What is /boot/kernel/*.symbols?

[Dimitry Andric]

On 2009-07-03 16:25, Patrick M. Hausen wrote:
> On a current server with 512 MB /, the filesystem is at
> 97% after installing a new kernel twice. Can I get rid of
> these files somehow or are they necessary, in which case
> I will need way bigger root filesystems?
> 
> I mean, get rid automatically and never install them again.
> I know the chflags and rm commands ;-) But then the question
> of they are needed is still open.

You can find this in /usr/src/UPDATING:

20060118:
        This actually occured some time ago, but installing the kernel
        now also installs a bunch of symbol files for the kernel modules.
        This increases the size of /boot/kernel to about 67Mbytes. You
        will need twice this if you will eventually back this up to kernel.old
        on your next install.
        If you have a shortage of room in your root partition, you should add
        -DINSTALL_NODEBUG to your make arguments or add INSTALL_NODEBUG="yes"
        to your /etc/make.conf.

However, you should consider increasing the size of your root
partition, if possible.  It can be extremely handy to have symbol files
available whenever there's a crash.  :)