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Old 04-03-2019, 12:57 PM   #1
papilon
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Hidden cache directory


Hi,

I've come across a hidden directory: /home/jake/.cache
Why is data stored there? How to clear this cache directory?

Please give a hand. I've noticed that this hidden cache directory stores some old large video file in /home/jake/.cache/.fr-Edrgq3 directory.
 
Old 04-03-2019, 01:07 PM   #2
scasey
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Quote:
Originally Posted by papilon View Post
Hi,

I've come across a hidden directory: /home/jake/.cache
Why is data stored there? How to clear this cache directory?

Please give a hand. I've noticed that this hidden cache directory stores some old large video file in /home/jake/.cache/.fr-Edrgq3 directory.
Among other things, that's where thunderbird and firefox keep their profiles, which contain all your email and bookmarks. Also that's where evolution keeps its settings and email.

What, exactly is in yours? Why are you concerned?
 
Old 04-03-2019, 01:17 PM   #3
papilon
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I am concerned as I don't know why some old video that I downloaded 3 months ago was there. I deleted it manually. Is it safe to remove that .cache directory (maybe software taht need it will create is again)? Can I just remove it?
Code:

jake@jake-pc:~/.cache$ ls -lha
total 96K
drwxrwxr-x 20 jake jake 4,0K kwi  3 20:08 .
drwxr-xr-x 42 jake jake 4,0K kwi  3 18:37 ..
drwxrwxr-x  3 jake jake 4,0K lip  1  2018 Arora
drwx------  5 jake jake 4,0K paź 27 02:42 chromium
-rw-r--r--  1 jake jake  12K lut  4 18:09 event-sound-cache.tdb.dfb9de598c9f4094af1f693eaa8fad24.i686-pc-linux-gnu
drwxr-xr-x  2 jake jake 4,0K mar 31 18:25 fontconfig
drwx------  2 jake jake 4,0K mar 30 10:27 .fr-Eo0kwf
drwx------  2 jake jake 4,0K cze 25  2018 .fr-Fm19zx
drwx------  2 jake jake 4,0K mar 30 10:56 .fr-R6RAih
drwx------  3 jake jake 4,0K wrz 21  2017 gnome-help
drwxrwxr-x  2 jake jake 4,0K sty 23 19:15 gstreamer-1.0
drwxrwxr-x  3 jake jake 4,0K cze 28  2017 lxsession
drwxrwxr-x  2 jake jake 4,0K lip  6  2017 lxsession-default-apps
drwx------  2 jake jake 4,0K kwi  3 18:38 menus
-rw-r--r--  1 jake jake    0 wrz  7  2018 motd.legal-displayed
drwx------  3 jake jake 4,0K cze 28  2017 mozilla
drwxrwxr-x  3 jake jake 4,0K kwi  3 18:37 openbox
drwxrwxr-x  2 jake jake 4,0K lut  2 03:15 QupZilla
drwxrwxr-x  3 jake jake 4,0K paź 15 22:12 shutter
drwx------  2 jake jake 4,0K cze 28  2017 stardict
drwxrwxr-x  2 jake jake 4,0K cze 28  2017 update-manager-core
drwxrwxr-x  2 jake jake 4,0K lut  2 23:04 winetricks
-rw-rw-r--  1 jake jake   57 maj 23  2018 xfce4-notifyd-theme.rc.YJCRJZ

Last edited by papilon; 04-03-2019 at 01:35 PM.
 
Old 04-03-2019, 01:28 PM   #4
scasey
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Quote:
Originally Posted by papilon View Post
I am concerned as I don't know why some old video that I downloaded 3 months ago was there. I deleted it manually. Is it safe to remove that .cache directory (maybe software taht need it will create is again)? Can I just remove it?
Please use [code] tags, not [quote] tags to preserve output formatting.
Looks like that's where Chrome has its settings, also mozilla which is where firefox settings are on my desktop. If you delete the entire directory, you'll lose those settings and settings for (I'm guessing) winetricks, gstreamer, openbox, and more.

I would NOT recommend removing the directory. I think you'll mess up your desktop badly.
 
Old 04-03-2019, 01:51 PM   #5
hydrurga
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Those directories beginning with .fr are where the GNOME Archive Manager keeps its temporary files (the "fr" coming from its predecessor "file roller"). If the archive manager is interrupted prematurely, then those directories may remain without being deleted.

You should be able to safely delete those .fr directories (ensure that the Archive Manager is not running when you do). Do not delete the entire .cache directory.
 
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Old 04-03-2019, 02:30 PM   #6
ondoho
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Quote:
Originally Posted by scasey View Post
Among other things, that's where thunderbird and firefox keep their profiles, which contain all your email and bookmarks.
I... don't believe that's true. I'm pretty sure these things are stored in ~/.thunderbird and ~/.mozilla respectively.
cache should typically contain stuff that helps the application to start up faster, but isn't essential.
but don't trust software developers to adhere to that 100%.

I believe it's prudent to weed out your cache directory every now and then.
 
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Old 04-03-2019, 02:35 PM   #7
hydrurga
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ondoho View Post
I... don't believe that's true. I'm pretty sure these things are stored in ~/.thunderbird and ~/.mozilla respectively.
cache should typically contain stuff that helps the application to start up faster, but isn't essential.
but don't trust software developers to adhere to that 100%.

I believe it's prudent to weed out your cache directory every now and then.
Correct.
 
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Old 04-03-2019, 03:00 PM   #8
scasey
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ondoho View Post
I... don't believe that's true. I'm pretty sure these things are stored in ~/.thunderbird and ~/.mozilla respectively.
cache should typically contain stuff that helps the application to start up faster, but isn't essential.
but don't trust software developers to adhere to that 100%.

I believe it's prudent to weed out your cache directory every now and then.
You are probably right...but on my desktop ~/.cache/thunderbird and ~/.cache/Mozilla/firefox contain randomchars.profile files...
I’m away from it at the moment. Will double check and update later...

Yup. My bad. What's in those directories in ~/.cache is the same as what's in the ~/.thunderbird and ~/.mozilla. Sorry for the confusion.

Last edited by scasey; 04-03-2019 at 03:15 PM.
 
  


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