Removing orphan packages is always safe?

ezzetabi · 2008-10-12 08:35:48

The command

pacman -Rns `pacman -Qdt | sed -e 's_ .*$__'`

is safe?

If you do not want decipher it, the point is: is it safe removing packages installed as dep and not needed by any other package?

Last edited by ezzetabi (2008-10-12 08:36:55)

Allan · 2008-10-12 08:40:25

It is usually safe to do. There are typically dependencies that are no longer needed.

pacman -Rs $(pacman -Qqtd)

is easier.

ezzetabi · 2008-10-12 08:57:30

wow, I didn't noticed (in the man) the '-q' option. But I am not sure why you removed the '-n'...

Last edited by ezzetabi (2008-10-12 08:57:51)

Berseker · 2008-10-12 08:59:25

in that list also appears LOTS of useful standalone programs

[berseker@acerone ~]$ sudo pacman -Rs $(pacman -Qqtd)
controllo delle dipendenze in corso...

Rimuovere (82): youtube-dl-2008.09.20-1 [0,05 MB]  
                xdg-user-dirs-0.10-1 [0,41 MB]  unixodbc-2.2.12-2 [1,98 MB]  
                ufw-0.22-4 [0,37 MB]  iptables-1.4.0-2 [1,00 MB]  
                twisted-web-2.0.2.0-1 [1,66 MB]  twisted-8.1.0-1 [15,90 MB]  
                zope-interface-3.4.1-1 [0,94 MB]  pycrypto-2.0.1-2 [19,95 MB]  
                tomboy-0.12.1-1 [11,88 MB]  gmime-2.2.21-1 [1,28 MB]  
                swftools-0.8.1-1 [5,44 MB]  sharutils-4.6.3-1 [0,16 MB]  
                scrot-0.8-2 [0,04 MB]  giblib-1.2.4-3 [0,13 MB]  
                scons-1.0.1-1 [3,84 MB]  rpmextract-0-2 [0,00 MB]  
                redland-1.0.8-1 [1,56 MB]  raptor-1.4.18-1 [1,06 MB]  
                python-pysqlite-legacy-1.0.1-4 [0,10 MB]  
                sqlite2-2.8.17-2 [0,92 MB]  python-pygame-1.8.1-2 [1,54 MB]  
                python-pigment-0.3.8-1 [1,98 MB]  pigment-0.3.11-1 [2,37 MB]  
                python-cssutils-0.9.5.1-1 [1,86 MB]  pyopenssl-0.7-1 [0,21 MB]  
                pstoedit-3.45-2 [1,82 MB]  plotutils-2.5-1 [6,31 MB]  
                libxmi-1.2-1 [0,25 MB]  pppusage-0.2.5-2 [0,09 MB]  
                ppp-2.4.4-6 [0,65 MB]  postgresql-8.3.4-1 [25,45 MB]  
                postgresql-libs-8.3.4-1 [1,43 MB]  pmount-0.9.13-4 [0,44 MB]  
                perl-gtk2-trayicon-0.06-3 [0,09 MB]  
                gtk2-perl-1.182-1 [6,04 MB]  glib-perl-1.182-1 [0,87 MB]  
                cairo-perl-1.060-1 [0,36 MB]  
                perl-archive-zip-1.23-2 [0,22 MB]  opencdk-0.6.6-1 [0,39 MB]  
                obex-data-server-0.3.4-1 [0,14 MB]  openobex-1.3-3 [0,21 MB]  
                nasm-2.03.01-1 [0,78 MB]  nas-1.9.1-2 [1,52 MB]  
                lsdvd-0.16-3 [0,04 MB]  libvisual-plugins-0.4.0-2 [0,80 MB]  
                libisofs-0.6.10-1 [0,52 MB]  libdvdcss-1.2.10-1 [0,10 MB]  
                libburn-0.5.2-1 [0,73 MB]  libatomic_ops-1.2-1 [0,34 MB]  
                kaa-metadata-0.7.3-1 [1,53 MB]  kaa-imlib2-0.2.3-1 [0,16 MB]  
                kaa-base-0.4.0-1 [1,24 MB]  jdk-6u7-1 [116,83 MB]  
                iwlwifi-3945-ucode-15.28.1.6-1 [0,18 MB]  
                hwdetect-0.9.1-2 [0,02 MB]  hspell-1.0-2 [0,65 MB]  
                hd2u-1.0.3-1 [0,02 MB]  gutenprint-5.0.2-4 [64,30 MB]  
                gstreamer0.10-ffmpeg-0.10.5-1 [16,20 MB]  
                gperf-3.0.3-1 [0,10 MB]  gegl-0.0.18-1 [1,40 MB]  
                babl-0.0.22-1 [0,25 MB]  fontforge-20080828-1 [12,56 MB]  
                flex-2.5.35-1 [0,77 MB]  ffmpeg2theora-0.21-2 [0,07 MB]  
                fbset-2.1-2 [0,08 MB]  fakeroot-1.9.5-1 [0,23 MB]  
                doxygen-1.5.7.1-1 [4,69 MB]  dhcpcd-4.0.2-1 [0,17 MB]  
                dbus-sharp-0.63-1 [0,10 MB]  dash-0.5.4-4 [0,20 MB]  
                cryptsetup-1.0.6-2 [1,15 MB]  ccache-2.4-4 [0,07 MB]  
                cabextract-1.2-1 [0,07 MB]  bzr-1.7-1 [19,46 MB]  
                bison-2.3-4 [1,10 MB]  bigreqsproto-1.0.2-1 [0,03 MB]  
                automake-1.10.1-2 [1,43 MB]  archlinux-menus-2.1-2 [0,05 MB]  
                apache-ant-1.7.0-2 [3,19 MB]  agg-2.5-2 [1,97 MB]  

