Hi Clive
When the log files gets to a certain size or a pre-determine time
(weekly, monthly etc) the system will compress them for archiving hence
the .gz files. On my system MX Linux (Debian based) I seem to have three
archived files for each of the main logs (cron, Kernel, syslog, user)
most have dates 9th, 16th, 23rd August. Unless you have a recent to look
through any of the logs files looking for some detail about a system
change or maybe when something was installed or removed then I would
suggest you start deleting the oldest .gz files first then decide how
long you would like to keep the archived files and delete those you no
longer want (copying to a USB stick is an option if you are not sure).
Tim H
On 31/08/2026 12:19, Clive Wills via dorset wrote:
Hi Tim
Just looked in /var/log as suggested and there are 91 listed files, a
few are .gz folders and lot more folders with system names.
So what files can I delete from this folder (var/log) . As they are
'log' files are they required at every log in?
Some are 'Text', 'binary', 'Archive' and I don't want to delete any
that are required but I don't know what are!
Not doing anything till I know what I can delete.
Thanks
Clive
On 31/08/2026 09:23, Tim wrote:
Hi Clive, you don't say what distro you are using, but you can always
look in /var/log and clear out any old log files that you may have in
there that will make a bit of extra space in the short term.
If you have a Debian based distro you could try running "sudo apt-get
autoremove", providing those header files have been marked for
removal then that should clear them out, you do get the option to say
no do not delete them when you run the command (at least on Debian),
might be worth checking what kernel you are running so you don’t
accidentally delete any thing related to the current kernel.
Tim H
On 31/08/2026 09:12, CA Wills via dorset wrote:
Hi all
My laptop is reporting that the 'Root' partition is running out of
space anf only has 1Gb left.
I've never had this before so checked installed programs and I seem
to have a lot of 'Linux-hwe-6.14 header& tools programs and 6.17
duplicates. Lots of files have version numbers from 6.17.0.14
through to 0.40 both 'headers' & tools.
Can I delete any of the Linux-hwe files that seem to be excessive ?
There's at least 8 version of both headers & tools for 6.17.0.14>
and 2 version for 6.14.0.36/37. Do I need both 6 and 7 versions?
Problem is there is no space between the 'Root' partition and my
'Home'. I can't move the start of 'home' to give extra space for root.
I've thought of:- copy 'home' files to another disk, wipe 'home'
extend root and reinstall the home partition then copy the back the
files. Every time I've tried this (or similar) I've had trouble
with set-up settings although I've copied the 'hidden' "."file s as
well..
Any easier way please?
Clive
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