Debian 12 Cinnamon Errors Were Encountered While Processing SOLVED

Alexzee

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Every time I update the system I get this message:

Code:
Errors were encountered while processing:
 initramfs-tools

Looking online suggest's that this is related to a:
'script file that is causing the problem'

Usually when bash complains that there isn't enough room on the device I run:
Code:
debian-box:~$ sudo apt --purge autoremove

Any ideas on what's going on here?
 

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You can give these commands a try and see if it works
Code:
sudo dpkg --configure -a
sudo apt install -f
 
You can give these commands a try and see if it works
Code:
sudo dpkg --configure -a
sudo apt install -f
Thanks kc1di for the quick response.
I'll try those cmds when I get home from work.

Enjoy the day!
 
Those are only warnings , you can go here to see if any are available

From your screenshot of missing firmware : gc_11_0_4_mes1.bin and gc_11_0_4_mes_2.bin are available
I did not check the rest but more maybe listed
simply right the the firmware listing and open in new tab the click on (plain) to download

5.png


Then copy them to the appropriate firmware folder - usually here /lib/firmware/amdgpu/

Also - How many kernels are on your machine? Error says No Space Left on Device
 
Alex, is there any chance a change of kernel may show improvement for you ?
 
Those are only warnings , you can go here to see if any are available

From your screenshot of missing firmware : gc_11_0_4_mes1.bin and gc_11_0_4_mes_2.bin are available
I did not check the rest but more maybe listed
simply right the the firmware listing and open in new tab the click on (plain) to download

View attachment 18061

Then copy them to the appropriate firmware folder - usually here /lib/firmware/amdgpu/

Also - How many kernels are on your machine? Error says No Space Left on Device
Looks like there are two kernels on my machine. See the screenshot.

I downloaded the firmware here:

There is plenty of room on the 1 TB drive. The boot partition is 300 MiB's.
Would increasing the size the /boot partition help?
 

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Alex, is there any chance a change of kernel may show improvement for you ?
Maybe, however I'm not well versed in installing a new kernel.
 
 
Hello Alexzee,

A few observations about the filesystem shown in post #5:
The partitioning looks like an MBR install, not UEFI, in which case a fat32 filesystem is not needed. That's usually applied for the ESP (EFI System Partition) in a UEFI install.

It doesn't look like there is any need for a separate /boot partition on a system like this. Such a /boot partition just creates a potential limitation where none need exist without such a partition.

To see how full the /boot partition is you can run a command like this:
Code:
df -h /boot
to check if that's the "space" issue of the error message.
 
Hello Alexzee,

A few observations about the filesystem shown in post #5:
The partitioning looks like an MBR install, not UEFI, in which case a fat32 filesystem is not needed. That's usually applied for the ESP (EFI System Partition) in a UEFI install.

It doesn't look like there is any need for a separate /boot partition on a system like this. Such a /boot partition just creates a potential limitation where none need exist without such a partition.

To see how full the /boot partition is you can run a command like this:
Code:
df -h /boot
to check if that's the "space" issue of the error message.
Running that command returned:
Code:
~$ df -h /boot
Filesystem      Size  Used Avail Use% Mounted on
/dev/sdb3       300M  186M  114M  63% /boot

This Asus desktop is a UEFI machine.
 
Running that command returned:
Code:
~$ df -h /boot
Filesystem      Size  Used Avail Use% Mounted on
/dev/sdb3       300M  186M  114M  63% /boot

This Asus desktop is a UEFI machine.
Thanks for that info. The /boot partition is not labelled as /boot/efi, which is the normal UEFI partitioning arrangement, which can be seen in the following output which includes the usage of each partition and how much space is used by percentage and how much is available by measure.
Code:
[tom@min ~]$ lsblk -o NAME,FSTYPE,FSVER,LABEL,FSAVAIL,FSUSE%,MOUNTPOINTS
NAME        FSTYPE FSVER LABEL FSAVAIL FSUSE% MOUNTPOINTS
sr0                                          
nvme0n1                                      
├─nvme0n1p1 vfat   FAT32        469.2M     1% /boot/efi
├─nvme0n1p2 swap   1                          [SWAP]
└─nvme0n1p3 ext4   1.0            403G     4% /
I guess it's the GUI that has misled me.
 
