\.4\.0-45-generic$"; "^kfreebsd-image-4\.4\.0-43-generic$"; "^kfreebsd-image-4\.4\.0-45-generic$"; "^kfreebsd-headers-4\.4\.0-43-generic$"; "^kfreebsd-headers-4\.4\.0-45-generic$"; "^gnumach-image-4\.4\.0-43-generic$"; "^gnumach-image-4\.4\.0-45-generic$"; "^.*-modules-4\.4\.0-43-generic$"; "^.*-modules-4\.4\.0-45-generic$"; "^.*-kernel-4\.4\.0-43-generic$"; "^.*-kernel-4\.4\.0-45-generic$"; "^linux-backports-modules-.*-4\.4\.0-43-generic$"; "^linux-backports-modules-.*-4\.4\.0-45-generic$"; "^linux-tools-4\.4\.0-43-generic$"; "^linux-tools-4\.4\.0-45-generic$"; }; /* Debug information: # dpkg list: ii linux-image-4.4.0-31-generic 4.4.0-31.50 amd64 Linux kernel image for version 4.4.0 on 64 bit x86 SMP ii linux-image-4.4.0-34-generic 4.4.0-34.53 amd64 Linux kernel image for version 4.4.0 on 64 bit x86 SMP ii linux-image-4.4.0-36-generic 4.4.0-36.55 amd64 Linux kernel image for version 4.4.0 on 64 bit x86 SMP ii linux-image-4.4.0-38-generic 4.4.0-38.57 amd64 Linux kernel image for version 4.4.0 on 64 bit x86 SMP ii linux-image-4.4.0-42-generic 4.4.0-42.62 amd64 Linux kernel image for version 4.4.0 on 64 bit x86 SMP ii linux-image-4.4.0-43-generic 4.4.0-43.63 amd64 Linux kernel image for version 4.4.0 on 64 bit x86 SMP ii linux-image-4.4.0-45-generic 4.4.0-45.66 amd64 Linux kernel image for version 4.4.0 on 64 bit x86 SMP ii linux-image-extra-4.4.0-43-generic 4.4.0-43.63 amd64 Linux kernel extra modules for version 4.4.0 on 64 bit x86 SMP iF linux-image-extra-4.4.0-45-generic 4.4.0-45.66 amd64 Linux kernel extra modules for version 4.4.0 on 64 bit x86 SMP iU linux-image-generic 4.4.0.45.48 amd64 Generic Linux kernel image # list of installed kernel packages: 4.4.0-31-generic 4.4.0-31.50 4.4.0-34-generic 4.4.0-34.53 4.4.0-36-generic 4.4.0-36.55 4.4.0-38-generic 4.4.0-38.57 4.4.0-42-generic 4.4.0-42.62 4.4.0-43-generic 4.4.0-43.63 4.4.0-45-generic 4.4.0-45.66 # list of different kernel versions: 4.4.0-45.66 4.4.0-43.63 4.4.0-42.62 4.4.0-38.57 4.4.0-36.55 4.4.0-34.53 4.4.0-31.50 # Installing kernel: 4.4.0-45.66 (4.4.0-45-generic) # Running kernel: 4.4.0-43.63 (4.4.0-43-generic) # Last kernel: 4.4.0-45.66 # Previous kernel: 4.4.0-43.63 # Kernel versions list to keep: 4.4.0-43.63 4.4.0-45.66 # Kernel packages (version part) to protect: 4\.4\.0-43-generic 4\.4\.0-45-generic */ All marked auto =============== % apt-mark showauto | grep linux linux-firmware linux-headers-4.4.0-31 linux-headers-4.4.0-31-generic linux-headers-4.4.0-34 linux-headers-4.4.0-34-generic linux-headers-4.4.0-36 linux-headers-4.4.0-36-generic linux-headers-4.4.0-38 linux-headers-4.4.0-38-generic linux-headers-4.4.0-42 linux-headers-4.4.0-42-generic linux-headers-4.4.0-43 linux-headers-4.4.0-43-generic linux-headers-4.4.0-45 linux-headers-4.4.0-45-generic linux-headers-generic linux-image-4.4.0-31-generic linux-image-4.4.0-34-generic linux-image-4.4.0-36-generic linux-image-4.4.0-38-generic linux-image-4.4.0-42-generic linux-image-4.4.0-43-generic linux-image-4.4.0-45-generic linux-image-extra-4.4.0-43-generic linux-image-extra-4.4.0-45-generic linux-image-generic linux-libc-dev linux-sound-base pptp-linux syslinux syslinux-common syslinux-legacy % apt-mark showmanual | grep linux console-setup-linux libselinux1 linux-base linux-generic util-linux Virtualbox is installed ======================= % dpkg -l virtualbox-5.1 ii virtualbox-5.1 5.1.8-111374~Ubuntu~xe Command executed ================ % apt-get autoremove Expected behaviour ================== Remove all 'linux-image-X-generic` packages where X not in (4.4.0-43, 4.4.0-45). What happens instead ==================== % apt-get autoremove Reading package lists... Done Building dependency tree Reading