Michel Dänzer wrote: > Sven LUTHER wrote: > > > > apt-get autoclean > > > > > > removes all but the two latest versions of every package from the cache. > > > > Nice to know, ... > > > > but still you need at least a place equivalent to all packages you install > > the first time. This is not so compatible i think with making small root > > partition (50MB or so). > > No problem with a separate /var partition...
It's funny, I got into a long debate with Jason Gunthorpe (apt maintainer) over this, based on a wishlist bug report I filed. /var is supposed to be for persistent data, like web site pages, databases, log files, etc. For some reason I still don't understand, .debs are considered in this category even though dselect defaults to removing all of them from the cache after installation, so in Jason's words: There is nothing to be done, /var is the FHS2 desiganted place for this sort of persistant data, nothing else can be used by default. For the overwhelming majority of users, /var or / will have to be artificially large to deal with this, wasting quite a bit of disk space. Short-term solutions include symlinking /var/cache/apt/archives into a bigger partition with some temporary storage, or setting the Dir::Cache variable in apt.conf (man apt.conf; this is not very obviously documented given how many people run into this!!) For long-term, I've filed a wishlist bug report with gnome-apt (didn't get around to any other front ends) requesting exposure of the apt.conf variables, so options like Dir::Cache are more obvious to the casual user. Jason says that some kind of partial download, unpack, erase, download some more solution has been a wishlist request for some time, so perhaps it will happen one day. Any other ideas? Zeen, -Adam P.