Can I automatically purge every package I've ever uninstalled?

Question

As an Ubuntu noob, I install and uninstall a lot of packages, to try them out. However, for months, I made the mistake of using apt-get remove instead of apt-get purge, which I didn't even realize exists.

Is there a way to cause apt-get to purge every package I've uninstalled? My system is full of leftover files I neither want or need from dozens of different packages.

It's not a "mistake" to do this. The difference between _remove_ and _purge_ is that the latter deletes configuration files at the **system** level. Your user configuration files are not affected by either method. As very few programs use system-level configurations, for most programs the two commands would in practice be identical. Further, any configuration files take very little space, and so there is in fact nothing for you to worry about. — Paddy Landau, Sep 04 '12 at 11:56
@PaddyLandau: Since many of these packages were services and did in fact have system configuration, I had a _lot_ of files left. It was a mistake in this case, because I had thought `remove` does remove these configuration files. — configurator, Sep 04 '12 at 12:05

score 36 · Accepted Answer · edited Sep 04 '12 at 18:08

36

A simpler alternative, using aptitude (not installed by default)

sudo aptitude purge '~c'

~c is an aptitude search pattern, it means 'Select packages that were removed but not purged'. (The single quotes are to prevent the possible expansion of ~c by the shell as the home directory of a user c.)

Note that purging will remove system configuration files, usually located in /etc, but personal configuration files, usually in some hidden directory in your home, are not removed (it is not always simple to know which they are).

edited Sep 04 '12 at 18:08

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answered Aug 29 '12 at 21:04

enzotib

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What does `~c` mean here? – configurator Aug 29 '12 at 21:31
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@configurator: it is an `aptitude`'s search pattern, it means 'Select packages that were removed but not purged', see [`aptitude` documentation](http://algebraicthunk.net/~dburrows/projects/aptitude/doc/en/ch02s03s05.html). – enzotib Aug 29 '12 at 21:43
Strictly speaking, `\~c` might be considered preferable, as it will work even if there is a user called `c` (in which case `~c` would be expanded by the shell to `/home/c` or whatever else is `c`'s home directory, before being passed to `aptitude`). – Eliah Kagan Aug 29 '12 at 22:55
`~c` is also a valid search expression within `aptitude`'s terminal UI, so you can also use that. – rookie1024 Feb 22 '17 at 17:57

score 15 · Answer 2 · answered Aug 29 '12 at 20:44

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https://help.ubuntu.com/community/AptGet/Howto says:

dpkg -l | grep '^rc' | awk '{print $2}' | xargs dpkg --purge

answered Aug 29 '12 at 20:44

Beernarrd

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if you have uninstalled OpenJDK JRE it's really useless – obysr Aug 29 '12 at 21:11
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This should also work `dpkg -l | awk '/^rc/ {print $2}' |xargs sudo dpkg --purge` – Anwar Sep 11 '12 at 16:14

kmassada · Answer 3 · 2012-08-29T21:03:29.657

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those two will clean your packages, but you should get in the habit of using this,

sudo apt-get remove --purge <package name>

that will purge the packages.

also check this out, this an utility called ubuntu-tweak, it has a feature that is called janitor, that lets you see the packages to clean, and even the configs. http://www.howtogeek.com/112974/how-to-customize-ubuntu-with-ubuntu-tweak/

edited Aug 29 '12 at 21:03

answered Aug 29 '12 at 20:44

kmassada

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`autoclean` and `autoremove` have nothing to do to wath OP asked – enzotib Aug 29 '12 at 20:59
does this edit answer it now? – kmassada Aug 29 '12 at 21:04
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Removed the -1, but it doesn't answer, because the OP already know how to do for the future, it ask for already installed packages. – enzotib Aug 29 '12 at 21:05
+1 for mentioning Ubuntu Tweak. It's what I use to clean my systems and it provides a nice GUI for selecting exactly what I want cleaned and what I want to keep. – Knowledge Cube Sep 10 '12 at 11:08

score 3 · Answer 4 · edited Apr 13 '17 at 12:24

I use Ubuntu-Tweak to do this job.

Install Ubuntu tweak
- How do I install Ubuntu-Tweak?
Open it by typing "Ubuntu-tweak" in the dash. To open dash, press Super key.
Go to the janitor tab, Click on the Package Configs in the left bar, then put a Tick mark at the right section of window and then click the Clean button. This will ask administrative password, give it and wait for a while....... Your system is clean from old configs.

score 2 · Answer 5 · answered Sep 04 '12 at 18:35

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As an alternative to the other answers, you can remove any leftover configuration files by using the BleachBit utility (click to install).

answered Sep 04 '12 at 18:35

fitojb

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Can I automatically purge every package I've ever uninstalled?

5 Answers5