no space left on device

English Install/Boot/Login
1

Hi all!
Rather than upgrading from OpenSuSE 12.3 to 13.1 I decided to do a fresh install. I got the openSUSE-13.1-GNOME-Live-x86_64.iso. and formatted my /dev/sdb1 (31 GB) partition where I put / and did not formatted my /dev/sdb2 (50 GB) where i kept my /home. The installation went well and everything was working allright.
The next day I decided to look for updates and I don’t recall how many there were but it took a good 3 hours to download and install them ( which is a little strange because I do have a good internet connection ). Anyway after a reboot all I get is a prompt where I can log in as myself and my password is accepted but if I type “startx” I get the following message;

usr/bin/startx line 208: cannot create temp file for here-document: No space left on device
xauth: file /home/rejean/.Xauthority does not exist

repeated twice for different line # then;

Fatal server error:
(EE) Cannot move old log file “/var/log/Xorg.log” to “/var/log/Xorg.0.log.old”

and finally;

xinit failed. /usr/bin/Xorg is not setuid,maybe that’s the reason?
If so either use a display manager (strongly recommended) or adjust /etc/permissions.local

I find it a little strange that / would require 31 GB of space don’t you? So what do you suggest I do? I am willing to reinstall if I have to.

In the meantime here is what I get mounting the partition in PCLinuxOS;


[root@localhost rejean]# cd /mnt/suse/var/log
[root@localhost log]# ls -l
total 27767736
-rw-r----- 1 root root                   0 Jul 19 17:57 acpid
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root           15706 Jul 19 18:46 alternatives.log
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root            4096 Jan 27 06:24 apparmor/
drwx------ 2 root root            4096 Sep 28  2013 audit/
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root          116917 Jul 18 13:05 boot.kiwi
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root                   0 Jul 22  2014 boot.log
-rw------- 1 root root                   0 Jul 22 01:27 btmp
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root                   0 Nov  6  2013 config.log
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root            4096 Jul  3 13:24 ConsoleKit/
drwxr-xr-x 2 lp   lp                    4096 Mar  4 05:46 cups/
-rw------- 1 root root           32000 Jul 19 18:52 faillog
-rw-r----- 1 root root           15721 Jul 20 13:53 firewall
drwx--x--x 2 root ntools                4096 Jul 22  2014 gdm/
drwx------ 2 root root            4096 Nov 27  2013 krb5/
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root          292292 Jul 22  2014 lastlog
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root            8192 Jul 22  2014 localmessages
-rw-r----- 1 root root            4096 Jul 22  2014 mail
-rw-r----- 1 root root            1885 Jul 22  2014 mail.err
-rw-r----- 1 root root            4096 Jul 22  2014 mail.info
-rw-r----- 1 root root            1885 Jul 22  2014 mail.warn
-rw-r----- 1 root root           77824 Jul 22  2014 messages
-rw-r----- 1 root root          387144 Jul 19 20:45 messages-20140719.xz
-rw-r----- 1 root root   28431433728 Jul 21 19:30 messages-20140721
-rw-r----- 1 root root                   0 Jul 21 19:30 messages-20140721.xz
-rw-r----- 1 root root           35166 Jul 19 17:57 NetworkManager
drwxr-x--- 2 news news            4096 Nov  6  2013 news/
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root                   0 Nov  6  2013 ntp
-rw------- 1 root root          967272 Jul 19 19:02 pbl.log
-rw-r----- 1 root users    240537 Jul 20 03:06 pk_backend_zypp
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root                   0 Jul 20 03:19 pm-powersave.log
drwxr-x--- 3 root root            4096 Jun 23 13:10 samba/                                                                                                                                                                       
drwxr-x--- 2 root        16             4096 Sep 27  2013 smpppd/
-rw-r----- 1 root users          6650 Jul 19 19:59 snapper.log
drwx------ 2 root root            4096 Oct  1  2013 speech-dispatcher/
drwxr-x--- 2 root root            4096 Jun  4 10:13 sssd/
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root          401408 Jul 22  2014 warn
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root             880 Jul 22  2014 wpa_supplicant.log
-rw-rw-r-- 1 root cdrom         40704 Jul 22  2014 wtmp
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root                   0 Jul 22  2014 Xorg.0.log
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root                   0 Jul 22 01:52 Xorg.0.log.old
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root                   0 Jul 22  2014 Xorg.1.log
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root                   0 Jul 22 01:43 Xorg.1.log.old
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root                   0 Jul 22  2014 Xorg.2.log
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root                   0 Jul 22 01:45 Xorg.2.log.old
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root                   0 Jul 22  2014 Xorg.3.log
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root                   0 Jul 22 01:45 Xorg.3.log.old
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root                   0 Jul 22  2014 Xorg.4.log
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root                   0 Jul 22 01:45 Xorg.4.log.old
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root                   0 Jul 22  2014 Xorg.5.log
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root                   0 Jul 22 01:45 Xorg.5.log.old
drwx------ 2 root root            4096 Jul 21 21:47 YaST2/
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root            4096 May 20 09:55 zypp/
-rw-r----- 1 root root                   0 Jul 22 01:32 zypper.log
[root@localhost log]
2

-rw-r----- 1 root root 28431433728 Jul 21 19:30 messages-20140721

28 GB?
Look what is going wrong in that File.

3

Yes I see this but what could I do about it? What I mean is that I have no idea how it got there and I don’t know how to fix it.

