Re: Problem with /var/cache/apt/archives/

[Joe Pfeiffer <pfeiffer@cs.nmsu.edu>]

"Stephen P. Molnar" <s.molnar@sbcglobal.net> writes:

> I am running Bookworm on my Debian computer. When I installed the OS I
> selected the option for separate /var etc, and selected the default 
> sizes of the partitions.
>
> When I ran sudo apt update this morning I received the error message:
>
> E: You don't have enough free space in /var/cache/apt/archives/
>
> Can I increase the size of the /var partition on the ssd without
> having to reinstall the system?
>
> Thanks in advance.

Are you doing anything to get rid of unused packages?  If not the
archives just keep growing.  An occasional

# apt-get autoclean

will do a lot for you.

       clean
           clean clears out the local repository of retrieved package files.
           It removes everything but the lock file from
           /var/cache/apt/archives/ and /var/cache/apt/archives/partial/.

       autoclean (and the auto-clean alias since 1.1)
           Like clean, autoclean clears out the local repository of retrieved
           package files. The difference is that it only removes package files
           that can no longer be downloaded, and are largely useless. This
           allows a cache to be maintained over a long period without it
           growing out of control. The configuration option
           APT::Clean-Installed will prevent installed packages from being
           erased if it is set to off.