Re: how to tell what packages are unused on a debian server?
You can you deborphan. You can get the unnecessary packages. On Fri, Oct 29, 2010 at 3:42 PM, Robert P. J. Day wrote: > > just a cleanup-related question but on a debian lenny server that > i've inherited, i'm curious to know which packages have no value > whatever and that i can delete. i recall there's a utility that will > identify unused libraries but i'm curious about what else i can > pinpoint that can be removed. > > this system is a web/mail server and, since its IP address is > assigned statically and another system is responsible for all DNS/DHCP > functionality internally, i conclude that i can remove the > dhcp-related packages. that's just one example. > > any utilities that can help out in this regard? thanks. > > rday > > -- > > > Robert P. J. Day Waterloo, Ontario, CANADA >http://crashcourse.ca > > Twitter: http://twitter.com/rpjday > LinkedIn: http://ca.linkedin.com/in/rpjday > > > > -- > To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-user-requ...@lists.debian.org > with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact > listmas...@lists.debian.org > Archive: > http://lists.debian.org/alpine.deb.2.00.1010290608040.4...@localhost6.localdomain6 > > -- Wishing you the very best of everything, always!!! Kousik Maiti(কৌশিক মাইতি) Registered Linux User #474025 Registered Ubuntu User # 28654
Re: how to tell what packages are unused on a debian server?
On Fri, 29 Oct 2010 06:12:55 -0400, Robert P. J. Day wrote: > just a cleanup-related question but on a debian lenny server that i've > inherited, i'm curious to know which packages have no value whatever and > that i can delete. i recall there's a utility that will identify unused > libraries but i'm curious about what else i can pinpoint that can be > removed. > > this system is a web/mail server and, since its IP address is > assigned statically and another system is responsible for all DNS/DHCP > functionality internally, i conclude that i can remove the dhcp-related > packages. that's just one example. Not that fast :-) You may have installed packages that are "unused" but "needed" as a dependency requirement of another packages that you want to keep. If you are not facing space problems, I won't touch anything. What you could do instead is disabling services you are not using at all, that's what I use to do. Greetings, -- Camaleón -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-user-requ...@lists.debian.org with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact listmas...@lists.debian.org Archive: http://lists.debian.org/pan.2010.10.29.11.14...@gmail.com
Re: how to tell what packages are unused on a debian server?
On Fri, 29 Oct 2010, Camaleón wrote: > On Fri, 29 Oct 2010 06:12:55 -0400, Robert P. J. Day wrote: > > > just a cleanup-related question but on a debian lenny server that > > i've inherited, i'm curious to know which packages have no value > > whatever and that i can delete. i recall there's a utility that > > will identify unused libraries but i'm curious about what else i > > can pinpoint that can be removed. > > > > this system is a web/mail server and, since its IP address is > > assigned statically and another system is responsible for all > > DNS/DHCP functionality internally, i conclude that i can remove > > the dhcp-related packages. that's just one example. > > Not that fast :-) screech!!! :-) > You may have installed packages that are "unused" but "needed" as a > dependency requirement of another packages that you want to keep. of course, but any attempt to remove that package would immediately tell me about the dependency so that's not something that concerns me. > If you are not facing space problems, I won't touch anything. What > you could do instead is disabling services you are not using at all, > that's what I use to do. oh, i understand all that and i'm working on that. and i never assumed this would be an easy thing to do. as one other poster suggested, i can start with "deborphan" and see where that takes me. and over the next little while, i plan on manually checking the installed packages and determining whether they have any value. i was just wondering if there was any cool utility that would scan a system and based on god-knows-what, simply *suggest* packages that are apparently unused. for instance, if a given shared library hasn't been linked in weeks or months, that's something to look at. if none of the binary executables in a package have been executed in that long, another package to examine, that sort of thing. anyway, i was just curious to see how easy it was to do something like that. thanks. rday -- Robert P. J. Day Waterloo, Ontario, CANADA http://crashcourse.ca Twitter: http://twitter.com/rpjday LinkedIn: http://ca.linkedin.com/in/rpjday
Re: how to tell what packages are unused on a debian server?
