Bug#721349: marked as done (dlocate vs. mystery files in /var/cache/apt/)
Your message dated Fri, 30 Aug 2013 18:25:37 +0200
with message-id <CAAZ6_fD36uNrUWqCRU+oSypm_5zEbGDxcvn84nyiG5a+499v5w@mail.gmail.com>
and subject line Re: Bug#721349: dlocate vs. mystery files in /var/cache/apt/
has caused the Debian Bug report #721349,
regarding dlocate vs. mystery files in /var/cache/apt/
to be marked as done.
This means that you claim that the problem has been dealt with.
If this is not the case it is now your responsibility to reopen the
Bug report if necessary, and/or fix the problem forthwith.
(NB: If you are a system administrator and have no idea what this
message is talking about, this may indicate a serious mail system
misconfiguration somewhere. Please contact owner@bugs.debian.org
immediately.)
--
721349: http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=721349
Debian Bug Tracking System
Contact owner@bugs.debian.org with problems
--- Begin Message ---
Package: apt
Version: 0.9.11.1
Severity: wishlist
I found a file, "ae".
# ls -l /var/cache/apt/
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 21946941 08-20 07:37 ae
drwxr-xr-x 4 root root 131072 08-29 08:00 archives
-rw-r----- 1 root root 0 06-04 18:22 lock
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 22019209 08-30 22:27 pkgcache.bin
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 21973872 08-30 22:27 srcpkgcache.bin
Can I remove it?
What made it?
# dlocate /var/cache/apt/
apt: /var/cache/apt/archives
apt: /var/cache/apt/archives/partial
doesn't mention it.
Nor does it mention
lock
pkgcache.bin
srcpkgcache.bin
That's the problem,
nobody knows what belongs to what.
But maybe there is a rule that those kinds of files should never be
listed.
So it is all a big guessing game.
--- End Message ---
--- Begin Message ---
On Fri, Aug 30, 2013 at 4:45 PM, <jidanni@jidanni.org> wrote:
> I found a file, "ae".
>
> # ls -l /var/cache/apt/
> -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 21946941 08-20 07:37 ae
> drwxr-xr-x 4 root root 131072 08-29 08:00 archives
> -rw-r----- 1 root root 0 06-04 18:22 lock
> -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 22019209 08-30 22:27 pkgcache.bin
> -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 21973872 08-30 22:27 srcpkgcache.bin
>
> Can I remove it?
Yes you can. Quoting the FHS: 5.5 /var/cache : Application cache data
"the cached files can be deleted without data loss."
> What made it?
I have no idea. I can say that libapt isn't creating it and
I have never heard of a frontend creating such a file …
But nobody enforces who can store files in /var/cache/apt.
Many more or less related APT frontends do it for example.
Any application run as root can drop files there (or anywhere else)
so evaluate what you have done on your system.
> # dlocate /var/cache/apt/
> apt: /var/cache/apt/archives
> apt: /var/cache/apt/archives/partial
>
> doesn't mention it.
>
> Nor does it mention
>
> lock
> pkgcache.bin
> srcpkgcache.bin
>
> That's the problem,
>
> nobody knows what belongs to what.
Most files in /var/ have no owner according to dpkg because
they are created at runtime and there is no way to tell dpkg that
these files belong to us (or anyone). This causes various issues,
this is just one of the more boring ones. There is the longstanding
idea of creating an interface to be able to tell dpkg that this or that
file belongs to this or that package and that it should be removed
with it, but this interface doesn't exist.
As this is a pretty generic issue and APT can do exactly nothing
about it without changes elsewhere I am closing this bugreport until
the situation changes as enough threads about the general issue
exist already, missing is just someone actually doing something.
Best regards
David Kalnischkies
--- End Message ---
Reply to: