/var/cache/apt/archives filling up on it's own

anomalyLuna · 06-29-2019, 09:46 AM

Hello all. I am running Debian. For some reason /var/cache/apt/archives keeps filling up.... when I did not do an apt-get upgrade or anything. I keep getting a warning that the root volume is getting full, so I do: apt-get clean. Cool, now there is 3.5GB more free and there is nothing in /var/cache/apt/archives. The next day, I get the warning again and /var/cache/apt/archives is populated with 3.5GB of packages, presumably waiting to be installed, even though I issued no apt-get install or apt-get upgrade... or anything. I'm using gnome3.

business_kid · 06-29-2019, 12:33 PM

Running an ubuntu-based Mint VM here, and that directory is 480M.

If it's filling up with archives, something has started it, and it must be configured to do stuff. Try

Code:

ps -e |grep apt

You might be able to stop it with systemd or reconfigure.

hydrurga · 06-29-2019, 02:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by anomalyLuna

Hello all. I am running Debian. For some reason /var/cache/apt/archives keeps filling up.... when I did not do an apt-get upgrade or anything. I keep getting a warning that the root volume is getting full, so I do: apt-get clean. Cool, now there is 3.5GB more free and there is nothing in /var/cache/apt/archives. The next day, I get the warning again and /var/cache/apt/archives is populated with 3.5GB of packages, presumably waiting to be installed, even though I issued no apt-get install or apt-get upgrade... or anything. I'm using gnome3.

3.5GB in one day? That's a lot of deb files. Can you list some of their names here (with priority to the largest ones)?

ondoho · 06-30-2019, 03:29 AM

Maybe something like unattended-upgrades is running in the background?
But even so 3.5G seems a lot. Do what hydrurga asked; also the output of

Code:

apt update

Which debian version, and which desktop environment?