Kernel/Removal

This article describes the removal of old kernels.

Removing kernel sources
After a new kernel is installed and if it works satisfactorily, the old kernel can be removed. To remove the old kernel sources, emerge's --depclean option (short form -c) can be used to remove all old or unused versions of a slotted package, e.g. for.

Be sure to verify that it is not removing the sources for the currently running kernel. (See kernel upgrade article on how to upgrade.)

Using eclean-kernel
is a simple tool for old kernel cleanup/removal. It removes both built kernel files and build directories if they're no longer reference by any preserved kernel.

For example, to keep three newest kernels around:

Manual removal
Portage however only removes the files it installed - the files generated during the kernel build and installation remain. They can be safely removed.


 * When a kernel is built in the source directory, files generated during the build process remain, and are not removed by Portage:




 * During kernel setup, the kernel modules are copied to a sub directory of /lib/modules/:




 * The old files in /boot can also be removed:




 * Lastly, remove all leftover entries from your bootloader's config file.