4

On 2014-07-22 20:56 (GMT) rejean composed:

> Sauerland;2655318 Wrote:

>> 28 GB?
>> Look what is going wrong in that File.

> Yes I see this but what could I do about it?

It’s just evidence of logging gone rogue. Run fsck to make sure it’s not
filesystem error, then delete it. Then if it appears to be growing out of
control again and again needs deleting to keep freespace reasonable,
investigate how it could have grown so big.

Team OS/2 ** Reg. Linux User #211409 ** a11y rocks!

Felix Miata *** http://fm.no-ip.com/

5

Then if it appears to be growing out of
control again and again needs deleting to keep freespace reasonable,
investigate how it could have grown so big.

Maybe something is mentioned in the File messages?
You can open it and see, what is spamming that File before deleting this File.

6

Note use **less **command to view the file editors can’t handle files that large usually

7

Hi rejean,

Fine.

Fine.

Not fine: bad!

You can do this, but only if you delete all the hidden files and directories,
the names of which start with a period (or ‘.’), like ./thumbnails or whatever
in e.g. /home/USER, where USER is your default user,
or in /home/OTHERUSER, if you have a second (third…) user on that system.

./thunderbird (in e.g. /home/USER) is an exception, because it contains all of your old eMails,
if you don’t ‘save’ your eMails in the ‘cloud’ (which would be the modern way to do it),
but save them on your hard disk instead.

Otherwise, i.e. when not deleting these hidden files and folders,
you will have a problem, which you in fact seem to have.

Do that step, remove these hidden folders and files, the names of which start with a period (or ‘.’),
and repeat the installation.

Do you still have problems then?

Good luck
Mike

8

OK this is misleading, because entered in a shell (or terminal), ‘./’ means something else.

I use KDE.

If in the ‘View’ pull down menu I choose ‘Show Hidden Files’ then all that hidden files and folders are listed.

Good luck again
Mike

9

I didn’t know about the files starting with “.” in /home had to be deleted first and I don’t use thunderbird, only firefox and yahoo mail ( well okay I use Google Chrome sometimes and gmail rarely.). I’ll try to delete the hidden files and then reinstall.

10

Hi rejean!

I once didn’t know about these files either,
and I asked myself the same question as you did:
does the /home partition really has to be re-formatted, deleting all thoses files that afterwards may be copied to that partition again?

No.

But if you don’t delete the hidden files and folders prior to the installation,
the installation itself won’t run well.

.thunderbird is an exception.
It is the other stuff that poses the problems.

Besides, the installer does take notice of whether any hidden files/folders are present,
and will not complain that you should format your /home partition in the case
that you deleted them before you installed.
That’s my experience.

Good luck!!
Mike

11

On 2014-07-22 22:06 (GMT) ratzi composed:

> delete all the hidden files and directories,
> the names of which start with a period (or ‘.’), like ./thumbnails or
> whatever
> in e.g. /home/USER, where USER is your default user,
> or in /home/OTHERUSER, if you have a second (third…) user on that
> system.

> ./thunderbird (in e.g. /home/USER) is an exception, because it contains
> all of your old eMails,
> if you don’t ‘save’ your eMails in the ‘cloud’ (which would be the
> modern way to do it),
> but save them on your hard disk instead.

> Otherwise, i.e. when not deleting these hidden files and folders,
> you will have a problem, which you in fact seem to have.

> Do that step, remove these hidden folders and files, the names of which
> start with a period (or ‘.’),
> and repeat the installation.

Willy nilly deleting every file and directory starting with . except
…thunderbird means starting from scratch for everything except Thunderbird, a
recommendation I would never consider making without explaining all the
things that can be lost, such as:

Firefox settings (e.g. bookmarks)
SeaMonkey settings (e.g. passwords)
SeaMonkey email
Kmail mail
Settings for many apps that work just fine with newer app versions

There is rarely any problem with any Mozilla settings posed by an upgrade to
a newer version, and a lot of work involved restoring all the personalization
that can accumulate over time.

One can rename . directories and files one by one if it becomes necessary to
troubleshoot a problem arising from a software upgrade. Deleting them all may
be simple, and seem like a safe plan, but it presents opportunity for a lot
of needless headache and work.

The wise are known for their understanding, and pleasant
words are persuasive.

Team OS/2 ** Reg. Linux User #211409 ** a11y rocks!

Felix Miata *** http://fm.no-ip.com/

12

On 2014-07-23 01:26, rejean wrote:
>
> I didn’t know about the files starting with “.” in /home had to be
> deleted first

IMO, you do not need to. I haven’t done that in decades and many
upgrades (literally).

> and I don’t use thunderbird, only firefox and yahoo mail (
> well okay I use Google Chrome sometimes and gmail rarely.). I’ll try to
> delete the hidden files and then reinstall.

