Is there a way to remove/hide old kernel versions?

Every time I install a new linux kernel, it gets left in the grub config, making the boot menu longer each time. I know I can manually search through the installed packages and remove them, but does ubuntu provide any easier way to clean them up or keep them from showing in the boot list?

From ubuntu ImaginaryRobots

• Personally i like using Synaptics, makes me feel more secure about whats going on. The only app I've used that has an option to remove old kernels is Ubuntu Tweak.

  EDIT: How to remove the kernels you are not using

  • Open UbuntuTweak
  • Click on 'Package Cleaner' under 'Applications' in the left-hand pane
  • On the right side of the 'cleaning view' press 'Clean Kernels'
  • Select all kernels - I think the one in use is not listed but just in case check running uname -a in a terminal
  Ken Simon : Ubuntu Tweak is never a good answer to any question, unless that question is "how can I adjust things in Ubuntu without learning a single thing?"
  From Alan FL

• Computer Janitor can clean up old kernels and I believe is installed by default in Ubuntu (but not Kubuntu).

  GRUB 1, if you're using that, has an option in /boot/grub/menu.lst to specify how many kernels it should show at a maximum. GRUB 2, as far as I can tell, does not.

  JanC : Actually, that's a feature of the respective update-grub scripts in Ubuntu, not a GRUB1 vs. GRUB2 feature per se. The way to implement this for GRUB2 would be to modify `/etc/grub.d/10_linux` to respect a variable that you can set in `/etc/default/grub`. (Looks like that would be no more than a 1-3 line change actually.)

  maco : Seems stupid to me to disable use of a variable. Will need to mention this to Colin...
  From maco

• I believe that I have removed old kernels with the "apt-get autoclean" or "apt-get autoremove" command, but I'm not certain.

  From Thorbjørn Ravn Andersen

• In order to remove older linux image kernels first boot in the kernel u want to keep.

  Also u can check the kernel version using command uname -r so that by mistake u don't remove the desired one.

  Now go to synaptic package manager and search for linux-image and remove the older versions except the one shown by upper command. Generally i prefer to go with the latest one.

  Now when u boot u'll see a more clean grub menu. :)

  Broam : This is probably the most basic method that will for users who have installs w/o Computer Janitor.
  From Anurag

• ailurus has the feature of removing old kernels as well as unused configurations. I personally remove it manually from synaptic. You can install ailurus from getdeb as well as ppa

  From sagarchalise

• Purely commandline, this will remove all but the current and second most current (via the "-2" in the head command below):

  OLD=$(ls -tr /boot/vmlinuz-* | head -n -2 | cut -d- -f2- | \
      awk '"'"'{print "linux-image-" $0}'"'"' )
  if [ -n "$OLD" ]; then
      apt-get -qy remove --purge $OLD
  fi
  apt-get -qy autoremove --purge
  

  ImaginaryRobots : I don't think that counts as "easier", and isn't provided by ubuntu.
  From Kees Cook