On Fri, 2010-10-29 at 06:12 -0400, Robert P. J. Day wrote: > just a cleanup-related question but on a debian lenny server that > i've inherited, i'm curious to know which packages have no value > whatever and that i can delete. i recall there's a utility that will > identify unused libraries but i'm curious about what else i can > pinpoint that can be removed. apt-get autoremove will help you remove packages that are not needed by other packages ! > > this system is a web/mail server and, since its IP address is > assigned statically and another system is responsible for all DNS/DHCP > functionality internally, i conclude that i can remove the > dhcp-related packages. that's just one example. this is a bit more "human dependent" ... the packaging system can not tell what packages _you_ don't want... I'dd suggest "dpkg -l" and start looking at the one-by-one trying to identify things you don't want. then "apt-get remove package-i-dont-want" ... but be carefull with the things that will be cascade-removed !!! read the messages carefully before saying the final "Yes" :) cheers j > > any utilities that can help out in this regard? thanks. > > rday > > -- > > > Robert P. J. Day Waterloo, Ontario, CANADA > http://crashcourse.ca > > Twitter: http://twitter.com/rpjday > LinkedIn: http://ca.linkedin.com/in/rpjday > > > -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-user-requ...@lists.debian.org with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact listmas...@lists.debian.org Archive: http://lists.debian.org/1288351191.2397.7.ca...@squeeje.critical.pt
Re: how to tell what packages are unused on a debian server?
Hi Robert, Robert P. J. Day wrote: just a cleanup-related question but on a debian lenny server that i've inherited, i'm curious to know which packages have no value whatever and that i can delete. i recall there's a utility that will identify unused libraries but i'm curious about what else i can pinpoint that can be removed. this system is a web/mail server and, since its IP address is assigned statically and another system is responsible for all DNS/DHCP functionality internally, i conclude that i can remove the dhcp-related packages. that's just one example. any utilities that can help out in this regard? thanks. A Debian package called "deborphan" might be useful. When you remove items, you may want to purge them to be "cleaner". Also, if you are not sure why a package is installed, you can do an "aptitude why packagename" and it will (hopefully) give you the extra information you need. Cheers -- Kind Regards AndrewM Andrew McGlashan Broadband Solutions now including VoIP Current Land Line No: 03 9912 0504 Mobile: 04 2574 1827 Fax: 03 9012 2178 National No: 1300 85 3804 Affinity Vision Australia Pty Ltd http://www.affinityvision.com.au http://adsl2choice.net.au In Case of Emergency -- http://www.affinityvision.com.au/ice.html -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-user-requ...@lists.debian.org with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact listmas...@lists.debian.org Archive: http://lists.debian.org/4ccab78e.7040...@affinityvision.com.au
Re: how to tell what packages are unused on a debian server?
On Fri, Oct 29, 2010 at 23:01 +1100, Andrew McGlashan wrote: > Robert P. J. Day wrote: > > just a cleanup-related question but on a debian lenny server that > >i've inherited, i'm curious to know which packages have no value > >whatever and that i can delete. i recall there's a utility that will > >identify unused libraries but i'm curious about what else i can > >pinpoint that can be removed. > When you remove items, you may want to purge them to be "cleaner". In addition to purging installed packages I would also suggest to purge already removed packages: aptitude purge ~c will take care of that. Another good way to find unused packages is 'popcon-largest-unused' from the popularity-contest package. /me is removing some packages now :) -- .''`. Wolodja Wentland : :' : `. `'` 4096R/CAF14EFC `- 081C B7CD FF04 2BA9 94EA 36B2 8B7F 7D30 CAF1 4EFC signature.asc Description: Digital signature The University of Edinburgh is a charitable body, registered in Scotland, with registration number SC005336.
Re: how to tell what packages are unused on a debian server?
On Fri, Oct 29, 2010 at 06:12:55AM -0400, Robert P. J. Day wrote: > > just a cleanup-related question but on a debian lenny server that > i've inherited, i'm curious to know which packages have no value > whatever and that i can delete. i recall there's a utility that will > identify unused libraries but i'm curious about what else i can > pinpoint that can be removed. > > this system is a web/mail server and, since its IP address is > assigned statically and another system is responsible for all DNS/DHCP > functionality internally, i conclude that i can remove the > dhcp-related packages. that's just one example. > > any utilities that can help out in this regard? thanks. > > rday I'm not that hot with 'find' but I suppose that would be helpful. -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-user-requ...@lists.debian.org with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact listmas...@lists.debian.org Archive: http://lists.debian.org/20101029142411.ga28...@shellium.org
Re: how to tell what packages are unused on a debian server?
