Unused Linux image-generic on ubuntu 21.10

I find that there are three different Linux-images installed on my system.

usr@ubuntu2004:~$  dpkg -l | grep "linux-image*"
ii  linux-image-5.13.0-20-generic                 5.13.0-20.20                          amd64        Signed kernel image generic
ii  linux-image-5.13.0-21-generic                 5.13.0-21.21                          amd64        Signed kernel image generic
ii  linux-image-generic                           5.13.0.21.32                          amd64        Generic Linux kernel image

My system specs are;

Operating System: Ubuntu 21.10
KDE Plasma Version: 5.22.5
KDE Frameworks Version: 5.86.0
Qt Version: 5.15.2
Kernel Version: 5.13.0-21-generic (64-bit)
Graphics Platform: Wayland
Processors: 4 × Intel® Core™ i5-8250U CPU @ 1.60GHz
Memory: 7.6 GiB of RAM
Graphics Processor: Mesa Intel® UHD Graphics 620

If I understand correctly, Linux-image 5.13.0.21.32 is not in use. I wonder what it is doing on my system? Is it required? Can I remove it without breaking my system?


Ubuntu has normally two kernels installed: the current and a previous. The latter is needed in case there is a problem with booting with the latest one.

You have two images: 5.13.0-21.21 and 5.13.0-20.20.

linux-image-generic is a meta package that depends on the latest Ubuntu kernel image. If you remove it, you won't get kernel updates.

So everything is correct.