Re: [CentOS] how to clear out /var/cache?

[Michael Lightfoot]

I regularly run "yum clean all" as yum tends to cache lots of stuff which isn't 
really necessary once you have done your patching.


Michael Lightfoot
Delivery Engineer
Sliced Tech
Canberra, Australia

-Original Message-
From: CentOS  On Behalf Of Valeri Galtsev
Sent: Wednesday, 5 January 2022 5:42 AM
To: centos@centos.org
Subject: Re: [CentOS] how to clear out /var/cache?



On 1/4/22 1:22 PM, Johnny Hughes wrote:
> On 12/31/21 22:15, Fred wrote:
>> well, I removed all the files in the tree under
>> /var/cache/yum/x86_64/7 but
>> left all the directories empty. that got rid of a couple gigs of stuff.
>>
>> among the remains, the only other big one remaining is:
>>
>> 2.3G abrt-di
>>
>> which I won't mess with for now.
>>
>> I've got 4.2G free, now, so that should run me for quite a while.
>>
>> Thanks to all of you for your tips!
>>
>> Fred
> 
> For the record .. I remove things manually from /var/cache/yum/ all 
> the time (or /var/cache/dnf/ ).  It has never caused me any issues.
> 
> I have not removed anything else manually from /var/cache/
> 

+1

Valeri

> 
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Valeri Galtsev
Sr System Administrator
Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics Kavli Institute for Cosmological 
Physics University of Chicago
Phone: 773-702-4247

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Re: [CentOS] how to clear out /var/cache?

[Valeri Galtsev]

On 1/4/22 1:22 PM, Johnny Hughes wrote:

On 12/31/21 22:15, Fred wrote:
well, I removed all the files in the tree under 
/var/cache/yum/x86_64/7 but

left all the directories empty. that got rid of a couple gigs of stuff.

among the remains, the only other big one remaining is:

2.3G abrt-di

which I won't mess with for now.

I've got 4.2G free, now, so that should run me for quite a while.

Thanks to all of you for your tips!

Fred


For the record .. I remove things manually from /var/cache/yum/ all the 
time (or /var/cache/dnf/ ).  It has never caused me any issues.


I have not removed anything else manually from /var/cache/



+1

Valeri



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--

Valeri Galtsev
Sr System Administrator
Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics
Kavli Institute for Cosmological Physics
University of Chicago
Phone: 773-702-4247

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Re: [CentOS] how to clear out /var/cache?

[Johnny Hughes]

On 12/31/21 22:15, Fred wrote:

well, I removed all the files in the tree under /var/cache/yum/x86_64/7 but
left all the directories empty. that got rid of a couple gigs of stuff.

among the remains, the only other big one remaining is:

2.3G abrt-di

which I won't mess with for now.

I've got 4.2G free, now, so that should run me for quite a while.

Thanks to all of you for your tips!

Fred


For the record .. I remove things manually from /var/cache/yum/ all the 
time (or /var/cache/dnf/ ).  It has never caused me any issues.


I have not removed anything else manually from /var/cache/


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Re: [CentOS] how to clear out /var/cache?

[Kenneth Porter]

--On Friday, December 31, 2021 11:15 PM -0500 Fred  
wrote:



among the remains, the only other big one remaining is:

2.3G abrt-di

which I won't mess with for now.


That directory is owned by the abrt-addon-ccpp package, which is involved 
with crash dump analysis. So I'd guess it's full of dumps from programs 
that crashed.





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Re: [CentOS] how to clear out /var/cache?

[Fred]

well, I removed all the files in the tree under /var/cache/yum/x86_64/7 but
left all the directories empty. that got rid of a couple gigs of stuff.

among the remains, the only other big one remaining is:

2.3G abrt-di

which I won't mess with for now.

I've got 4.2G free, now, so that should run me for quite a while.

Thanks to all of you for your tips!

Fred

On Fri, Dec 31, 2021 at 10:38 AM Stephen John Smoogen 
wrote:

