What is the best way to remove old kernel modules?

[-Ninjex-]

I never post a question without researching first..

Earlier today, I was looking up a tutorial on how to remove old kernel headers/modules and when I followed the tutorial (This is hypothetical, and I had older kernel headers previously that I purged) which was similar to the following code

Code: Select all

:~$ dpkg -l | grep linux-headers
ii  linux-headers-3.2.0-36                 3.2.0-36.57                             Header files related to Linux kernel version 3.2.0
ii  linux-headers-3.2.0-36-generic         3.2.0-36.57                             Linux kernel headers for version 3.2.0 on 32 bit x86 SMP
ii  linux-headers-3.2.0-36-generic-pae     3.2.0-36.57                             Linux kernel headers for version 3.2.0 on 32 bit x86 SMP
ii  linux-headers-generic                  3.2.0.36.43                             Generic Linux kernel headers
ii  linux-headers-generic-pae              3.2.0.36.43                             Generic Linux kernel headers




Code: Select all

sudo apt-get purge [3.2.0-36-generic-pae]

Needless to say, it starting purging everything from /* and beyond and I knew I was fucked; kinda...
I spent the next three hours re-installing ubuntu 11.10, and upgrading it. Then I had to recover the corrupted partition which took forever, and mount it and copy all my files, and then free the old partition space, and add it to the new one.

My question is what is the methods that you use, that is safe?
I ask because in the future, I do not want to risk having to do this again.

Thanks in advance,
- Ninjex

[centip3de]

I never post a question without researching first..

Earlier today, I was looking up a tutorial on how to remove old kernel headers/modules and when I followed the tutorial (This is hypothetical, and I had older kernel headers previously that I purged) which was similar to the following code

Code: Select all

:~$ dpkg -l | grep linux-headers
ii  linux-headers-3.2.0-36                 3.2.0-36.57                             Header files related to Linux kernel version 3.2.0
ii  linux-headers-3.2.0-36-generic         3.2.0-36.57                             Linux kernel headers for version 3.2.0 on 32 bit x86 SMP
ii  linux-headers-3.2.0-36-generic-pae     3.2.0-36.57                             Linux kernel headers for version 3.2.0 on 32 bit x86 SMP
ii  linux-headers-generic                  3.2.0.36.43                             Generic Linux kernel headers
ii  linux-headers-generic-pae              3.2.0.36.43                             Generic Linux kernel headers




Code: Select all

sudo apt-get purge [3.2.0-36-generic-pae]

Needless to say, it starting purging everything from /* and beyond and I knew I was fucked; kinda...
I spent the next three hours re-installing ubuntu 11.10, and upgrading it. Then I had to recover the corrupted partition which took forever, and mount it and copy all my files, and then free the old partition space, and add it to the new one.

My question is what is the methods that you use, that is safe?
I ask because in the future, I do not want to risk having to do this again.

Thanks in advance,
- Ninjex

I actually had to do something like this not too long ago, because the new NVidia drivers fucked up my GUI/Xorg configuration/Linux Headers and did it manually, like you (except I didn't delete my root folder ). Anyway, there's an automated way to do it. Found this in a simple Google search. I think you need to do your homework a bit better, my friend.

TL;DR:

Code: Select all

dpkg -l 'linux-*' | sed '/^ii/!d;/'"$(uname -r | sed "s/\(.*\)-\([^0-9]\+\)/\1/")"'/d;s/^[^ ]* [^ ]* \([^ ]*\).*/\1/;/[0-9]/!d' | xargs sudo apt-get -y purge

[0phidian]

I have always just removed them with synaptic.

[-Ninjex-]

I think you need to do your homework a bit better, my friend.

That wasn't the factor...
I did some research, and the one I read seemed trustworthy. You live and you learn, and you don't actually know if something works or not until you try it. I seen the post from stackoverflow with like 8 thumbs up, so I figured it was legit.

[centip3de]

That wasn't the factor...
I did some research, and the one I read seemed trustworthy. You live and you learn, and you don't actually know if something works or not until you try it. I seen the post from stackoverflow with like 8 thumbs up, so I figured it was legit.

That was referring to when you said, "I never post a question without researching first..". Most, if not all Google results I found were pointing to that command. Either way, yes, you generally do live and learn... Except in my case, I suppose. It took about 30 separate times of a program crashing for me to finally realize that I should probably not be reusing bugged code...