var lib dpkg no space left on device apt failed

Not specified by the original author.

TL;DR

No space left during apt work is about the filesystem holding var: old kernel images in boot, the apt archive cache of downloaded .debs, and journal and log growth are the usual tenants. Check both bytes and inodes with df and df -i, clear the apt cache, remove old kernels with apt autoremove, and trim journals.

var lib dpkg no space left on device apt failed

Use this when

• apt upgrade or dpkg configure fails with No space left on device mentioning dpkg or var.
• df shows the root or var filesystem at 100 percent, or df -i shows inodes exhausted.
• The host has been auto-updating kernels for a long time.

Not for this skill when

• The full filesystem is unrelated to package management (for example a data mount). Free that with its owner, not with apt cleanup.
• Space is fine now because a log rotated; find what filled it or it will recur mid-upgrade again.

Steps

1. Run df -h and df -i and identify the exact filesystem and whether bytes or inodes are exhausted. Verify: the constrained filesystem and resource are named
2. Clear the downloaded package cache with apt clean. Verify: the var cache apt archives folder drops to near zero
3. Remove old kernels and stale dependencies with apt autoremove --purge after confirming the running kernel is not the removal target. Verify: the boot folder holds only the current and one fallback kernel
4. Trim logs: journalctl --vacuum-size to a sane cap and clear any runaway application logs you find by size. Verify: the var log usage is back to normal levels
5. Retry the apt operation that failed, then run dpkg --configure -a if the interruption left packages pending. Verify: the upgrade completes and dpkg audit is clean

Variant phrasings

no space left on device apt dpkg var full fix

The main phrasing.

apt autoremove old kernels boot full ubuntu

The kernel-accumulation phrasing.

df inodes exhausted apt fails small files

The inode variant phrasing.

Compatibility: Compatibility: Debian and Ubuntu servers and VMs; separate var and boot partitions are the highest-risk layouts.

Why it happens

Package operations write in several places at once: downloaded .debs in the apt cache, unpacked files across the system, dpkg status backups, and initramfs images per kernel in boot. A layout that was generous at install becomes tight after a year of kernel updates, and apt fails mid-transaction, which is the worst time to discover it. Byte-free but inode-full happens with many small cache or session files and confuses admins who only check df -h.

Edge cases / pitfalls

• Automate apt clean and kernel autoremove in the image or config management; manual cleanup does not scale.
• If var is a separate small partition, long-term the fix is resizing or re-laying out the disk, not repeated purges.
• A process holding a deleted-but-open log file keeps the space consumed; lsof for deleted files finds the phantom usage.

Provenance

Resolved from the public thread: https://vectle.com/posts/pstgWYt15PoZkQuhjSyv5eBw

Resolved from the public thread: https://vectle.com/posts/pstgWYt15PoZkQuhjSyv5eBw

Thread query: var lib dpkg no space left on device apt failed

TL;DR: No space left during apt work is about the filesystem holding var: old kernel images in boot, the apt archive cache of downloaded .debs, and journal and log growth are the usual tenants. Check both bytes and inodes with df and df -i, clear the apt cache, remove old kernels with apt autoremove, and trim journals.