/boot does not get cleanup up

[rhoriguchi]

After using deploy-rs for a while and not collecting garbage I can't update anymore because /boot is full. Also collecting garbage and rebooting and then running deploy-rs again it still does not get cleaned up. They just get readded and it fails.

OSError: [Errno 28] No space left on device: '/nix/store/g54jjlqj05gwdn4z9n0c06r9dzdc01q6-initrd-linux-6.6.19/initrd' -> '/boot/EFI/nixos/g54jjlqj05gwdn4z9n0c06r9dzdc01q6-initrd-linux-6.6.19-initrd.efi'

ls -l
total 522720
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 36793822 Mar  5 15:20 19ag9832m7hlsvvr96j4wi490l74ynlk-initrd-linux-6.6.18-initrd.efi
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 35053825 Mar  5 15:20 47dl905qc60xv4yj767844npms5qdpj5-initrd-linux-6.6.16-initrd.efi
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 35062583 Mar  5 15:20 4qiqd4ld0pkkfhcglb4shvb6va2ykshb-initrd-linux-6.6.14-initrd.efi
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 10170336 Mar  5 15:20 5n9f23cvildc3bamcng5lzidmw03chm9-linux-6.6.14-bzImage.efi
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 10175168 Mar  5 15:20 731gdw44nwwxk1d7h3nakw4rhan1j7vp-linux-6.6.16-bzImage.efi
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 35775911 Mar  5 15:20 8q8rsvpq8v3qnx1n31gw9sd15pj9wpw9-initrd-linux-6.6.18-initrd.efi
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root  8948896 Mar  5 15:20 8zy8p1nhnshcf6xfm1dv3bap93dk2bdc-linux-6.1.75-bzImage.efi
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 34301295 Mar  5 15:20 c48g354snna88gg1c3sknfi16dnvwgad-initrd-linux-6.1.74-initrd.efi
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 33294972 Mar  5 15:20 fs5jm6jb4k2yfr03xrp36y9b8l01lin8-initrd-linux-6.6.14-initrd.efi
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 27074560 Mar  5 15:20 g54jjlqj05gwdn4z9n0c06r9dzdc01q6-initrd-linux-6.6.19-initrd.efi
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 35047084 Mar  5 15:20 i2dmfp5y8npwf7xrlxfv02fyx08vzr0n-initrd-linux-6.6.15-initrd.efi
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 32508769 Mar  5 15:20 jhhj23jkmsi8ra3bqzzp2mxrysccml59-initrd-linux-6.1.75-initrd.efi
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root  8940672 Mar  5 15:20 jl6vibmcr1fsfqpsm2cppirx7pznhhpp-linux-6.1.74-bzImage.efi
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 10187264 Mar  5 15:20 k465dwbzq741ycvzd44rq1q304sdlpa7-linux-6.6.19-bzImage.efi
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 35775764 Mar  5 15:20 lwpbqsw0yhpr25fyfi3rb7gq5l6556zk-initrd-linux-6.6.18-initrd.efi
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 10174752 Mar  5 15:20 qqv1awrfpfinb41nc81zclg59vy7h1ly-linux-6.6.17-bzImage.efi
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 35771116 Mar  5 15:20 r14hyvgv35mkl2c36jav4vh965z9f8j2-initrd-linux-6.6.17-initrd.efi
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 34818124 Mar  5 15:20 rb9h2a5h06n21k8446fr0dhmqfi2f6nx-initrd-linux-6.6.16-initrd.efi
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 10179072 Mar  5 15:20 v4zf498vi5r3lp925lwww705xx8s4icl-linux-6.6.18-bzImage.efi
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 34820641 Mar  5 15:20 x4wq7ryifqxxyi0ywbhp6i3c6isbkm2h-initrd-linux-6.6.17-initrd.efi
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 10165216 Mar  5 15:20 y7hfdgbzqz6271428c1dgx4im90qydiq-linux-6.6.15-bzImage.efi
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 10175168 Mar  5 15:20 yd17ynq2hhzzmm4nskypyh6a2d3n1dbx-linux-6.6.16-bzImage.efi

[PhilTaken]

Try running nix why-depends /run/current-system /nix/store/... to find out why it's not being garbage-colletected.

Did you also delete old generations using nix-collect-garbage -d?
Usually that is the reason for a bunch of initrds, this is not a deploy-rs issue.

[nullie]

I have the same issue. I've ran nix-garbage-collect, but now I need to run something like 'nixos-rebuild boot` to clean up the actual boot files. How can I do that, given that there's no source flake on the machine? (or is one there?)

[nullie]

Looks like you can rebuild boot by running /nix/var/nix/profiles/system/bin/switch-to-configuration

[rhoriguchi]

You can delete the old profiles, once you do that garbage collection will work and delete boot files. @nullie

[notgne2]

@nullie NixOS deployment with deploy-rs basically works by using switch-to-configuration, just always switch, not boot (but it should run all the same stuff, just also the full activation too), so it should behave pretty much the same when deploying

[nullie]

Yes, but when your /boot is already full, activation of new generation first tries to copy new kernel and initrd into /boot, and that fails. But when you run /nix/var/nix/profiles/system/bin/switch-to-configuration, the kernel and initrd are already there, so no extra space is needed, and cleanup of old kernels proceeds successfuly.

So I've posted this as a solution for those who get their /boot full:

1. Run nix-collect-gargbage -d to delete old generations.
2. Run /nix/var/nix/profiles/system/bin/switch-to-configuration to remove old kernels, initrd and boot entries from /boot