How to find unused packages in debian?
Clash Royale CLAN TAG#URR8PPP
up vote
2
down vote
favorite
As a typical debian user I install some packages over time for several reasons:
- I want to test the package
- I want to use it for a short time
- I mis-spelled its name
- I copy/pasted a long
apt installcommand from Internet, but I only need some of the packages.
Is there any (intelligent) tool to find packages installed previously and probably no longer needed?
This tool should guess the need to the package from current behavior and probably should use some kind of artificial intelligence. I don't expect that tool to be accurate, it only suggests.
I already know about deborphan and apt autoremove but they are useless in this scenario.
debian package-management
edited Nov 24 at 20:52
Rui F Ribeiro
38.3k1476127
asked Nov 24 at 17:32
gopy
194
|
show 1 more comment
up vote
2
down vote
favorite
As a typical debian user I install some packages over time for several reasons:
- I want to test the package
- I want to use it for a short time
- I mis-spelled its name
- I copy/pasted a long
apt installcommand from Internet, but I only need some of the packages.
Is there any (intelligent) tool to find packages installed previously and probably no longer needed?
This tool should guess the need to the package from current behavior and probably should use some kind of artificial intelligence. I don't expect that tool to be accurate, it only suggests.
I already know about deborphan and apt autoremove but they are useless in this scenario.
debian package-management
edited Nov 24 at 20:52
Rui F Ribeiro
38.3k1476127
asked Nov 24 at 17:32
gopy
194
I'd look at access times in /usr/bin, and pick off the less-recently used programs, ranked by package size. That would require some scripting work (ymmv).
– Thomas Dickey
Nov 24 at 17:37
thanks, this is good idea. but doesn't work for packages that have services installed.
– gopy
Nov 24 at 17:40
nor for packages that doesn't have binary files.
– gopy
Nov 24 at 17:48
Have you looked in/var/log/apt/history*to see what you installed when?
– Doug O'Neal
Nov 24 at 17:59
Yes I know about that file, but this method is completely manual and is not practical for systems with thousands of package installations.
– gopy
Nov 24 at 18:11
|
show 1 more comment
up vote
2
down vote
favorite
up vote
2
down vote
favorite
As a typical debian user I install some packages over time for several reasons:
- I want to test the package
- I want to use it for a short time
- I mis-spelled its name
- I copy/pasted a long
apt installcommand from Internet, but I only need some of the packages.
Is there any (intelligent) tool to find packages installed previously and probably no longer needed?
This tool should guess the need to the package from current behavior and probably should use some kind of artificial intelligence. I don't expect that tool to be accurate, it only suggests.
I already know about deborphan and apt autoremove but they are useless in this scenario.
debian package-management
edited Nov 24 at 20:52
Rui F Ribeiro
38.3k1476127
asked Nov 24 at 17:32
gopy
194
As a typical debian user I install some packages over time for several reasons:
- I want to test the package
- I want to use it for a short time
- I mis-spelled its name
- I copy/pasted a long
apt installcommand from Internet, but I only need some of the packages.
Is there any (intelligent) tool to find packages installed previously and probably no longer needed?
This tool should guess the need to the package from current behavior and probably should use some kind of artificial intelligence. I don't expect that tool to be accurate, it only suggests.
I already know about deborphan and apt autoremove but they are useless in this scenario.
debian package-management
debian package-management
edited Nov 24 at 20:52
Rui F Ribeiro
38.3k1476127
asked Nov 24 at 17:32
gopy
194
edited Nov 24 at 20:52
Rui F Ribeiro
38.3k1476127
asked Nov 24 at 17:32
gopy
194
edited Nov 24 at 20:52
Rui F Ribeiro
38.3k1476127
edited Nov 24 at 20:52
Rui F Ribeiro
38.3k1476127
edited Nov 24 at 20:52
Rui F Ribeiro
38.3k1476127
38.3k1476127
asked Nov 24 at 17:32
gopy
194
asked Nov 24 at 17:32
gopy
194
asked Nov 24 at 17:32
gopy
194
194
I'd look at access times in /usr/bin, and pick off the less-recently used programs, ranked by package size. That would require some scripting work (ymmv).
– Thomas Dickey
Nov 24 at 17:37
thanks, this is good idea. but doesn't work for packages that have services installed.
