Bug#533267: release-notes: Purging uninstalled packages
On 11/24/2014 01:01:10 AM, Niels Thykier wrote:
> Control: tags -1 pending
>
> On 2014-11-24 07:40, Andrei POPESCU wrote:
> > On Du, 23 nov 14, 22:54:20, Niels Thykier wrote:
> >>
> >> Note, I opted for using dpkg -l + awk rather than aptitude,
> because
> a)
> >> all users have dpkg + awk and b) we have started requrcommending
> apt-get
> >> over aptitude again for upgrades.
This makes lots of sense. There is a potential for problems
that I've not yet investigated: I notice that often the
default apt output format will truncate very long package
names. I don't know if this is true of dpkg -l or not,
but, possibly, dpkg-query -W might be an alternative
that does not truncate. (Sorry for not investigating
further.)
> >
> > Since aptitude is Priority: standard most systems will have it
> > installed. Could it at lease be mentioned as alternative, as the
> command
> > is much simpler?
> Thanks for the review, I have applied all of your suggested changes
> (see
> the attached patch).
Attached is a patch that a) simplifies the language by cutting
out words. b) adds a little additional explanation.
Karl <kop@meme.com>
Free Software: "You don't pay back, you pay forward."
-- Robert A. Heinlein
--- /tmp/ch-upgrading.en.html 2014-11-24 07:17:17.890424702 -0600
+++ /tmp/ch-upgrading.en.html.new 2014-11-24 07:22:54.466217910 -0600
@@ -799,13 +799,14 @@
is complete, but there are some other things that should be taken care of
<span class="emphasis"><em>before</em></span> the next reboot.
</p><div class="section" title="4.7.1. Purging removed packages"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h3 class="title"><a id="purge-removed-packages"></a>4.7.1. Purging removed packages</h3></div></div></div><p>
- It is generally advisable to purge removed packages. This is
- especially true, if these have been removed in an earlier release
+ It is generally advisable to purge removed packages. This removes
+ unused configuration files, etc. Purging is
+ especially advisable for packages removed in an earlier release
upgrade (e.g. from the upgrade to wheezy) or from
third-party vendors. In particular, old init.d scripts have been
known to cause issues.
</p><div class="caution" title="Caution" style="margin-left: 0.5in; margin-right: 0.5in;"><table border="0" summary="Caution"><tr><td rowspan="2" align="center" valign="top" width="25"><img alt="[Caution]" src="images/caution.png" /></td><th align="left">Caution</th></tr><tr><td align="left" valign="top"><p>
- Purging a package will generally also purge its log files, so
+ Purging a package usually purges its log files, so
you might want to back them up first.
</p></td></tr></table></div><p>
The following command displays a list of all removed packages that
@@ -814,13 +815,13 @@
# dpkg -l | awk '/^rc/ { print $2 }'
</pre><p>
The packages can be removed by using <span class="command"><strong>apt-get
- purge</strong></span>. Assuming you want to purge all of them
+ purge</strong></span>. To purge all of them
in one go, you can use the following command:
</p><pre class="screen">
# apt-get purge $(dpkg -l | awk '/^rc/ { print $2 }')
</pre><p>
- If you use <code class="systemitem">aptitude</code><a id="idp726112" class="indexterm"></a>, you
- can also use the following alternative to the commands above:
+ Using <code class="systemitem">aptitude</code><a id="idp726112" class="indexterm"></a>,
+ the alternative to the above commands are:
</p><pre class="screen">
$ aptitude search '~c'
$ aptitude purge '~c'
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