Robert P. J. Day wrote: > for instance, if a given shared library hasn't been linked in weeks > or months, that's something to look at. if none of the binary > executables in a package have been executed in that long, another > package to examine, that sort of thing. You could possibly do something with this, which checks each installed package for files that have been accessed in the last six months. Please note, however, that it cannot work if you mount your relevant filesystems with noatime! for P in $(dpkg -l '*' | awk '/^i/{print $2}') do echo -n "Checking $P: " >&2 U=$( for F in $(dpkg -L "$P") do test -f "$F" && find "$F" -atime +180 done 2>/dev/null ) test -n "$U" && echo "in use" >&2 || echo "MAYBE NOT USED RECENTLY" >&2 done Chris -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-user-requ...@lists.debian.org with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact listmas...@lists.debian.org Archive: http://lists.debian.org/kt1rp7xffn@news.roaima.co.uk
Re: how to tell what packages are unused on a debian server?
Hi, Chris Davies wrote: Robert P. J. Day wrote: for instance, if a given shared library hasn't been linked in weeks or months, that's something to look at. if none of the binary executables in a package have been executed in that long, another package to examine, that sort of thing. You could possibly do something with this, which checks each installed package for files that have been accessed in the last six months. Please note, however, that it cannot work if you mount your relevant filesystems with noatime! for P in $(dpkg -l '*' | awk '/^i/{print $2}') do echo -n "Checking $P: " >&2 U=$( for F in $(dpkg -L "$P") do test -f "$F" && find "$F" -atime +180 done 2>/dev/null ) test -n "$U" && echo "in use" >&2 || echo "MAYBE NOT USED RECENTLY" >&2 done That all looks good Chris, but I tried it and saw no results for "in use" and that makes no sense. I don't use noatime mount option either. -- Kind Regards AndrewM Andrew McGlashan Broadband Solutions now including VoIP -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-user-requ...@lists.debian.org with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact listmas...@lists.debian.org Archive: http://lists.debian.org/4ccaf430.5030...@affinityvision.com.au
Re: how to tell what packages are unused on a debian server?
2010/10/29 Robert P. J. Day : > > just a cleanup-related question but on a debian lenny server that > i've inherited, i'm curious to know which packages have no value > whatever and that i can delete. i recall there's a utility that will > identify unused libraries but i'm curious about what else i can > pinpoint that can be removed. > > this system is a web/mail server and, since its IP address is > assigned statically and another system is responsible for all DNS/DHCP > functionality internally, i conclude that i can remove the > dhcp-related packages. that's just one example. > > any utilities that can help out in this regard? thanks. Just reinstall server from scratch and only install packages that you need :) -- Eero -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-user-requ...@lists.debian.org with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact listmas...@lists.debian.org Archive: http://lists.debian.org/aanlktimh-enye_ekudxn+uu0wkh2frjke0aqqqrvv...@mail.gmail.com
Re: how to tell what packages are unused on a debian server?
Robert P. J. Day wrote: > > just a cleanup-related question but on a debian lenny server that > i've inherited, i'm curious to know which packages have no value > whatever and that i can delete. i recall there's a utility that will > identify unused libraries but i'm curious about what else i can > pinpoint that can be removed. > > this system is a web/mail server and, since its IP address is > assigned statically and another system is responsible for all DNS/DHCP > functionality internally, i conclude that i can remove the > dhcp-related packages. that's just one example. > > any utilities that can help out in this regard? thanks. > > rday > > -- > > > Robert P. J. Day Waterloo, Ontario, CANADA > http://crashcourse.ca > > Twitter: http://twitter.com/rpjday > LinkedIn: http://ca.linkedin.com/in/rpjday > > > -- Artur 'Bzyk' Frydel "Always look on the bright side of life." -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-user-requ...@lists.debian.org with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact listmas...@lists.debian.org Archive: http://lists.debian.org/slrnicmc0j.4rf.artur.fry...@lapt.bzyk.dyndns.org
Re: how to tell what packages are unused on a debian server?
On Vi, 29 oct 10, 06:12:55, Robert P. J. Day wrote: > > just a cleanup-related question but on a debian lenny server that > i've inherited, i'm curious to know which packages have no value > whatever and that i can delete. i recall there's a utility that will > identify unused libraries but i'm curious about what else i can > pinpoint that can be removed. > > this system is a web/mail server and, since its IP address is > assigned statically and another system is responsible for all DNS/DHCP > functionality internally, i conclude that i can remove the > dhcp-related packages. that's just one example. > > any utilities that can help out in this regard? thanks. Yes, popcon-largest-unused from package popularity-contest. Regards, Andrei -- Offtopic discussions among Debian users and developers: http://lists.alioth.debian.org/mailman/listinfo/d-community-offtopic signature.asc Description: Digital signature
Re: how to tell what packages are unused on a debian server?
