Clean all logs and temp files

jokerttt · 2020-05-10 20:12:19

Good afternoon,

I am pretty new to Arch Linux and Linux in general. There are some cleaning programs like Bleach Bit but I want to know how can do without it.
My idea is deleting all logs and temp files during shutdown.
Where is a locations for look? And what commands to use?

loqs · 2020-05-10 20:20:45

Have you considered other alternatives to deleting logs on shutdown such as not creating the logs, creating lots to ephemeral storage, limiting log size?
You are aware removing all logging makes diagnosing issues much more difficult to the extent it may make determining the cause of an issue impossible?
It also makes offering support more difficult.
Edit:
See file-hierarchy.html for standard file locations provide applications follow the standard.
See journald.conf.html to configure the system journal.

Ordering the deletion so that it occurs after every service has been stopped but before partitions have been unmounted may not be straight forward.

Last edited by loqs (2020-05-10 20:30:29)

jokerttt · 2020-05-10 20:43:55

And what is ephemeral storage?
What about temp files?

P.S.

By the way what about SWAP partition is it really needed or not?
I have 32GB and make 4GB SWAP but it never used.

loqs · 2020-05-10 20:55:00

Ephemeral storage would be tmpfs or other none persistent storage.

See /tmp and /var/tmp in the file-hierarchy link I provided. If the temp files are created by a user service or application executed by a user then there is no standard location that I am aware of.

I suggest creating a separate thread for the swap issue. I will note arch does not require a swap partition.

Trilby · 2020-05-10 21:26:23

Temp files (e.g., those under /tmp) are deleted at shutdown. Or more precisely, they're never saved on disk in the first place. Any other temp files would also be removed upon shutdown ... otherwise they wouldn't be called "temp" in the first place.

I can only speculate that there may be some files you wish were temporary but are not. You'll have to specify what these are though as we can't know what you are thinking.

For logs, as noted above, you really shouldn't completely purge them. But in most cases (e.g., systemd's journal) it's easy to configure a maximum size or age to keep and the rest is automatically cleaned.

I'm also curious, is your concern disk usage (and if so is it specific to a certain partition) or are you more concerned about privacy / security? Your web browser may store lots of content, likely under ~/.cache, but unless you have specific reasons to remove that data, doing so will reduce performance. Cahced data is cached for a reason.

Last edited by Trilby (2020-05-10 21:28:16)

jokerttt · 2020-05-10 22:30:05

More concerned about privacy/security.
~/.cache is already under control more or less.

loqs · 2020-05-10 22:31:17

Full disk encryption does not provide adequate privacy / security?

Last edited by loqs (2020-05-10 22:39:15)

jokerttt · 2020-05-10 22:53:30

Yes, it does.
But I want to understand what information and where Arch Linux gathering and storing during a session.

jokerttt · 2020-05-11 15:32:09

Just to summarize
The main logs are located in /var/logs.
Jounalctl is logging everything that happened during system usage.
Something more?

Trilby · 2020-05-11 15:49:07

Ah, no, not really.

If your concerns are with privacy and securty, what's under /var/logs is of very low concern. What's under ~/.cache is most relevant for that.

seth · 2020-05-11 20:14:46

Or in ~/.config/muttrc - if you put a password there.
Or in /etc/netctl/*, if you put a wifi profile w/ password there.
Or somewhere else.
And sometimes depending on the invocation, https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Xorg#General

"Arch Linux" neither gathers nor stores anything during a session, but some of the software you use might.

You need to define what you consider private (eg. passwords certainly are, your browser history may be but kernel messages or coredumps or pre-rendered svg icons are most certainly not) and cross-check with the software you use.
The figure whether the software you use stores any such data, whether you can reasonably make it stop doing so and if not where it stores that data so you can delete it at times. Perhaps by redirecting the storage location into some tmpfs.
Eg. https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Ch … icks#Tmpfs

Jounalctl is logging everything that happened during system usage.

No. Neither is it logging everything (many things are just not logged at all) nor is it logging everything (though there's transition, several tools write their own logfile to disk, not supporting the journal at all)

To make this absolutely clear: There is no generic answer to your inquery.
There is no universal privacy-stuff-protocol nor a general consensus on what constitutes "privacy" - in which context (privacy refers to the exclusivity of information and that opens the question whom you want to exclude. Eg. you might be ok with your spouse to have access to your bank account, but not some random stranger. Otoh you might be ok with some random stranger to know about your porn consumption, but not your spouse…)

Arch Linux

#1 2020-05-10 20:12:19

Clean all logs and temp files

#2 2020-05-10 20:20:45

Re: Clean all logs and temp files

#3 2020-05-10 20:43:55

Re: Clean all logs and temp files

#4 2020-05-10 20:55:00

Re: Clean all logs and temp files

#5 2020-05-10 21:26:23

Re: Clean all logs and temp files

#6 2020-05-10 22:30:05

Re: Clean all logs and temp files

#7 2020-05-10 22:31:17

Re: Clean all logs and temp files

#8 2020-05-10 22:53:30

Re: Clean all logs and temp files

#9 2020-05-11 15:32:09

Re: Clean all logs and temp files

#10 2020-05-11 15:49:07

Re: Clean all logs and temp files

#11 2020-05-11 20:14:46

Re: Clean all logs and temp files

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