On Tuesday 11 January 2022 11:02:56 pm David Christensen wrote: > On 1/11/22 10:25 AM, Roy J. Tellason, Sr. wrote: > > So I'm poking around with mc, and happened across /var/cache/apt/archives > > which has a LOT of *.deb files in it, and which seems to include many > > versions of the same package, some of them many years old, going all the > > way back to 2013. I guess I've been running debian a little longer than > > I'd thought... > > > > Is it okay to just delete older versions of these files? Or should I be > > doing something using one of the package management tools? I've mostly > > used synaptic, but am also aware of apt-get, apt, aptitude, and am not > > real clear on their comparative capabilities. > > > > I'm looking at over 7500 files amounting to over 9.5GB. > > > > I also see /var/cache/dictionaries-common, which appears to be tied to a > > spelling checker, which I don't use here. And /var/cache/samba, which I > > also don't use -- there isn't a windoze machine around here at all. > > > > What's the best way to get all of this excess stuff out of the system? > > > Move data to RAID, backup system configuration files, remove system > drive, install blank SSD, do a fresh install, and configure by hand > (using backups for reference).
Yeah, I could do that if I had those resources, but I don't. In the meantime I'm finding aptitude to be a useful tool for the job... -- Member of the toughest, meanest, deadliest, most unrelenting -- and ablest -- form of life in this section of space, a critter that can be killed but can't be tamed. --Robert A. Heinlein, "The Puppet Masters" - Information is more dangerous than cannon to a society ruled by lies. --James M Dakin