– gopy
Nov 24 at 17:40
nor for packages that doesn't have binary files.
– gopy
Nov 24 at 17:48
Have you looked in/var/log/apt/history*to see what you installed when?
– Doug O'Neal
Nov 24 at 17:59
Yes I know about that file, but this method is completely manual and is not practical for systems with thousands of package installations.
– gopy
Nov 24 at 18:11
|
show 1 more comment
I'd look at access times in /usr/bin, and pick off the less-recently used programs, ranked by package size. That would require some scripting work (ymmv).
– Thomas Dickey
Nov 24 at 17:37
thanks, this is good idea. but doesn't work for packages that have services installed.
– gopy
Nov 24 at 17:40
nor for packages that doesn't have binary files.
– gopy
Nov 24 at 17:48
Have you looked in/var/log/apt/history*to see what you installed when?
– Doug O'Neal
Nov 24 at 17:59
Yes I know about that file, but this method is completely manual and is not practical for systems with thousands of package installations.
– gopy
Nov 24 at 18:11
I'd look at access times in /usr/bin, and pick off the less-recently used programs, ranked by package size. That would require some scripting work (ymmv).
– Thomas Dickey
Nov 24 at 17:37
I'd look at access times in /usr/bin, and pick off the less-recently used programs, ranked by package size. That would require some scripting work (ymmv).
– Thomas Dickey
Nov 24 at 17:37
thanks, this is good idea. but doesn't work for packages that have services installed.
– gopy
Nov 24 at 17:40
thanks, this is good idea. but doesn't work for packages that have services installed.
– gopy
Nov 24 at 17:40
nor for packages that doesn't have binary files.
– gopy
Nov 24 at 17:48
nor for packages that doesn't have binary files.
– gopy
Nov 24 at 17:48
Have you looked in
/var/log/apt/history* to see what you installed when?– Doug O'Neal
Nov 24 at 17:59
Have you looked in
/var/log/apt/history* to see what you installed when?– Doug O'Neal
Nov 24 at 17:59
Yes I know about that file, but this method is completely manual and is not practical for systems with thousands of package installations.
– gopy
Nov 24 at 18:11
Yes I know about that file, but this method is completely manual and is not practical for systems with thousands of package installations.
– gopy
Nov 24 at 18:11
|
show 1 more comment
2 Answers
2
active
oldest
votes
up vote
2
down vote
popularity-contest is a debian tool which help the Debian developer to improve future versions of the distribution it can be used to achieve your goal. the popcon-largest-unused command will list the unused packages.
The popularity-contest package sets up a cron job that will periodically anonymously submit to the Debian developers statistics about the most used Debian packages on this system.
man popularity-contest
The popularity-contest command gathers information about Debian packages installed on the system, and prints the name of the most recently used executable program in that package as well as its last-accessed time (atime) and last-attribute-changed time (ctime) to stdout.
apt install popularity-contest
popularity-contest > /var/log/popularity-contest
popcon-largest-unused
DESCRIPTION:
popcon-largest-unused
Based on the list of unused packages reported by popularity-contest, this program extract the package size from the APT cache, and list the unused packages sorted by size.
answered Nov 24 at 18:05
GAD3R
24.6k1749104
Thanks, its an interesting tool, but not intelligent enough.
– gopy
Nov 24 at 18:40
what if I install apache and do not use http port for a long time? popularity-contest can't detect that. same is true for library packages and documentation packages.
– gopy
Nov 25 at 7:01
@gopy As the manpage say the debian tool will track the used executable program to generate the list.
– GAD3R
Nov 25 at 16:33
add a comment |
up vote
-1
down vote
Yes, this is an existing project, called deborphan.
Description: program that can find unused packages, e.g. libraries
deborphan finds packages that have no packages depending on them. The
default operation is to search within the libs, oldlibs and introspec‐
tion sections to hunt down unused libraries.
answered Nov 24 at 18:30
Ipor Sircer
10.3k11024
"I already know about deborphan".
– Weijun Zhou
Nov 24 at 18:44
add a comment |
2 Answers
2
active
oldest
votes
2 Answers
2
active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
up vote
2
down vote
popularity-contest is a debian tool which help the Debian developer to improve future versions of the distribution it can be used to achieve your goal. the popcon-largest-unused command will list the unused packages.
