I'm running Ubuntu 24.04.2 LTS.
As my root filesystem was critically clogged up, I was looking for a way to move my snaps to another filesystem, in my home folder. I found this thread, and decided to follow the indications it contained (I know, I should have done more research...), to the best of my limited abilities. Unfortunately, it seems that this thread did not contain an appropriate answer - and on top of this, I made some mistakes in following it - including:
- moving the wrong snap folder;
- creating the wrong symlink; and
- trying to reverse the process afterwards,
...which led me to filling up my filesystem even more. Now, none of my snaps are functional anymore. I'm looking for help to repair this mess please.
This is the log of what I did:
d@boom:~$ sudo mv /var/snap ~/snap
[sudo] password for d:
d@boom:~$ cd /var
d@boom:/var$ ls
backups cache crash lib local lock log mail metrics opt run spool tmp
d@boom:/var$ sudo ln -s ~/snap /snap
d@boom:/var$ ls -la
total 56
drwxr-xr-x 13 root root 4096 4月 7 19:52 .
drwxr-xr-x 23 root root 4096 4月 7 19:19 ..
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 4月 7 08:04 backups
drwxr-xr-x 23 root root 4096 2月 17 17:41 cache
drwxrwsrwt 2 root whoopsie 4096 4月 6 14:49 crash
drwxr-xr-x 77 root root 4096 3月 6 18:29 lib
drwxrwsr-x 2 root staff 4096 4月 22 2024 local
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 9 8月 27 2024 lock -> /run/lock
drwxrwxr-x 17 root syslog 4096 4月 7 08:22 log
drwxrwsr-x 2 root mail 4096 8月 27 2024 mail
drwxrwsrwt 2 root whoopsie 4096 8月 27 2024 metrics
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 8月 27 2024 opt
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 4 8月 27 2024 run -> /run
drwxr-xr-x 8 root root 4096 7月 18 2017 spool
drwxrwxrwt 16 root root 4096 4月 7 19:38 tmp
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 208 8月 27 2024 .updated
d@boom:/var$ sudo ls -la
total 56
drwxr-xr-x 13 root root 4096 4月 7 19:52 .
drwxr-xr-x 23 root root 4096 4月 7 19:19 ..
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 4月 7 08:04 backups
drwxr-xr-x 23 root root 4096 2月 17 17:41 cache
drwxrwsrwt 2 root whoopsie 4096 4月 6 14:49 crash
drwxr-xr-x 77 root root 4096 3月 6 18:29 lib
drwxrwsr-x 2 root staff 4096 4月 22 2024 local
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 9 8月 27 2024 lock -> /run/lock
drwxrwxr-x 17 root syslog 4096 4月 7 08:22 log
drwxrwsr-x 2 root mail 4096 8月 27 2024 mail
drwxrwsrwt 2 root whoopsie 4096 8月 27 2024 metrics
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 8月 27 2024 opt
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 4 8月 27 2024 run -> /run
drwxr-xr-x 8 root root 4096 7月 18 2017 spool
drwxrwxrwt 16 root root 4096 4月 7 19:38 tmp
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 208 8月 27 2024 .updated
d@boom:/var$ ls
backups cache crash lib local lock log mail metrics opt run spool tmp
d@boom:/var$ ls -ln
total 44
drwxr-xr-x 2 0 0 4096 4月 7 08:04 backups
drwxr-xr-x 23 0 0 4096 2月 17 17:41 cache
drwxrwsrwt 2 0 109 4096 4月 6 14:49 crash
drwxr-xr-x 77 0 0 4096 3月 6 18:29 lib
drwxrwsr-x 2 0 50 4096 4月 22 2024 local
lrwxrwxrwx 1 0 0 9 8月 27 2024 lock -> /run/lock
drwxrwxr-x 17 0 102 4096 4月 7 08:22 log
drwxrwsr-x 2 0 8 4096 8月 27 2024 mail
drwxrwsrwt 2 0 109 4096 8月 27 2024 metrics
drwxr-xr-x 2 0 0 4096 8月 27 2024 opt
lrwxrwxrwx 1 0 0 4 8月 27 2024 run -> /run
drwxr-xr-x 8 0 0 4096 7月 18 2017 spool
drwxrwxrwt 16 0 0 4096 4月 7 19:38 tmp
d@boom:/var$ sudo mv ~/snap /var/snap
mv: error writing '/var/snap/thunderbird/common/.thunderbird/3ie11tn2.default/ImapMail/mail.da.info/INBOX.sbd/Drafts': No space left on device
mv: cannot create directory '/var/snap/thunderbird/684': No space left on device
mv: cannot create directory '/var/snap/mattermost-desktop': No space left on device
mv: cannot create directory '/var/snap/chromium': No space left on device
mv: cannot create directory '/var/snap/snap': No space left on device
mv: cannot create directory '/var/snap/metadata-cleaner': No space left on device
Later on, to clear up space, I rebooted and did
sudo rm -r /var/snap
In case it's of any use, here's what I get for snap list:
Name Version Rev Tracking Publisher Notes
bare 1.0 5 latest/stable canonical✓ base
chromium - 3084 latest/stable canonical✓ broken
core 16-2.61.4-20240607 17200 latest/stable canonical✓ core
core20 20241206 2496 latest/stable canonical✓ base
core22 20250210 1802 latest/stable canonical✓ base
core24 20241217 739 latest/stable canonical✓ base
cups 2.4.11-3 1079 latest/stable openprinting✓ -
ffmpeg-2204 7.0 126 latest/stable snapcrafters✪ -
ffmpeg-2404 7.1.1 59 latest/stable snapcrafters✪ -
firefox 136.0.3-1 5947 latest/stable mozilla✓ -
firmware-updater 0+git.22198be 167 1/stable/… canonical✓ -
gnome-42-2204 0+git.38ea591 202 latest/stable/… canonical✓ -
gnome-46-2404 0+git.7d0cf36 77 latest/stable canonical✓ -
gtk-common-themes 0.1-81-g442e511 1535 latest/stable/… canonical✓ -
gtk2-common-themes 0.1 13 latest/stable canonical✓ -
hunspell-dictionaries u16.04-20180902+pkg-8e08 21 latest/stable brlin -
kf6-core24 6.8.2-6.11.0-6.2.5-24.12.3 22 latest/stable kde✓ -
mattermost-desktop 5.11.2 778 latest/stable snapcrafters✪ -
mesa-2404 24.2.8 495 latest/stable canonical✓ -
metadata-cleaner 2.5.4 58 latest/stable soumyadghosh✪ -
snap-store 0+git.90575829 1270 2/stable/… canonical✓ -
snapd 2.67.1 23771 latest/stable canonical✓ snapd
snapd-desktop-integration 0.9 253 latest/stable canonical✓ -
thunderbird 128.8.1esr-1 684 latest/stable canonical✓ -
I had removed Chromium in an attempt to free up space on my hard drive. Shortcuts to my snaps like Thunderbird or Firefox still appear in my system, but I can't open them. All my user data seems safe in my home folder - I just have no clue how to start cleaning up and repairing...
