Cleaning up deinstalled packages on Debian

Cleaning up deinstalled packages on Debian (and Ubuntu)

Disclaimer: this is for advanced users, use at your own risk.



If you run Debian on the same system for a while, packages get removed automatically and they never get purged. This means that config files and other useless cruft gets left over after many upgrades. I searched the web for an easy one-liner but didn't find one, so I hope this helps someone




See how many packages are in the 'deinstalled' state with this command:

Code:

<pre class='alt2' dir="ltr" style='
margin: 0px;
padding: 6px;
border: 1px inset;
width: 640px;
height: 34px;
text-align: left;
overflow: auto'>dpkg --get-selections | grep deinstall | wc -l</pre>

To purge all of these packages at once:

Code:

<pre class='alt2' dir="ltr" style='
margin: 0px;
padding: 6px;
border: 1px inset;
width: 640px;
height: 34px;
text-align: left;
overflow: auto'>dpkg --get-selections | grep deinstall | sed 's/deinstall/\lpurge/' | dpkg --set-selections; dpkg -Pa</pre>

I ran this on all of my systems and they've got a bit more free space now



Edit: For Ubuntu and others that use sudo:

Code:

<pre class='alt2' dir="ltr" style='
margin: 0px;
padding: 6px;
border: 1px inset;
width: 640px;
height: 34px;
text-align: left;
overflow: auto'>dpkg --get-selections | grep deinstall | sed 's/deinstall/\lpurge/' | sudo dpkg --set-selections; sudo dpkg -Pa</pre>
<pre class='alt2' dir="ltr" style='
margin: 0px;
padding: 6px;
border: 1px inset;
width: 640px;
height: 34px;
text-align: left;
overflow: auto'>aptitude --purge-unused purge packagename</pre>

And when you do apt-get autoremove you will still have stuff left over unless you do:

Code:

<pre class='alt2' dir="ltr" style='
margin: 0px;
padding: 6px;
border: 1px inset;
width: 640px;
height: 34px;
text-align: left;
overflow: auto'>apt-get --purge autoremove</pre>

 

thanks...

i've been using deborphan, but will try this too

Code:

sudo deborphan | xargs sudo apt-get -y remove --purge

 

Thanks, that's good to know. I've been doing sudo apt-get autoremove or whatever it is, but it would be nice to actually purge the stuff.

 

THANKS what would I do without your advice!

 

Nice, handy, thanks :.)

 

Do you need to do this if you purge everything you uninstall? Thats what I do, just curious. I am assuming that when you do something like aptitude purge [package name] that it purges the dependencies as well?

 

If you always purge everything you shouldn't need this... but there's always the possibility that something gets automatically removed instead of purged during an upgrade.

 

Oh if you want to purge dependencies u need to use:

Code:

aptitude --purge-unused purge packagename

And when you do apt-get autoremove you will still have stuff left over unless you do:

Code:

apt-get --purge autoremove

Hope this helps.

 

Didn't know that. Thanks.