Trimming down Arch Install

gamewolf · 2010-05-29 22:55:30

I have installed Arch on an old laptop. I installed XFCE, Firefox, and Empathy. Already the install has gotten over 3 gigs and I was wondering if there was a way to trim some of that down. Most of the space is dependencies for those three packages.

Thanks.

Awebb · 2010-05-29 23:30:28

I assume ~1gb of those 3 are eaten by /var/cache/pacman. Other memory hogs are the gnome components and mono (if it's installed). Python also eats 150-200MB. If hdd space is really an issue, try to avoid "blown up" DEs like XFCE (and of course Gnome and KDE) and go for a naked Openbox or Fluxbox with only the tools you really need. If you're not good in tinkering your own DE, go for something light like LXDE.

karol · 2010-05-29 23:45:30

ncdu is a great tool for finding out where did your space go.

Yannick_LM · 2010-05-30 13:00:38

Pacgraph is also a good tool for this.

gamewolf · 2010-05-31 17:32:44

Alright thanks for the suggestions. I heard the XFCE is light and easy so thats why I went with it. And I'm capable of tinkering with fluxbux and OpenBox, its just a hassle when I install and uninstall different programs and have to change the config file each time.

Thanks again.

gamewolf · 2010-05-31 18:00:40

Awebb wrote:

I assume ~1gb of those 3 are eaten by /var/cache/pacman. Other memory hogs are the gnome components and mono (if it's installed). Python also eats 150-200MB. If hdd space is really an issue, try to avoid "blown up" DEs like XFCE (and of course Gnome and KDE) and go for a naked Openbox or Fluxbox with only the tools you really need. If you're not good in tinkering your own DE, go for something light like LXDE.

I ran Pacman -Sc to get rid of all uninstalled programs and it says its taking up only 2 GBs now (according to ncdu). I like to keep things lean and trimmed. Not sure just something I do.

Thanks.

Barrucadu · 2010-05-31 19:00:44

Make sure you don't have any orphaned packages lying around:

pacman -Rscn $(pacman -Qdtq)

byte · 2010-05-31 19:04:29

> I heard the XFCE is light

It is, but if you installed everything, including the whole "xfce4-goodies" group, then you also pulled in gnome-panel (through xfce4-xfapplet-plugin) and therefore half of Gnome.

gamewolf · 2010-05-31 19:44:54

byte wrote:

> I heard the XFCE is light
It is, but if you installed everything, including the whole "xfce4-goodies" group, then you also pulled in gnome-panel (through xfce4-xfapplet-plugin) and therefore half of Gnome.

ohh I didn't know that...so its probably better to go with LXDE or OpenBox. Thanks for the info.

Surgat_ · 2010-05-31 22:33:25

Or you can just uninstall xfce4-xfapplet-plugin. That package lets you use gnome-panel applets in xfce panel, so if you don't use any you can uninstall it safely. You can also go through the rest of the xfce4-goodies package list and uninstall what you don't need to trim it down even more.

Anyway, LXDE or simply Openbox are definitely lighter than xfce, although maybe not as featureful.

gamewolf · 2010-06-01 00:35:49

well I may just remove the plugin. I like lxde, but I'm going to wait to it gets more complete before I use it. there's no recycle bin and no network browser. in fact I like how complete gbome is but its just too bloated. I wish there was a DE somewhere between XFCE and gnome.

skunktrader · 2010-06-01 01:42:03

Indeed. You can prune more than 60MB just by uninstalling xfapplet-plugin and its dependencies.

pacman -Rs xfce4-xfapplet-plugin
checking dependencies...

Remove (7): xfce4-xfapplet-plugin-0.1.0-6  gnome-panel-2.30.0-1  
            libcanberra-0.23-1  gnome-menus-2.30.0-1  gnome-desktop-2.30.0-1  
            evolution-data-server-2.30.1-1  libgweather-2.30.0-1  

Total Removed Size:   61.11 MB

gamewolf · 2010-06-01 02:07:26

Well I added xfce4-xfapplet-plugin to the ignore list in pacman.conf. When I went to install the xfce4-goodies group, the "Total Install Size" when from over 300MB to just 155MB. So that was definately a huge help.

Acecero · 2010-06-01 02:19:28

You might want to try bleachbit. You could free more space by removing useless logs, localizations, and other clutter you don't want on your system. I recommend giving it a look.

gamewolf · 2010-06-01 03:12:59

When I use ncdu, I noticed that it shows me the Total disk usage and also the Apparent size. what is the different? There is over a whole gig difference between them.

"Total disk usage: 1.4GiB Apparent size: 2.7GiB"

bruce · 2010-06-01 06:14:03

Another option, if you're getting picky/pedantic, is to remove man pages and docs and/or unused locales as well...
eg. I have this as a cron job:
http://codepad.org/2OAKNGuz

TBH this may be to nitty gritty for you... (also I'd recommend that no one copy and paste that without checking what it deletes )
But it might help

gamewolf · 2010-06-01 13:22:36

bruce wrote:

Another option, if you're getting picky/pedantic, is to remove man pages and docs and/or unused locales as well...
eg. I have this as a cron job:
http://codepad.org/2OAKNGuz
TBH this may be to nitty gritty for you... (also I'd recommend that no one copy and paste that without checking what it deletes )
But it might help

thanks for that info. I think for my purposes that would be going a bit far. I don't want to take away anythong that, for any reason, I may need later.

But that is very good to know. Thanks.

gablink · 2010-06-01 13:59:25

gamewolf wrote:

Alright thanks for the suggestions. I heard the XFCE is light and easy so thats why I went with it. And I'm capable of tinkering with fluxbux and OpenBox, its just a hassle when I install and uninstall different programs and have to change the config file each time.
Thanks again.

You can install a dynamic menu like openbox-menu http://aur.archlinux.org/packages.php?ID=31605

gamewolf · 2010-06-01 21:07:17

gablink wrote:

You can install a dynamic menu like openbox-menu http://aur.archlinux.org/packages.php?ID=31605

Wow, did not even know that existed! Thanks i'll check it out!

Arch Linux

#1 2010-05-29 22:55:30

Trimming down Arch Install

#2 2010-05-29 23:30:28

Re: Trimming down Arch Install

#3 2010-05-29 23:45:30

Re: Trimming down Arch Install

#4 2010-05-30 13:00:38

Re: Trimming down Arch Install

#5 2010-05-31 17:32:44

Re: Trimming down Arch Install

#6 2010-05-31 18:00:40

Re: Trimming down Arch Install

#7 2010-05-31 19:00:44

Re: Trimming down Arch Install

#8 2010-05-31 19:04:29

Re: Trimming down Arch Install

#9 2010-05-31 19:44:54

Re: Trimming down Arch Install

#10 2010-05-31 22:33:25

Re: Trimming down Arch Install

#11 2010-06-01 00:35:49

Re: Trimming down Arch Install

#12 2010-06-01 01:42:03

Re: Trimming down Arch Install

#13 2010-06-01 02:07:26

Re: Trimming down Arch Install

#14 2010-06-01 02:19:28

Re: Trimming down Arch Install

#15 2010-06-01 03:12:59

Re: Trimming down Arch Install

#16 2010-06-01 06:14:03

Re: Trimming down Arch Install

#17 2010-06-01 13:22:36

Re: Trimming down Arch Install

#18 2010-06-01 13:59:25

Re: Trimming down Arch Install

#19 2010-06-01 21:07:17

Re: Trimming down Arch Install

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