Dimensione totale dei pacchetti da rimuovere:   376,47 MB

Rimuovere questi pacchetti? [S/n] n
[berseker@acerone ~]$

i really don't think that's a safe thing to do..

bender02 · 2008-10-12 09:33:32

@Berseker: something must be wrong with your way of installing, since the list definitely shouldn't be that long. In that list you also have packages that I can't imagine that they were pulled in as dependencies - like tomboy. Also, it lists a lot of packages from [core] group. You sure you didn't mispell the 'pacman -Qqtd' command?

For the rest of you - why being so lazy? Just list the orphans, and use your brain to see if you need them or not. Some of the packages listed might for instance be some builddeps of packages that you build. Then it doesn't make too much sense removing them (although it's safe), since you're going to need to install them again when you build again.

moljac024 · 2008-10-12 09:48:12

bender02 wrote:

For the rest of you - why being so lazy? Just list the orphans, and use your brain to see if you need them or not. Some of the packages listed might for instance be some builddeps of packages that you build. Then it doesn't make too much sense removing them (although it's safe), since you're going to need to install them again when you build again.

There is wisdom in these words.

Berseker · 2008-10-20 12:51:49

bender02 wrote:

@Berseker: something must be wrong with your way of installing, since the list definitely shouldn't be that long. In that list you also have packages that I can't imagine that they were pulled in as dependencies - like tomboy. Also, it lists a lot of packages from [core] group. You sure you didn't mispell the 'pacman -Qqtd' command?

yes 'm sure.. that part that I quoted was a simple copy&paste of a terminal output.

Xyne · 2008-10-20 13:27:38

@Allan

I'm curious too... why didn't you include the "nosave" option (I'm still not fully clear on what it does).

foutrelis · 2008-10-20 15:01:53

Xyne wrote:

I'm curious too... why didn't you include the "nosave" option (I'm still not fully clear on what it does).

If the --nosave switch is used when removing a package, its configuration files won't be saved. Otherwise, important ones (which are specified in the backup=() line in PKGBUILDs) are renamed to foo.pacsave. The latter is the default behavior, as you might have made changes that you wouldn't like to lose in case you accidentally remove a package or decide to reinstall it in the future.

Last edited by foutrelis (2008-10-20 15:02:20)

Xyne · 2008-10-21 18:44:50

Thanks foutrelis... that's finally completely clear now.

Arch Linux

#1 2008-10-12 08:35:48

Removing orphan packages is always safe?

#2 2008-10-12 08:40:25

Re: Removing orphan packages is always safe?

#3 2008-10-12 08:57:30

Re: Removing orphan packages is always safe?

#4 2008-10-12 08:59:25

Re: Removing orphan packages is always safe?

#5 2008-10-12 09:33:32

Re: Removing orphan packages is always safe?

#6 2008-10-12 09:48:12

Re: Removing orphan packages is always safe?

#7 2008-10-20 12:51:49

Re: Removing orphan packages is always safe?

#8 2008-10-20 13:27:38

Re: Removing orphan packages is always safe?

#9 2008-10-20 15:01:53

Re: Removing orphan packages is always safe?

#10 2008-10-21 18:44:50

Re: Removing orphan packages is always safe?

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