How do you keep your distrobution clean?

[galacticaboy]

I would like to know how some of you keep your Linux Distro clean? What do you do to make it sparkle and shine?

Here is what I do, I know some of this may be redundant, but I do it anyway.
1. Run BleachBit in Root mode
2. Run Ubuntu Tweaks Package Cleaner
3. sudo apt-get autoremove
4. Organize all of my desktop icons, files, and folders into clean folders, or take them off my desktop period


I do this about one time a week! So how do you clean your Linux PC? Are there some other ways to keep it super clean?
David

[smellyman]

Put a new distro on every month or so. I just can't help myself and it is just way too easy to do with linux.

[NightwishFan]

I never need maintenance really. I can't think of anything except perhaps Firefox that might need it. At times I have to delete some old files to renew some space on my data drive. I tend to hoard iso images of distributions I try after a while.

[VastOne]

I would like to know how some of you keep your Linux Distro clean? What do you do to make it sparkle and shine?

Here is what I do, I know some of this may be redundant, but I do it anyway.
1. Run BleachBit in Root mode
2. Run Ubuntu Tweaks Package Cleaner
3. sudo apt-get autoremove
4. Organize all of my desktop icons, files, and folders into clean folders, or take them off my desktop period


I do this about one time a week! So how do you clean your Linux PC? Are there some other ways to keep it super clean?
David

Good advice .. A lot of ppl do not know of some of these tools.. Well done

I also like your sig line, worth repeating and one that lot of users really need to learn

People need to learn the difference between an opinion and someone blowing smoke out their behind. When someone gives their opinion, do not tell them they are wrong, or even make them sound like they are wrong. It is an opinion, get over it.

[NightwishFan]

Over and done with.

[VastOne]

You better not be referring to me.

WTF???? Get over yourself... You happen to see this thread and somehow connect it to you

What am I, some kind of a wizard that would know you would read this?

Why so defensive?

[NightwishFan]

Edit: resolved

[VastOne]

I would like to know how some of you keep your Linux Distro clean? What do you do to make it sparkle and shine?

Here is what I do, I know some of this may be redundant, but I do it anyway.
1. Run BleachBit in Root mode
2. Run Ubuntu Tweaks Package Cleaner
3. sudo apt-get autoremove
4. Organize all of my desktop icons, files, and folders into clean folders, or take them off my desktop period


I do this about one time a week! So how do you clean your Linux PC? Are there some other ways to keep it super clean?
David

Back on topic, is there any inherent risks to bleachbit that you have come across?

[VastOne]

Why do you care? :rolleyes: Cya ):P

I do not, just wondering why I am being targeted..

Seems rather immature..

[VastOne]

Put a new distro on every month or so. I just can't help myself and it is just way too easy to do with linux.

Yep.. I do the same thing...

[inobe]

i clean every six months, in fact the next cleanup is scheduled for 4-28-11 :P

[NightwishFan]

Over time the /var/cache/apt directory does get a bit cluttered, especially on a rolling distribution. apt-get autoclean is always a good step. You have to be careful about left over virtualbox vms as well, they can add up if you forget to delete them.

[Rasa1111]

I would like to know how some of you keep your Linux Distro clean? What do you do to make it sparkle and shine?

Here is what I do, I know some of this may be redundant, but I do it anyway.
1. Run BleachBit in Root mode
2. Run Ubuntu Tweaks Package Cleaner
3. sudo apt-get autoremove
4. Organize all of my desktop icons, files, and folders into clean folders, or take them off my desktop period


I do this about one time a week! So how do you clean your Linux PC? Are there some other ways to keep it super clean?
David

I don't find it much of an issue since Ive been using Ubuntu
(1 year).

But when I do "clean up",
I do a couple things..

1. I use Tweak *usually* (sometimes I use synaptic) and I clean my cache, clean configs, clean old kernals, and any unused PPA's.

2. I
sudo apt-get autoclean

3. I remove all old downloads, zips/tar.gz's,/.rars, etc.

4. I take everything that Ive downloaded, (if I dont need(or want)it just sitting on the machine), and I transfer it all to a 1TB external drive, and then remove it from the computer.

I only do all of these things every few months or so...
But most times, in between the few months, Ill throw in a
sudo apt-get autoclean, or move some new files over to the external.

Keeping Ubuntu clean is like nothing, compared to when I used to attempt to keep my windows clean. lol

[Shmantiv_Radio]

Bleachbit. The amount of crap it gets rid of is amazing.

[wolfen69]

i clean every six months, in fact the next cleanup is scheduled for 4-28-11 :P

This.

[Philsoki]

When I was running Ubuntu I had a habit of doing this from time to time:

sudo apt-get autoremove

sudo apt-get autoclean

sudo apt-get clean

Didn't really need to do it.. Bit I did.

I can't believe some people here do a clean install once a month! On a test machine, yeah, OK. But on a work machine I could hardly be bothered... I guess it would be good practice to back up documents all the time.