Please don’t.

Your problem is, as others have said, this huge file:


28431433728 Jul 21 19:30 messages-20140721

So first look inside with the command “less”, because it probably will
have millions of the same line, repeated millions and millions of times.
After you find out what is the repeated line or group of lines, and
saved a bunch of them somewhere for reference, just delete that file and
boot. And tell us what those lines are.

–
Cheers / Saludos,

Carlos E. R.

(from 13.1 x86_64 “Bottle” (Minas Tirith))

13

Well I deleted the files and folders starting with a “.” from /home and reinstalled. All I had to do was figure out the network and copy the “.mozilla” folder from another distro and here I am using the 3.11.6-4-desktop kernel and going for an online update-upgrade. I have 21 GB free in my /home partition out of 50 GB but there are still big folders present and over 28 GB of free space on my / partition out of 31 GB. We’ll see what happens after the update. Let’s hope it works okay this time. I have almost 20 % updates already in less that 10-15 min much better than 3 hours for the whole process last time.

14

Hi all !

I forgot to say sth.: you need to run your system from another partition or live medium
(i.e. the rescue system of the installer DVD) or an installation on an USB drive etc.,
in order to be able to delete the invisible files and folders.

I currently have a triple boot with 2 times openSUSE which eases such things considerably!

If you try to delete the invisible files and folders from the volume you’re currently running from
your system will probably crash.

I save my Firfox bookmarks separately,
and anyway usually rename .thunderbird from time to time when making
a backup of that folder to an external hard disk.

OK, that isn’t the case for me, but it can be the case for others.

renaming one by one … may on the other hand not solve the problem of an installation going bust.

I have another idea: why not create a new empty folder, in e.g. /home/USER,
call it ‘00_system_files’ or whatever,
and then move the whole bunch of hidden .-files and .-folders into that new folder
before installation?

If there is enough space on the volume with /home on it (!) this would work as well.

So long
Mike

15

Sounds good !!

Good that you had a copy of your .mozilly folder … :wink:

16

On 2014-07-23 11:56, ratzi wrote:

> renaming one by one … may on the other hand not solve the problem of
> an installation going bust.

I NEVER had an installation going bust because of files a user may or
not have inside his home. At worst, that user /may/ have problems when
he starts, which are solvable by just renaming or moving the files or
directories, which can be easily done with ‘mc’.

On the other hand, I have had huge problems created by removing those
hidden directories and files from the previous release.

> I have another idea: why not create a new empty folder, in e.g.
> /home/USER,
> call it ‘00_system_files’ or whatever,
> and then move the whole bunch of hidden .-files and .-folders into that
> new folder
> before installation?

Yes, but you can do it perfectly well after installation. Whatever is
there does not affect installation at all.

–
Cheers / Saludos,

Carlos E. R.

(from 13.1 x86_64 “Bottle” (Minas Tirith))

17

I let the updating/upgrading finish on its own last night then this morning I rebooted into Ubuntu so that I could “update-grub” and here I am in a perfectly functioning OpenSuSE so I have to assume that it was a botched updating/upgrading the other day. My / partition as over 28 GB of free space out of 31 GB and my /home 21 GB free out of 50 GB.
I’ll see if I can mark this thread as “solved” and thank everyone for their assistance.
@ robin. I wish I had seen your reply earlier so that I could have tried your suggestions. I knew right from the beginning that a reinstalling would probably solve the problem but I was hoping to find and learn more ways around it. I have written your suggestion into my notes in case I ever need it again.Thanks anyway.

18

On 2014-07-23 09:56 (GMT) ratzi composed:

> I forgot to say sth.: you need to run your system from another partition
> or live medium (i.e. the rescue system of the installer DVD) or an
> installation on an USB drive etc., in order to be able to delete the
> invisible files and folders.

Using the words “need to” technically makes the above statement false.

> If you try to delete the invisible files and folders from the volume
> you’re currently running from your system will probably crash.

It might crash, but only if following lack of, or inept, or incomplete,
instruction how to go about such deletion. Deleting dot files or directories
from your own $HOME is indeed an invitation for trouble, but it is trouble
easily avoided by using a different user with write access to that $HOME to
do so, if done while such user whose $HOME being deleted from is logged out.
Logging in as root is one such workaround not necessitating an alternate boot.

Linux is both multitasking, and multiuser, which provides a wide variety of
ways to skin common cats.

The wise are known for their understanding, and pleasant
words are persuasive.

Team OS/2 ** Reg. Linux User #211409 ** a11y rocks!

Felix Miata *** http://fm.no-ip.com/

19

Hmm, OK ?

Ah yes, clearly, and that user usually will be ‘root’.

Greets :wink:
Mike

20

On 2014-07-24 01:36, ratzi wrote:

>> easily avoided by using a different user with write access to that $HOME
>> …
>
> Ah yes, clearly, and that user usually will be ‘root’.

Actually, you can delete your own entire home if you log in text mode,
it will not crash.

–
Cheers / Saludos,

Carlos E. R.

(from 13.1 x86_64 “Bottle” (Minas Tirith))