How to recover from purging linux-generic*?

Question

Using Kubuntu 20.04.3 LTS (5.4.0-91-generic), my / was getting full and, wrongly following the instructions in https://askubuntu.com/a/1325691/91300 I did:

$ sudo apt-mark auto $(apt-mark showmanual | grep linux-)
$ sudo apt autoremove --purge

which removed:

  linux-generic* linux-headers-5.4.0-45* linux-headers-5.4.0-45-generic* linux-headers-5.4.0-47* linux-headers-5.4.0-47-generic* linux-headers-5.4.0-48* linux-headers-5.4.0-48-generic*
  linux-headers-5.4.0-53* linux-headers-5.4.0-53-generic* linux-headers-5.4.0-54* linux-headers-5.4.0-54-generic* linux-headers-5.4.0-56* linux-headers-5.4.0-56-generic* linux-headers-5.4.0-58*
  linux-headers-5.4.0-58-generic* linux-headers-5.4.0-59* linux-headers-5.4.0-59-generic* linux-headers-5.4.0-65* linux-headers-5.4.0-65-generic* linux-headers-5.4.0-66*
  linux-headers-5.4.0-66-generic* linux-headers-5.4.0-67* linux-headers-5.4.0-67-generic* linux-headers-5.4.0-70* linux-headers-5.4.0-70-generic* linux-headers-5.4.0-73*
  linux-headers-5.4.0-73-generic* linux-headers-5.4.0-74* linux-headers-5.4.0-74-generic* linux-headers-5.4.0-77* linux-headers-5.4.0-77-generic* linux-headers-5.4.0-81*
  linux-headers-5.4.0-81-generic* linux-image-5.4.0-45-generic* linux-image-5.4.0-47-generic* linux-image-5.4.0-48-generic* linux-image-5.4.0-53-generic* linux-image-5.4.0-54-generic*
  linux-image-5.4.0-56-generic* linux-image-5.4.0-58-generic* linux-image-5.4.0-59-generic* linux-image-5.4.0-65-generic* linux-image-5.4.0-66-generic* linux-image-5.4.0-67-generic*
  linux-image-5.4.0-70-generic* linux-image-5.4.0-73-generic* linux-image-5.4.0-74-generic* linux-image-5.4.0-77-generic* linux-image-5.4.0-81-generic* linux-modules-5.4.0-45-generic*
  linux-modules-5.4.0-47-generic* linux-modules-5.4.0-48-generic* linux-modules-5.4.0-53-generic* linux-modules-5.4.0-54-generic* linux-modules-5.4.0-56-generic* linux-modules-5.4.0-58-generic*
  linux-modules-5.4.0-59-generic* linux-modules-5.4.0-65-generic* linux-modules-5.4.0-66-generic* linux-modules-5.4.0-67-generic* linux-modules-5.4.0-70-generic* linux-modules-5.4.0-73-generic*
  linux-modules-5.4.0-74-generic* linux-modules-5.4.0-77-generic* linux-modules-5.4.0-81-generic* linux-modules-extra-5.4.0-45-generic* linux-modules-extra-5.4.0-47-generic*
  linux-modules-extra-5.4.0-48-generic* linux-modules-extra-5.4.0-53-generic* linux-modules-extra-5.4.0-54-generic* linux-modules-extra-5.4.0-56-generic* linux-modules-extra-5.4.0-58-generic*
  linux-modules-extra-5.4.0-59-generic* linux-modules-extra-5.4.0-65-generic* linux-modules-extra-5.4.0-66-generic* linux-modules-extra-5.4.0-67-generic* linux-modules-extra-5.4.0-70-generic*
  linux-modules-extra-5.4.0-73-generic* linux-modules-extra-5.4.0-74-generic* linux-modules-extra-5.4.0-77-generic* linux-modules-extra-5.4.0-81-generic* linux-tools-5.4.0-45*
  linux-tools-5.4.0-45-generic* linux-tools-5.4.0-47* linux-tools-5.4.0-47-generic* linux-tools-5.4.0-48* linux-tools-5.4.0-48-generic* linux-tools-5.4.0-53* linux-tools-5.4.0-53-generic*
  linux-tools-5.4.0-54* linux-tools-5.4.0-54-generic* linux-tools-5.4.0-56* linux-tools-5.4.0-56-generic* linux-tools-5.4.0-58* linux-tools-5.4.0-58-generic* linux-tools-5.4.0-59*
  linux-tools-5.4.0-59-generic* linux-tools-5.4.0-65* linux-tools-5.4.0-65-generic* linux-tools-5.4.0-66* linux-tools-5.4.0-66-generic* linux-tools-5.4.0-67* linux-tools-5.4.0-67-generic*
  linux-tools-5.4.0-70* linux-tools-5.4.0-70-generic* linux-tools-5.4.0-73* linux-tools-5.4.0-73-generic* linux-tools-5.4.0-74* linux-tools-5.4.0-74-generic* linux-tools-5.4.0-77*
  linux-tools-5.4.0-77-generic* linux-tools-5.4.0-81* linux-tools-5.4.0-81-generic*

All of which seems fine¹ (latest two kernels are not included) except for the first entry, that escaped me: linux-generic*.

My system is still running right now, but I'm afraid it's now broken and won't boot next time. Am I mistaken and, if not, how to best recover?

^{1 Well, now I've noticed something else that's worrying: nvidia 390.144 (5.4.0-81-generic) [...] Status: Before uninstall, this module version was ACTIVE on this kernel.}

snoozy · Answer 1 · 2022-02-04T11:02:03.457

So, following the suggestion by user535733 -- after confirming that linux-image-generic and linux-headers-generic were still installed and that all files in /boot seemed in place -- I simply reinstalled linux-generic and rebooted the system.

It's been a few weeks now and so far all seems to be just as before the purge/reinstall.

As the package is listed as Priority: optional, it might very well be that my fears were unfounded - all the better - though I can't tell what the consequences would be if I had rebooted the system without reinstalling linux-generic before.

How to recover from purging linux-generic*?

1 Answers1