state information... Done 0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded. Debugging Info % apt-get -o Debug::pkgAutoRemove=true autoremove > autoremove_debug.txt 2>&1 (see attachments below this post) How to fix this? Remove virtualbox-5.1 package ============================================== % apt-get remove virtualbox-5.1 Reading package lists... Done Building dependency tree Reading state information... Done The following packages were automatically installed and are no longer required: libqt5x11extras5 linux-headers-4.4.0-31 linux-headers-4.4.0-31-generic linux-headers-4.4.0-34 linux-headers-4.4.0-34-generic linux-headers-4.4.0-36 linux-headers-4.4.0-36-generic linux-headers-4.4.0-38 linux-headers-4.4.0-38-generic linux-headers-4.4.0-42 linux-headers-4.4.0-42-generic linux-image-4.4.0-31-generic linux-image-4.4.0-34-generic linux-image-4.4.0-36-generic linux-image-4.4.0-38-generic linux-image-4.4.0-42-generic Use 'apt autoremove' to remove them. The following packages will be REMOVED: virtualbox-5.1 0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 1 to remove and 0 not upgraded. After this operation, 158 MB disk space will be freed. Do you want to continue? [Y/n] How come apt-get will not autoremove old kernel packages as long as virtualbox is installed? % apt-cache show virtualbox-5.1 Package: virtualbox-5.1 Version: 5.1.8-111374~Ubuntu~xenial Architecture: amd64 Maintainer: Oracle Corporation <i...@virtualbox.org> Installed-Size: 154040 Pre-Depends: debconf (>= 1.1) | debconf-2.0 Depends: libc6 (>= 2.15), libcurl3 (>= 7.16.2), libdevmapper1.02.1 (>= 2:1.02.97), libgcc1 (>= 1:3.0), libgl1-mesa-glx | libgl1, libpng12-0 (>= 1.2.13-4), libpython2.7 (>= 2.7), libqt5core5a (>= 5.5.0), libqt5gui5 (>= 5.3.0) | libqt5gui5-gles (>= 5.3.0), libqt5opengl5 (>= 5.0.2) | libqt5opengl5-gles (>= 5.0.2), libqt5printsupport5 (>= 5.0.2), libqt5widgets5 (>= 5.2.0), libqt5x11extras5 (>= 5.1.0), libsdl1.2debian (>= 1.2.11), libssl1.0.0 (>= 1.0.0), libstdc++6 (>= 5.2), libvpx3 (>= 1.5.0), libx11-6, libxcb1, libxcursor1 (>> 1.1.2), libxext6, libxinerama1, libxml2 (>= 2.7.4), libxmu6, libxt6, zlib1g (>= 1:1.1.4), psmisc, adduser Recommends: libasound2, libpulse0, libsdl-ttf2.0-0, kmod | kldutils | module-init-tools, linux-headers-generic | linux-headers-generic-pae | linux-headers-686-pae | linux-headers-amd64 | linux-headers-2.6-686 | linux-headers-2.6-amd64 | linux-headers, linux-image, gcc, make | build-essential | dpkg-dev, binutils, pdf-viewer, libgl1 Conflicts: virtualbox, virtualbox-guest-additions-iso, virtualbox-ose Replaces: virtualbox Provides: virtualbox Priority: optional Section: contrib/misc Filename: pool/contrib/v/virtualbox-5.1/virtualbox-5.1_5.1.8-111374~Ubuntu~xenial_amd64.deb Size: 65225770 SHA256: 66d8900d5428aad7e7c955971153d45a2ddb65c113002c33dfa31f80b7f92ec0 SHA1: 78648eb646b0488c01f69f52be89e04e80541db2 MD5sum: ad328e1a7fb5f1e087b145dbcaff7f4e Description: Oracle VM VirtualBox VirtualBox is a powerful PC virtualization solution allowing you to run a wide range of PC operating systems on your Linux system. This includes Windows, Linux, FreeBSD, DOS, OpenBSD and others. VirtualBox comes with a broad feature set and excellent performance, making it the premier virtualization software solution on the market. Description-md5: 914c1338bb9a4b67fae39e48412d76f8 Python-Version: 2.7 To manage notifications about this bug go to: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/apt/+bug/1636203/+subscriptions -- Mailing list: https://launchpad.net/~touch-packages Post to : touch-packages@lists.launchpad.net Unsubscribe : https://launchpad.net/~touch-packages More help : https://help.launchpad.net/ListHelp