> On Thu, 30 Dec 2021 at 18:21, Fred  wrote:
>
> > Is it safe to just remove files from /var/cache on a running system, or
> is
> > there a correct procedure for doing that?
> >
> > Mine has hit over 3 gigs, making it one of the larger directories in /,
> > which is running low on space. I've hit all the low-hanging fruit I can
> > find and now I come to things like /var/cache, and I don't know what to
> do
> > about such.
> >
> >
> The first step is to find out what is using it. It is probably dnf but
> could be other utilities which are trying and failing to do something. I
> start off with
>
> ```
> $ sudo -i
> # cd /var/cache
> # du -sch | sort -h
> 0   ./PackageKit
> 0   ./app-info
> 0   ./bpf
> 0   ./fwupd
> 0   ./httpd
> 0   ./krb5rcache
> 0   ./libX11
> 0   ./libvirt
> 0   ./private
> 0   ./realmd
> 36K ./ldconfig
> 1.7M./man
> 29M ./dnf
> 31M total
>
> while on a different system:
> 4.0K./abrt-di
> 4.0K./bpf
> 4.0K./foomatic
> 4.0K./krb5rcache
> 4.0K./private
> 4.0K./realmd
> 8.0K./httpd
> 8.0K./libX11
> 8.0K./powertop
> 96K ./ldconfig
> 300K./ibus
> 520K./libvirt
> 3.5M./man
> 4.2M./fwupd
> 38M ./app-info
> 59M ./cups
> 213M./PackageKit
> 332M./dnf
> 2.1G./mock
> 2.7Gtotal
>
> ```
>
> As others have noted, dnf is probably the most used tool here, but it could
> be mock or some other utility (I had cups because I misconfigured something
> once)
>
> dnf is a tricky tool because sometimes a command will create a
> 'not-so-temporary' cached tree which can't be cleaned because `dnf clean
> all` doesn't know it. What I do is a `dnf clean all` and then go into
> /var/cache/dnf and see what else might be still there. In my case I found a
> large trove of packages from when I had enabled testing at one point and
> then turned it off before doing a clean. I normally just delete all the
> directories and do a `dnf update` to see if it reports errors.
>
> Hope this helps.
>
>
>
> Thanks in advance!
> >
> > Fred
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> >
>
>
> --
> Stephen J Smoogen.
> Let us be kind to one another, for most of us are fighting a hard battle.
> -- Ian MacClaren
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Re: [CentOS] how to clear out /var/cache?

[Stephen John Smoogen]

On Thu, 30 Dec 2021 at 18:21, Fred  wrote:

> Is it safe to just remove files from /var/cache on a running system, or is
> there a correct procedure for doing that?
>
> Mine has hit over 3 gigs, making it one of the larger directories in /,
> which is running low on space. I've hit all the low-hanging fruit I can
> find and now I come to things like /var/cache, and I don't know what to do
> about such.
>
>
The first step is to find out what is using it. It is probably dnf but
could be other utilities which are trying and failing to do something. I
start off with

```
$ sudo -i
# cd /var/cache
# du -sch | sort -h
0   ./PackageKit
0   ./app-info
0   ./bpf
0   ./fwupd
0   ./httpd
0   ./krb5rcache
0   ./libX11
0   ./libvirt
0   ./private
0   ./realmd
36K ./ldconfig
1.7M./man
29M ./dnf
31M total

while on a different system:
4.0K./abrt-di
4.0K./bpf
4.0K./foomatic
4.0K./krb5rcache
4.0K./private
4.0K./realmd
8.0K./httpd
8.0K./libX11
8.0K./powertop
96K ./ldconfig
300K./ibus
520K./libvirt
3.5M./man
4.2M./fwupd
38M ./app-info
59M ./cups
213M./PackageKit
332M./dnf
2.1G./mock
2.7Gtotal

```

As others have noted, dnf is probably the most used tool here, but it could
be mock or some other utility (I had cups because I misconfigured something
once)

dnf is a tricky tool because sometimes a command will create a
'not-so-temporary' cached tree which can't be cleaned because `dnf clean
all` doesn't know it. What I do is a `dnf clean all` and then go into
/var/cache/dnf and see what else might be still there. In my case I found a
large trove of packages from when I had enabled testing at one point and
then turned it off before doing a clean. I normally just delete all the
directories and do a `dnf update` to see if it reports errors.

Hope this helps.



Thanks in advance!
>
> Fred
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Let us be kind to one another, for most of us are fighting a hard battle.
-- Ian MacClaren
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Re: [CentOS] how to clear out /var/cache?

[James B Huber]

On Thu, 2021-12-30 at 16:09 -0800, Skylar Thompson wrote:
> The FHS specification says that applications using /var/cache should
> expect
> those data to disappear anytime, so under a strict interpretation it
> should
> be safe to remove everything. Practically, though, I don't know that
> I'd
> trust every application to adhere to that, so it might be worth
> looking at
> what applications are the biggest users of the directory and making
> targeted deletions or even application-specific tools to remove the
> data
> (i.e. "yum clean all").
> 
> On Thu, Dec 30, 2021 at 06:20:15PM -0500, Fred wrote:
> > Is it safe to just remove files from /var/cache on a running
> > system, or is
> > there a correct procedure for doing that?
> > 
> > Mine has hit over 3 gigs, making it one of the larger directories
> > in /,
> > which is running low on space. I've hit all the low-hanging fruit I
> > can
> > find and now I come to things like /var/cache, and I don't know
> > what to do
> > about such.
> > 
> > Thanks in advance!
> 
> 
> 
It almost always filled up with leftover cruft from yum...
Run "yum clean all" should clear up a large chunk of your space.

Jim
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Re: [CentOS] how to clear out /var/cache?

