On Fri, Nov 16, 2007 at 07:02:12PM -0800, David Fox wrote: > On 11/16/07, Andrew Sackville-West <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > I think OP is looking for aptitude clean or auto-clean. Check the man > > page. It will remove debs that aren't current. or something like that. > > Actually, all that does is to remove either all (clean) or selected > (auto-clean) - selected in the sense that they're debs no longer > available. But it removes the debian packages in > /var/cache/apt/archives, not the actual packages themselves. > > A common scenario: > > user has whatsit-1.3.0-1.deb package installed, and has that .deb file > in his /var/cache/apt/archives directory. He then does an upgrade, and > fetches whatsit-1.3.0-3.deb. The upgrade process removes the files > that comprised 1.3.0-1, and replaces them with the files from 1.3.0-3, > of course, but both the debs for whatsit exist in > /var/cache/apt/archives. If the user does an aptitude autoclean, it'll > remove the old version of whatsit (1.3.0-1) in that directory. >
Is the OP referring to cruft build-up whereby he installs a package which brings in lots of dependancies and later removes the package and is wondering what takes care of those dependants? Aptitude takes care of these on packages you install and later remove with it. Note, however, that packages installed with some other tool don't get managed this way; they all look like they are manually installed. A common issue for me is immediatly after a fresh install. I never select any tasks on install and get a base system. I then use aptitude to mark anything I don't specifically want as 'A'utomatically installed. If nothing depends on it, it will be removed. Henseforth, I only use aptitude and no cruft builds up. Dear OP: do any of these scenarios address your issue or is there something else? Doug. -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