[galacticaboy]

Back on topic, is there any inherent risks to bleachbit that you have come across?

None so far, it works very well, but when I have every box checked, I will get a message saying that I only have less than 1GB of hard drive space left, but that is because it is cleaning it, not a big deal.

[Shmantiv_Radio]

will get a message saying that I only have less than 1GB of hard drive space left, but that is because it is cleaning it, not a big deal.

No it's because you've ticked Free Disk Space, which shreds the free disk space to hide what's there. It's utterly pointless to tick this option.

[user1397]

I try to run bleachbit since it seems to take care of most things (even apt-get autoremove, autoclean, etc) once in a while, but that's it as far as OS maintenance

[dzon65]

Some good cleaning with wajig and deborphan. In script form, it does one hell of cleaning.
Such as:
apt-get clean
apt-get autoclean
apt-get autoremove
apt-get purge
delete orphaned packages
delete residual config files
delete thumbnails (current user)
delete thumbnails (root)
delete mozilla cache (current user)
delete trash (current user)
delete trash (root)

[vehemoth]

I can't believe some people here do a clean install once a month! On a test machine, yeah, OK. But on a work machine I could hardly be bothered... I guess it would be good practice to back up documents all the time.

I often do, but that's mainly because i stuff up my linux a bit, It's only because linux is so easy to install, it's not like the treading over egg shells that I used to do on windows.

[lucazade]

I use bleachbit once a month maybe, for the rest it is usally clean because I use minimal installation and don't play a lot with software center.

[Bluesan]

I would like to know how some of you keep your Linux Distro clean? What do you do to make it sparkle and shine?

Here is what I do, I know some of this may be redundant, but I do it anyway.
1. Run BleachBit in Root mode
2. Run Ubuntu Tweaks Package Cleaner
3. sudo apt-get autoremove
4. Organize all of my desktop icons, files, and folders into clean folders, or take them off my desktop period


I do this about one time a week! So how do you clean your Linux PC? Are there some other ways to keep it super clean?
David

This "How-to" thread has been around a long time, and is the standard that many use to keep their installs tidy...

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=140920

[Philsoki]

This "How-to" thread has been around a long time, and is the standard that many use to keep their installs tidy...

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=140920
Thankyou, you just reminded me of one of the most important commands know to linux:

apt-get moo

[VastOne]

I can't believe some people here do a clean install once a month! On a test machine, yeah, OK. But on a work machine I could hardly be bothered... I guess it would be good practice to back up documents all the time.


Test partitions, all over the place...

But, if you have your /home on a separate partition and use Synaptic to backup your current applications and restore it on the new install, you are really only talking a matter of minutes to install...

[Simian Man]

My laptop has two hard drives the same size, one has / and swap on it and the other has /home. The one with / and swap is only 13% full despite having tons of packages installed. So I really have no reason to try to keep things clean :).

[VastOne]

My laptop has two hard drives the same size, one has / and swap on it and the other has /home. The one with / and swap is only 13% full despite having tons of packages installed. So I really have no reason to try to keep things clean :).

You would be amazed at how much "could" be there...

When I see the real differences is doing a backup, rsync or a dd to another partition.. If I do a cleanup before hand, all those unneeded packages removed makes it a lot smaller!

[Simian Man]

When I see the real differences is doing a backup, rsync or a dd to another partition.. If I do a cleanup before hand, all those unneeded packages removed makes it a lot smaller!

Ah yes, if I ever did those things, there would be a reason to cleanup, but I only ever backup stuff in /home.

[angry_johnnie]

i just refrain from installing anything i don´t need. a few years ago, i would´ve installed everything but the kitchen sink. one gets a bit more reasonable over time.

[Aquix]

I have one alias that I use often and it also cleans the system

alias sx="sudo aptitude update &&sudo apt-get upgrade &&sudo aptitude dist-upgrade &&sudo apt-get autoclean &&sudo aptitude clean &&sudo apt-get autoremove &&rm -rf /media/sdb/.Trash-1000/* &&rm -rf ~/.local/share/Trash/* &&rm -rf /media/sdc/.Trash-1000/"

Then I install ubuntu tweak when I read about new versions in ubuntu blogs.

Ooh, I also use ppa-purge. awesome little program.

[Legendary_Bibo]

I don't clean anything. I'm a packrat by nature, even on my computer hard drive. I should save a copy of my /home on my bro's external 2tb HDD. I think my HDD is sick now, or at least it sounds like it when I'm using Gimp and playing music, and sometimes the music skips but I think it's because it has to access the swap.

[townsy]

Hi I am fairly new to ubuntu and I use natty narwhal ,I found this article on a gogle site
which helped me allot I had all sorts of orphaned junk on the os ,aptitude got rid of it via the terminal ,any ways as copied below you may find it will help you get rid of unwanted junk files,


heres the article......

