Document minimum and required disk storage

Note: the "16 GB without downloaded updates[1]. 1: The installer’s third prompt shows ‘You need at least 16.0 GB disk space to install Trisquel’ if the disk size is 15.9 GB. Otherwise, the same prompt includes a checked ‘Download updates while installing Trisquel’ checkbox that must be unchecked if installing on a disk exactly 16.0 GB in size." message should not be modified at https://trisquel.info/en/wiki/system-requirements. The discussion below is regarding the disk size for the more common use of installation with ‘Download updates while installing Trisquel’ enabled and future updated performed routinely, that currently is documented to 25 GB.

Overview

Root partition, used disk space by upgrades

Table showing root usage in trisquel_11.0.1_amd64 by update behavior.

Update behavior /dev/mapper/vgtrisquel-root Used (G)
‘Download updates while installing Trisquel’ disabled installation 6.4 G
‘Download updates while installing Trisquel’ enabled installation 7.5 G
Weekly upgrades for several months[1] 12 G
Weekly upgrades during the lifespan of the distribution[2] ~20 G
Weekly upgrades during the lifespan of the distribution + the lifespan of distribution upgrade[3] ? G
  • 1: sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get upgrade && sudo apt-get dist-upgrade && apt-get autoremove
  • 2: Exmple: Trisquel 10.0 was release 2022-02-01 and Trisquel 11.0 was released 2023-03-19, which is 411 days. For people that installed Trisquel 10.0 on the release date it should be possible to upgrade with Automatically check for updates: Daily (for the GUI)orsudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get upgrade && sudo apt-get dist-upgrade && apt-get autoremove` for 411 days in a row without getting the root partition filled.
  • 3: Example: Trisquel Trisquel 11.0 was released 2023-03-19 and is supported until 2027 which is 1,386 days. For people that installed Trisquel 11.0 on the release date it should be possible to upgrade with Automatically check for updates: Daily (for the GUI)orsudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get upgrade && sudo apt-get dist-upgrade && apt-get autoremove` for 1386 days in a row without getting the root partition filled.

See the Detailed data section for more information.

Detailed data

trisquel_11.0_amd64.iso testing (old recommendation)

25 GB disk, fresh install + downloaded updates

Back in Jul 4, 2023 (for Trisquel 11.0), you said "TLDR; I would recommend an overall of 25 GB of disk for trisquel." (#90 (comment 9663)) which I back then agreed with.

Testing 2024-09-14:

  • 25 GB (23.3 GiB) disk size
  • trisquel_11.0_amd64.iso
  • With the default ‘Download updates while installing Trisquel’ option enabled
  • Disk size output:
$ df -h
Filesystem                   Size  Used Avail Use% Mounted on
tmpfs                        3,1G  1,4M  3,1G   1% /run
/dev/mapper/vgtrisquel-root  9,6G  6,7G  2,4G  74% /
tmpfs                         16G     0   16G   0% /dev/shm
tmpfs                        5,0M  4,0K  5,0M   1% /run/lock
/dev/vda3                    1,7G   95M  1,5G   7% /boot
/dev/vda2                    512M  296K  512M   1% /boot/efi
/dev/mapper/vgtrisquel-home   11G  2,6M   11G   1% /home
tmpfs                        3,1G  112K  3,1G   1% /run/user/116
tmpfs                        3,1G  152K  3,1G   1% /run/user/1000
  • Exact /dev/mapper/vgtrisquel-root size[1]: 9,51 G

trisquel_11.0.1_amd64.iso testing

25 GB disk, fresh install + downloaded updates

Testing 2024-09-14:

  • trisquel_11.0.1_amd64.iso
  • 25 GB (23.3 GiB) disk size
  • With the default ‘Download updates while installing Trisquel’ option enabled. Note: If the download option is disable 6.4 G will be used by /dev/mapper/vgtrisquel-root
  • Disk size output:
$ df -h
Filesystem                   Size  Used Avail Use% Mounted on
tmpfs                        3,1G  1,3M  3,1G   1% /run
/dev/mapper/vgtrisquel-root  9,6G  7,6G  1,5G  85% /
tmpfs                         16G     0   16G   0% /dev/shm
tmpfs                        5,0M  4,0K  5,0M   1% /run/lock
/dev/vda3                    1,7G  173M  1,4G  12% /boot
/dev/vda2                    512M  296K  512M   1% /boot/efi
/dev/mapper/vgtrisquel-home   11G  3,9M   11G   1% /home
tmpfs                        3,1G  120K  3,1G   1% /run/user/1000
  • Exact /dev/mapper/vgtrisquel-root size[1]: 9,51 G

85% is used by /dev/mapper/vgtrisquel-root

44 GB disk, fresh install + downloaded updates, and multiple updates later

Testing between the date from Trisquel 11.0.1 was released to 2024-09-14:

  • trisquel_11.0.1_amd64.iso
  • 44 GB (40 GiB) disk size
  • With the default ‘Download updates while installing Trisquel’ option enabled
  • Then I ran sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get dist-upgrade strictly with no other commands weekly for several months.
  • Disk size output:
$ df -h
Filesystem                   Size  Used Avail Use% Mounted on
tmpfs                        1.6G  1.3M  1.6G   1% /run
/dev/mapper/vgtrisquel-root   14G   12G  752M  95% /
tmpfs                        7.7G     0  7.7G   0% /dev/shm
tmpfs                        5.0M  4.0K  5.0M   1% /run/lock
/dev/vda3                    1.7G  566M  978M  37% /boot
/dev/vda2                    512M  296K  512M   1% /boot/efi
/dev/mapper/vgtrisquel-home   23G  4.4M   22G   1% /home
tmpfs                        1.6G  120K  1.6G   1% /run/user/1000
  • Exact /dev/mapper/vgtrisquel-root size[1]: 13.36 G

Issue

I got a low disk space Notification.

95% is used by /dev/mapper/vgtrisquel-root (excerpt from df -h in the previous section):

$ df -h
Filesystem                   Size  Used Avail Use% Mounted on
/dev/mapper/vgtrisquel-root   14G   12G  752M  95% /

50 GB disk, fresh install + downloaded updates

Testing 2024-09-14:

  • trisquel_11.0.1_amd64.iso
  • 50 GB (46.6 GiB) disk size
  • With the default ‘Download updates while installing Trisquel’ option enabled
  • Disk size output:
$ df -h
Filesystem                   Size  Used Avail Use% Mounted on
tmpfs                        3,1G  1,3M  3,1G   1% /run
/dev/mapper/vgtrisquel-root   15G  7,5G  6,7G  54% /
tmpfs                         16G     0   16G   0% /dev/shm
tmpfs                        5,0M  4,0K  5,0M   1% /run/lock
/dev/vda3                    1,7G  173M  1,4G  12% /boot
/dev/vda2                    512M  296K  512M   1% /boot/efi
/dev/mapper/vgtrisquel-home   28G  3,9M   26G   1% /home
tmpfs                        3,1G  116K  3,1G   1% /run/user/1000
  • Exact /dev/mapper/vgtrisquel-root size[1]: 14,89 G

Expectation: /dev/mapper/vgtrisquel-root notes: Currently only 7,5G is used (see df -h above), but in the long-term 12G will be used by repeated upgrades (see the "40 GB disk..." section above). The disk size is 15G (see df -h above) which means that it will have 3 GiB left when 12G is occupied (15-12).

Recommendation

  • 25 GB is the current system requirement, but not even 44 GB (40 GiB) is sufficient to perform upgrades routinely without getting system notifications about low disk space. I'm confident that 50 GB is an improved recommendation based on all my evaluations.

References

1: https://trisquel.info/en/wiki/root-partition-size-based-disk-size

Edited by David Hedlund
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