On 10/29/2010 08:17 AM, Wolodja Wentland wrote: [snip] Another good way to find unused packages is 'popcon-largest-unused' from the popularity-contest package. Thanks! -- Seek truth from facts. -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-user-requ...@lists.debian.org with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact listmas...@lists.debian.org Archive: http://lists.debian.org/4ccb385a.5080...@cox.net
Re: how to tell what packages are unused on a debian server?
Andrew McGlashan wrote: > That all looks good Chris, but I tried it and saw no results for "in > use" and that makes no sense. I don't use noatime mount option either. Swap the +180 for -180 and try again. (We should be looking for files accessed *within* the last six months. Duh, sorry!) Chris -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-user-requ...@lists.debian.org with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact listmas...@lists.debian.org Archive: http://lists.debian.org/3lsrp7xr3u@news.roaima.co.uk
Re: how to tell what packages are unused on a debian server?
Chris Davies wrote: Andrew McGlashan wrote: That all looks good Chris, but I tried it and saw no results for "in use" and that makes no sense. I don't use noatime mount option either. Swap the +180 for -180 and try again. (We should be looking for files accessed *within* the last six months. Duh, sorry!) Okay, I tried the change and let it finish the report. I found all "in use", except for php5, but there is a bunch of php5 stuff that is in use. A small chop of the results here: Checking php-cache-lite: in use Checking php-fpdf: in use Checking php-http-request: in use Checking php-net-checkip: in use Checking php-net-socket: in use Checking php-net-url: in use Checking php-pear: in use Checking php5: MAYBE NOT USED RECENTLY Checking php5-cgi: in use Checking php5-cli: in use Checking php5-common: in use Checking php5-curl: in use Checking php5-gd: in use Checking php5-mcrypt: in use Checking php5-mysql: in use Checking php5-suhosin: in use Checking phpmyadmin: in use And then this: r...@www:/usr/local/bin # aptitude why php5 Sat Oct 30 13:36:23 EST 2010 -- why php5 i phpmyadmin Depends libapache2-mod-php5 | libapache-mod-php5 | php5-cgi | php5 | libapache2-mod-php4 | libapache-mod-php4 | php4 | php4-cgi [I created my own aptitude "front-end" which has logging] If you are interested, here it is: #!/bin/bash # System Binaries APTITUDE=/usr/bin/aptitude DATE=/bin/date DPKG=/usr/bin/dpkg DPKG_QUERY=/usr/bin/dpkg-query SED=/bin/sed TEE=/usr/bin/tee # Variables APTITUDE_HISTORY_FILE=/root/dpkg.wrk/aptitude-history INSTALL_HISTORY=/root/dpkg.wrk/install-history sdpkg='(cd ; cd dpkg.wrk ; $DPKG_QUERY -l > dpkg-query-l-`$DATE +%Y%m%d-%H:%M:%S` ; $DPKG --get-selections > dpkg--get-selections-`$DATE +%Y%m%d-%H:%M:%S`)' echo `$DATE` -- $* |$TEE -a $APTITUDE_HISTORY_FILE if [ "$1" == "install" ]; then ( echo "" $DATE echo $APTITUDE $* $APTITUDE $* echo "" CMD=`echo $APTITUDE show $*|$SED 's/show install/show/'` echo $CMD eval $CMD echo "" eval $sdpkg ) 2>&1 | $TEE -a $INSTALL_HISTORY elif [ "$1" == "safe-upgrade" ]; then ( echo "" $DATE echo $APTITUDE $* $APTITUDE $* echo "" eval $sdpkg ) 2>&1 | $TEE -a $INSTALL_HISTORY elif [ "$1" == "purge" ]; then ( echo "" $DATE echo $APTITUDE $* $APTITUDE $* echo "" eval $sdpkg ) 2>&1 | $TEE -a $INSTALL_HISTORY else $APTITUDE $* fi Cheers -- Kind Regards AndrewM Andrew McGlashan Broadband Solutions now including VoIP -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-user-requ...@lists.debian.org with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact listmas...@lists.debian.org Archive: http://lists.debian.org/4ccb8b81.1020...@affinityvision.com.au
Re: how to tell what packages are unused on a debian server?
On Sb, 30 oct 10, 14:05:37, Andrew McGlashan wrote: > > [I created my own aptitude "front-end" which has logging] How is this different from /var/log/aptitude ? Regards, Andrei -- Offtopic discussions among Debian users and developers: http://lists.alioth.debian.org/mailman/listinfo/d-community-offtopic signature.asc Description: Digital signature
Re: how to tell what packages are unused on a debian server?