The popularity-contest package sets up a cron job that will periodically anonymously submit to the Debian developers statistics about the most used Debian packages on this system.
man popularity-contest
The popularity-contest command gathers information about Debian packages installed on the system, and prints the name of the most recently used executable program in that package as well as its last-accessed time (atime) and last-attribute-changed time (ctime) to stdout.
apt install popularity-contest
popularity-contest > /var/log/popularity-contest
popcon-largest-unused
DESCRIPTION:
popcon-largest-unused
Based on the list of unused packages reported by popularity-contest, this program extract the package size from the APT cache, and list the unused packages sorted by size.
answered Nov 24 at 18:05
GAD3R
24.6k1749104
Thanks, its an interesting tool, but not intelligent enough.
– gopy
Nov 24 at 18:40
what if I install apache and do not use http port for a long time? popularity-contest can't detect that. same is true for library packages and documentation packages.
– gopy
Nov 25 at 7:01
@gopy As the manpage say the debian tool will track the used executable program to generate the list.
– GAD3R
Nov 25 at 16:33
add a comment |
up vote
2
down vote
popularity-contest is a debian tool which help the Debian developer to improve future versions of the distribution it can be used to achieve your goal. the popcon-largest-unused command will list the unused packages.
The popularity-contest package sets up a cron job that will periodically anonymously submit to the Debian developers statistics about the most used Debian packages on this system.
man popularity-contest
The popularity-contest command gathers information about Debian packages installed on the system, and prints the name of the most recently used executable program in that package as well as its last-accessed time (atime) and last-attribute-changed time (ctime) to stdout.
apt install popularity-contest
popularity-contest > /var/log/popularity-contest
popcon-largest-unused
DESCRIPTION:
popcon-largest-unused
Based on the list of unused packages reported by popularity-contest, this program extract the package size from the APT cache, and list the unused packages sorted by size.
answered Nov 24 at 18:05
GAD3R
24.6k1749104
Thanks, its an interesting tool, but not intelligent enough.
– gopy
Nov 24 at 18:40
what if I install apache and do not use http port for a long time? popularity-contest can't detect that. same is true for library packages and documentation packages.
– gopy
Nov 25 at 7:01
@gopy As the manpage say the debian tool will track the used executable program to generate the list.
– GAD3R
Nov 25 at 16:33
add a comment |
up vote
2
down vote
up vote
2
down vote
popularity-contest is a debian tool which help the Debian developer to improve future versions of the distribution it can be used to achieve your goal. the popcon-largest-unused command will list the unused packages.
The popularity-contest package sets up a cron job that will periodically anonymously submit to the Debian developers statistics about the most used Debian packages on this system.
man popularity-contest
The popularity-contest command gathers information about Debian packages installed on the system, and prints the name of the most recently used executable program in that package as well as its last-accessed time (atime) and last-attribute-changed time (ctime) to stdout.
apt install popularity-contest
popularity-contest > /var/log/popularity-contest
popcon-largest-unused
DESCRIPTION:
popcon-largest-unused
Based on the list of unused packages reported by popularity-contest, this program extract the package size from the APT cache, and list the unused packages sorted by size.
answered Nov 24 at 18:05
GAD3R
24.6k1749104
popularity-contest is a debian tool which help the Debian developer to improve future versions of the distribution it can be used to achieve your goal. the popcon-largest-unused command will list the unused packages.
The popularity-contest package sets up a cron job that will periodically anonymously submit to the Debian developers statistics about the most used Debian packages on this system.
man popularity-contest
The popularity-contest command gathers information about Debian packages installed on the system, and prints the name of the most recently used executable program in that package as well as its last-accessed time (atime) and last-attribute-changed time (ctime) to stdout.
apt install popularity-contest
popularity-contest > /var/log/popularity-contest
popcon-largest-unused
DESCRIPTION:
popcon-largest-unused
Based on the list of unused packages reported by popularity-contest, this program extract the package size from the APT cache, and list the unused packages sorted by size.
answered Nov 24 at 18:05
GAD3R
24.6k1749104
edited Nov 24 at 18:13
answered Nov 24 at 18:05
GAD3R
24.6k1749104
answered Nov 24 at 18:05
GAD3R
24.6k1749104
answered Nov 24 at 18:05
GAD3R
24.6k1749104
24.6k1749104
Thanks, its an interesting tool, but not intelligent enough.