0 down vote favorite (http://askubuntu.com/questions/57476/unable-to-remove-residual-config-packages-in-synaptic-package-manager#) 2
share [fb] share [tw] share [in]
I am using 11.04 with Synaptic Package Manager (Ver 0.70). When I select 'Status' and try to delete packages from the 'Not Installed (residual config)' option, although I can select these old applications (such as Banshee and Evolution which I don't use) and 'mark for removal', the 'Apply' button is not active and remains greyed out. I assume that I am administrator as I am the only user of the machine and can use the 'sudo' prompt in terminal. What am I doing wrong?

synaptic (http://askubuntu.com/questions/tagged/synaptic)
link (http://askubuntu.com/q/57476)improve this question (http://askubuntu.com/posts/57476/edit)
asked Aug 17 at 15:51
http://www.gravatar.com/avatar/35dc7b9a7585273ed9843e1a1d216c0b?s=32&d=identicon&r=PG
(http://askubuntu.com/users/23451/andyt)
andyt (http://askubuntu.com/users/23451/andyt)
1



feedback
2 Answers

active (http://askubuntu.com/questions/57476/unable-to-remove-residual-config-packages-in-synaptic-package-manager?answertab=active#tab-top) oldest (http://askubuntu.com/questions/57476/unable-to-remove-residual-config-packages-in-synaptic-package-manager?answertab=oldest#tab-top) votes (http://askubuntu.com/questions/57476/unable-to-remove-residual-config-packages-in-synaptic-package-manager?answertab=votes#tab-top)


up vote 1 down vote
That is a known bug. You can remove the residual config files without synaptic using this handy one-liner:
aptitude -F %p search '~c' | xargs dpkg -P You may have to install aptitude (http://packages.ubuntu.com/aptitude)http://bit.ly/software-small (http://apt.ubuntu.com/p/aptitude) if you haven't done that yet.

link (http://askubuntu.com/questions/57476/unable-to-remove-residual-config-packages-in-synaptic-package-manager/57482#57482)improve this answer (http://askubuntu.com/posts/57482/edit)
edited Aug 17 at 16:21 (http://askubuntu.com/posts/57482/revisions)
http://www.gravatar.com/avatar/d629b6ac45d58dbd918c0246b364748d?s=32&d=identicon&r=PG
(http://askubuntu.com/users/1992/roland-taylor)
Roland Taylor (http://askubuntu.com/users/1992/roland-taylor)
14.5k21244

answered Aug 17 at 16:20
http://www.gravatar.com/avatar/98eb24a6fa5b9a55ae5289bc1e44311c?s=32&d=identicon&r=PG
(http://askubuntu.com/users/15635/exasam)
exasam (http://askubuntu.com/users/15635/exasam)
37128



sudo aptitude purge ~c is more than enough. – enzotib (http://askubuntu.com/users/2647/enzotib) Aug 17 at 16:30

feedback


after I downloaded aptitude I then used sudo aptitude purge ~c it got nrid of masses of junk files I had accumalated!

[Erik1984]

By doing nothing (cleaning tools and such). Only thing I do is try to organize my home folder and don't leave too much files in the downloads folder, so either delete if I don't need them or put in the appropriate folders.

[handy]

I have an alias in Arch that removes all unused packages from /var/cache/pacman/pkg/

alias clearcache="sudo pacman -Sc"

which I do from time to time.

DotPac, is a great little tool for cleaning up all of the .pac* files that you can accumulate in Arch.

Apart from the above running Arch allows you to only have installed what you chose to install yourself, so that keeps the system cleaner than most distros out there.

Another thing I do is have my /home & /store partitions pretty well organised & I back them up to a ReadyNAS Duo, (which is also a torrent slave) which isn't so much about keeping the system clean as keeping the data in a more secure fashion & using less power as I can turn off my main machine(s) when I go to bed & the little ReadyNAS can stay on torrenting whilst running on the smell of an oily rag (so to speak).

Also, I use Openbox with no icons on the desktop, & manage my system primarily via Worker. This certainly wouldn't suit most users but it makes it really easy for me to see my directory structure & its contents & to operate on it however I desire.

[wojox]

http://www.1stchoicecleaningsupplies.com/images_123/cleaning-products.jpg

[Gremlinzzz]

Bleachbit in root:popcorn:

[IWantFroyo]

I just have a seperate /home partition. Whenever my system gets horribly bloated, I install another distro.

I follow the progress of multiple distros (openSUSE, Fedora, eOS, #!, Debian, etc.), so it's too easy to switch when a new version comes out. Only takes a few minutes. :)

Most of the time, I end up installing something else before my computer can even get some healthy clunk on it. :roll:

[ilovelinux33467]

On Fedora I just run


su -c 'yum clean all'


Which cleans cached rpms, package headers, metadata, cached data from rpmdb and yum's sqlite cache used for access to the metadata.

[galacticaboy]

http://www.1stchoicecleaningsupplies.com/images_123/cleaning-products.jpg

+1