[Gianluca Cecchi]

Il Ven 31 Dic 2021, 03:39 Fred  ha scritto:
[snip]

>
>
> > --On Thursday, December 30, 2021 6:20 PM -0500 Fred <
> fred.fre...@gmail.com>
> >
> > wrote:
> >
> > > Mine has hit over 3 gigs, making it one of the larger directories in /,
> > > which is running low on space. I've hit all the low-hanging fruit I can
> > > find and now I come to things like /var/cache, and I don't know what to
> > do
> > > about such.
> >
>

If you go into /var/cache and run
du -sh *
you should see which subdirectories take more space and so on going through
their subdirectories... to pinpoint the main specific  component
responsible of the space occupation..

With the * in the command above you don't catch elements (files or
directories) beginning with a . but I don't think there are normally this
kind of objects... Just in case you can run a
ll -a
to be sure of that..
Hih,
Gianluca
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Re: [CentOS] how to clear out /var/cache?

[Kenneth Porter]

On 12/30/2021 6:39 PM, Fred wrote:

but I still don't know the proper way to clear out a lot of this stuff. I
certainly don't want to hose my system.


My next step, on finding a candidate pig, would be to use "rpm -qf" to 
identify which package owns the pig, and then look at how to clean that 
package's junk and reduce its growth.



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Re: [CentOS] how to clear out /var/cache?

[Fred]

Skylar: that's more or less what I've been doing, looking for huge things
in /.

Kenneth: the latest version of kdirstat appears to now be named qdirstat,
no kde bits required. it is certainly a handy way to quickly find the disk
space sinks. Thanks for the pointer.

but I still don't know the proper way to clear out a lot of this stuff. I
certainly don't want to hose my system.

It is C7, up to date, and it has been running for at least five years with
partitions as they are set now: / is 50 gigs. had a popup message this
morning telling me that / was nearly full. found it with 2 gigs free.
sounds as if something has been slowly eating away at the space. I could
use gparted to rearrange things, making / bigger, but as it has been going
for five years, it strikes me that it more likely needs a lot of garbage
collection to be done. I've manually cleaned up some detritus, it now
reports 3.7G free which should hold me for a little while.

So, can anyone advise me on what is and what is not safe to whack/delete
from the root partition?

Thanks!

Fred

On Thu, Dec 30, 2021 at 7:16 PM Kenneth Porter 
wrote:

> --On Thursday, December 30, 2021 6:20 PM -0500 Fred 
>
> wrote:
>
> > Mine has hit over 3 gigs, making it one of the larger directories in /,
> > which is running low on space. I've hit all the low-hanging fruit I can
> > find and now I come to things like /var/cache, and I don't know what to
> do
> > about such.
>
> Have you run KDirStat to find the disk pigs? I regularly use its Windows
> derivative, WinDirStat.
>
> 
> 
>
> I wish there was a web-based version for headless servers without X
> libraries.
>
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Re: [CentOS] how to clear out /var/cache?

[Kenneth Porter]

--On Thursday, December 30, 2021 6:20 PM -0500 Fred  
wrote:



Mine has hit over 3 gigs, making it one of the larger directories in /,
which is running low on space. I've hit all the low-hanging fruit I can
find and now I come to things like /var/cache, and I don't know what to do
about such.


Have you run KDirStat to find the disk pigs? I regularly use its Windows 
derivative, WinDirStat.





I wish there was a web-based version for headless servers without X 
libraries.


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Re: [CentOS] how to clear out /var/cache?

[Skylar Thompson]

The FHS specification says that applications using /var/cache should expect
those data to disappear anytime, so under a strict interpretation it should
be safe to remove everything. Practically, though, I don't know that I'd
trust every application to adhere to that, so it might be worth looking at
what applications are the biggest users of the directory and making
targeted deletions or even application-specific tools to remove the data
(i.e. "yum clean all").

On Thu, Dec 30, 2021 at 06:20:15PM -0500, Fred wrote:
> Is it safe to just remove files from /var/cache on a running system, or is
> there a correct procedure for doing that?
> 
> Mine has hit over 3 gigs, making it one of the larger directories in /,
> which is running low on space. I've hit all the low-hanging fruit I can
> find and now I come to things like /var/cache, and I don't know what to do
> about such.
> 
> Thanks in advance!

-- 
-- Skylar Thompson (skyl...@u.washington.edu)
-- Genome Sciences Department (UW Medicine), System Administrator
-- Foege Building S046, (206)-685-7354
-- Pronouns: He/Him/His
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[CentOS] how to clear out /var/cache?

[Fred]

Is it safe to just remove files from /var/cache on a running system, or is
there a correct procedure for doing that?

Mine has hit over 3 gigs, making it one of the larger directories in /,
which is running low on space. I've hit all the low-hanging fruit I can
find and now I come to things like /var/cache, and I don't know what to do
about such.

Thanks in advance!

Fred
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