– gopy
Nov 24 at 18:40
what if I install apache and do not use http port for a long time? popularity-contest can't detect that. same is true for library packages and documentation packages.
– gopy
Nov 25 at 7:01
@gopy As the manpage say the debian tool will track the used executable program to generate the list.
– GAD3R
Nov 25 at 16:33
add a comment |
Thanks, its an interesting tool, but not intelligent enough.
– gopy
Nov 24 at 18:40
what if I install apache and do not use http port for a long time? popularity-contest can't detect that. same is true for library packages and documentation packages.
– gopy
Nov 25 at 7:01
@gopy As the manpage say the debian tool will track the used executable program to generate the list.
– GAD3R
Nov 25 at 16:33
Thanks, its an interesting tool, but not intelligent enough.
– gopy
Nov 24 at 18:40
Thanks, its an interesting tool, but not intelligent enough.
– gopy
Nov 24 at 18:40
what if I install apache and do not use http port for a long time? popularity-contest can't detect that. same is true for library packages and documentation packages.
– gopy
Nov 25 at 7:01
what if I install apache and do not use http port for a long time? popularity-contest can't detect that. same is true for library packages and documentation packages.
– gopy
Nov 25 at 7:01
@gopy As the manpage say the debian tool will track the used executable program to generate the list.
– GAD3R
Nov 25 at 16:33
@gopy As the manpage say the debian tool will track the used executable program to generate the list.
– GAD3R
Nov 25 at 16:33
add a comment |
up vote
-1
down vote
Yes, this is an existing project, called deborphan.
Description: program that can find unused packages, e.g. libraries
deborphan finds packages that have no packages depending on them. The
default operation is to search within the libs, oldlibs and introspec‐
tion sections to hunt down unused libraries.
answered Nov 24 at 18:30
Ipor Sircer
10.3k11024
"I already know about deborphan".
– Weijun Zhou
Nov 24 at 18:44
add a comment |
up vote
-1
down vote
Yes, this is an existing project, called deborphan.
Description: program that can find unused packages, e.g. libraries
deborphan finds packages that have no packages depending on them. The
default operation is to search within the libs, oldlibs and introspec‐
tion sections to hunt down unused libraries.
answered Nov 24 at 18:30
Ipor Sircer
10.3k11024
"I already know about deborphan".
– Weijun Zhou
Nov 24 at 18:44
add a comment |
up vote
-1
down vote
up vote
-1
down vote
Yes, this is an existing project, called deborphan.
Description: program that can find unused packages, e.g. libraries
deborphan finds packages that have no packages depending on them. The
default operation is to search within the libs, oldlibs and introspec‐
tion sections to hunt down unused libraries.
answered Nov 24 at 18:30
Ipor Sircer
10.3k11024
Yes, this is an existing project, called deborphan.
Description: program that can find unused packages, e.g. libraries
deborphan finds packages that have no packages depending on them. The
default operation is to search within the libs, oldlibs and introspec‐
tion sections to hunt down unused libraries.
answered Nov 24 at 18:30
Ipor Sircer
10.3k11024
answered Nov 24 at 18:30
Ipor Sircer
10.3k11024
answered Nov 24 at 18:30
Ipor Sircer
10.3k11024
answered Nov 24 at 18:30
Ipor Sircer
10.3k11024
10.3k11024
"I already know about deborphan".
– Weijun Zhou
Nov 24 at 18:44
add a comment |
"I already know about deborphan".
– Weijun Zhou
Nov 24 at 18:44
"I already know about deborphan".
– Weijun Zhou
Nov 24 at 18:44
"I already know about deborphan".
– Weijun Zhou
Nov 24 at 18:44
add a comment |
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I'd look at access times in /usr/bin, and pick off the less-recently used programs, ranked by package size. That would require some scripting work (ymmv).
– Thomas Dickey
Nov 24 at 17:37
thanks, this is good idea. but doesn't work for packages that have services installed.
– gopy
Nov 24 at 17:40
nor for packages that doesn't have binary files.
– gopy
Nov 24 at 17:48
Have you looked in
/var/log/apt/history*to see what you installed when?– Doug O'Neal
Nov 24 at 17:59
Yes I know about that file, but this method is completely manual and is not practical for systems with thousands of package installations.
– gopy
Nov 24 at 18:11