Thanks for that info. The /boot partition is not labelled as /boot/efi, which is the normal UEFI partitioning arrangement, which can be seen in the following output which includes the usage of each partition and how much space is used by percentage and how much is available by measure.
Code:
[tom@min ~]$ lsblk -o NAME,FSTYPE,FSVER,LABEL,FSAVAIL,FSUSE%,MOUNTPOINTS
NAME        FSTYPE FSVER LABEL FSAVAIL FSUSE% MOUNTPOINTS
sr0                                          
nvme0n1                                      
├─nvme0n1p1 vfat   FAT32        469.2M     1% /boot/efi
├─nvme0n1p2 swap   1                          [SWAP]
└─nvme0n1p3 ext4   1.0            403G     4% /
You're welcome.
The command line is still barking that there isn't enough space on the disk when I try to upgrade the system.
Code:
W: Possible missing firmware /lib/firmware/amdgpu/smu_13_0_10.bin for module amdgpu
zstd: error 70 : Write error : cannot write block : No space left on device
E: mkinitramfs failure zstd -q -9 -T0 70
update-initramfs: failed for /boot/initrd.img-6.1.0-17-amd64 with 1.
dpkg: error processing package initramfs-tools (--configure):
 installed initramfs-tools package post-installation script subprocess returned error
exit status 1
Errors were encountered while processing:
 initramfs-tools
E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)

The kernel that's installed now is kernel 6.1.0-16-amd64 and it looks like the update for the initramfs is failing for kernel 6.1.0-17.
Any ideas on why the write error says there's no space left?
 
You're welcome.
The command line is still barking that there isn't enough space on the disk when I try to upgrade the system.
Code:
W: Possible missing firmware /lib/firmware/amdgpu/smu_13_0_10.bin for module amdgpu
zstd: error 70 : Write error : cannot write block : No space left on device
E: mkinitramfs failure zstd -q -9 -T0 70
update-initramfs: failed for /boot/initrd.img-6.1.0-17-amd64 with 1.
dpkg: error processing package initramfs-tools (--configure):
 installed initramfs-tools package post-installation script subprocess returned error
exit status 1
Errors were encountered while processing:
 initramfs-tools
E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)

The kernel that's installed now is kernel 6.1.0-16-amd64 and it looks like the update for the initramfs is failing for kernel 6.1.0-17.
Any ideas on why the write error says there's no space left?
What comes to mind is that when mkinitramfs is creating the initramfs image, it actually needs more space for the processing it does to create the image, than the size of the image that it ends up with. I can't say how much extra room it needs, but that's what dpkg may be complaining about. When upgrading the system, all initramfs image files are recreated, so with two kernels, that doubles the size needed. Just speculation. This scenario I've described could be the case if the /boot partition is indeed a separate partition from root of only 300MB (approximately), with the EFI partition included within that /boot partition, so mkinitramfs would only have the 300MB to work within. On the other hand, if the /boot directory was simply under /root, within the /root partition, rather than a partition itself, with the separate necessary EFI partition (with its fat32 filesystem) mounted to /boot, this problem of space would not occur.
 
What comes to mind is that when mkinitramfs is creating the initramfs image, it actually needs more space for the processing it does to create the image, than the size of the image that it ends up with. I can't say how much extra room it needs, but that's what dpkg may be complaining about. When upgrading the system, all initramfs image files are recreated, so with two kernels, that doubles the size needed. Just speculation. This scenario I've described could be the case if the /boot partition is indeed a separate partition from root of only 300MB (approximately), with the EFI partition included within that /boot partition, so mkinitramfs would only have the 300MB to work within. On the other hand, if the /boot directory was simply under /root, within the /root partition, rather than a partition itself, with the separate necessary EFI partition (with its fat32 filesystem) mounted to /boot, this problem of space would not occur.
That makes sense.
In previous installations I didn't create a separate partition dedicated for boot and the root partition was used. With those installs I didn't have these errors I've been encountered today.
I'll try increasing the size of the boot partition and see if that helps. A chore for tomorrow.
 
The boot partition on my machine is 512MB - but I am running in Legacy mode not UEFI
Roger that.
I may just perform a fresh install as I'm finding out that a lot of people are saying that resizing the boot partition causes booting issues.
 
Best option - it is definitely having a /boot as a separate partition that is the issue.

In the old days we were advised to have a separate /boot, separate /var and on and on.

It does not apply nowadays.

Wiz
 
Just finished backing up the Debian 12 Gnome, Cinnamon installation.

I'm in the process of deciding on a fresh install of Sparky Linux or a fresh install of Debian 12 with Cinnamon and then pull in the Budgie DE.
 
Ok, installed Sparky Linux 7.2 Mate on a friends desktop last night.
Looks and runs really well. I don't fancy it so I'll be downloading Debian 12 Mate over the weekend.

Be back after the fresh install with screenshot's.
 
The fresh installation went well and took maybe 12 minutes at that.

Now I'm off to make customization's to my own liking.:)
Have a great weekend!
 

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