Andrew McGlashan wrote: > Okay, I tried the change and let it finish the report. > I found all "in use", except for php5, but there is a bunch of php5 > stuff that is in use. Arrgghh. You're now making me /think/ about the script, rather than it being a throwaway suggestion(!) Upon further investigation, the atime for a symbolic link is (inevitably) updated when it's deferenced, so you need to skip those, too. The find statement thus becomes find $(readlink -f "$F") -atime -180 On my laptop it's tricky for me to test this as I mount everything noatime. On a couple of servers I've got, though, the results feel approximately correct. If you're finding that everything is "in use" then at this stage it's probable that you've made a filesystem backup with tar or cpio, which obviously reads every single file, unfortunately making atime useless. Good luck! Chris -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-user-requ...@lists.debian.org with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact listmas...@lists.debian.org Archive: http://lists.debian.org/48vsp7xnra@news.roaima.co.uk
Re: how to tell what packages are unused on a debian server?
Andrei Popescu wrote: On Sb, 30 oct 10, 14:05:37, Andrew McGlashan wrote: [I created my own aptitude "front-end" which has logging] How is this different from /var/log/aptitude ? Okay, I didn't know that was there, but the logging I do is different. Thanks -- Kind Regards AndrewM Andrew McGlashan Broadband Solutions now including VoIP -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-user-requ...@lists.debian.org with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact listmas...@lists.debian.org Archive: http://lists.debian.org/4ccbda7a.5000...@affinityvision.com.au
Re: how to tell what packages are unused on a debian server?
Chris Davies wrote: The find statement thus becomes find $(readlink -f "$F") -atime -180 Okay, I got the exact same result. If you're finding that everything is "in use" then at this stage it's probable that you've made a filesystem backup with tar or cpio, which obviously reads every single file, unfortunately making atime useless. I use dump and restore test (I know some files will change and be inconsistent, but that is okay). I plan to use lvm snapshots soon to make sure everything is 100% consistent. Don't use tar or cpio for backups. I also use rsync for backups to other areas and remotely, so that might update atimes? I don't think it should. -- Kind Regards AndrewM Andrew McGlashan Broadband Solutions now including VoIP -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-user-requ...@lists.debian.org with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact listmas...@lists.debian.org Archive: http://lists.debian.org/4ccbddf3.5060...@affinityvision.com.au
Re: how to tell what packages are unused on a debian server?
On Sb, 30 oct 10, 19:42:34, Andrew McGlashan wrote: > Andrei Popescu wrote: > >On Sb, 30 oct 10, 14:05:37, Andrew McGlashan wrote: > >>[I created my own aptitude "front-end" which has logging] > > > >How is this different from /var/log/aptitude ? > > Okay, I didn't know that was there, but the logging I do is different. Would you mind going into details? Are you aware of /var/log/dpkg.log too? How about sending a patch to aptitude? Regards, Andrei P.S. No need to CC me, I am subscribed -- Offtopic discussions among Debian users and developers: http://lists.alioth.debian.org/mailman/listinfo/d-community-offtopic signature.asc Description: Digital signature
Re: how to tell what packages are unused on a debian server?
Hi Andrei, Andrei Popescu wrote: On Sb, 30 oct 10, 19:42:34, Andrew McGlashan wrote: Andrei Popescu wrote: On Sb, 30 oct 10, 14:05:37, Andrew McGlashan wrote: [I created my own aptitude "front-end" which has logging] How is this different from /var/log/aptitude ? Okay, I didn't know that was there, but the logging I do is different. Would you mind going into details? Are you aware of /var/log/dpkg.log too? How about sending a patch to aptitude? In a nutshell, I capture all the standard output from an install in one file, together with a "show" of the package [as it was at install time] -- not sure I'll ever need to refer back to this. The other things I do are to keep a simple history of all aptitude use by logging the parameters used for each invocation. If packages are removed or installed, I create a new set of files that describes the installed packages -- this is so that I can track changes over time. All the "extra" stuff that I do is there to help documents somewhat changes to the system. At the end of the day, the standard /var/log/dpkg.log and /var/log/aptitude will probably give enough info for most people -- so I can't see any benefit in patching something that isn't broken, it is only different to the logging that I create for myself. My simple script is there for anyone who wants it -- it is pretty basic, but effective for my needs. I guess my main objective is to provide an historical picture of what was installed when and such information might be useful for machine rebuilds or as a reference for a completely new build on another machine. -- Kind Regards AndrewM Andrew McGlashan Broadband Solutions now including VoIP -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-user-requ...@lists.debian.org with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact listmas...@lists.debian.org Archive: http://lists.debian.org/4ccc0c5d.6070...@affinityvision.com.au