clean-system clarification

Scott271 · 03-04-2010, 08:08 PM

Howdy all,

Ok, for the most part, I'm getting along nicely here in Slackville. Slackpkg is new to me and I've adapted well to it but I'd like a bit of info before I go and run clean-system.

What exactly does it do?

Code:

 clean-system
            This action removes all of the packages that  don't  belong  to  a
            standard  Slackware installation.  With this option, you can clean
            up your system, removing third-party packages as well as any pack-
            ages that were removed from the official Slackware package set.
            If  you  have some third party (or custom built) packages that you
            would like to keep, you can temporarily add them to  the  list  of
            blacklisted packages before you run the 'clean-system' action.

Does it bring it back to the system I installed? does it remove the updates I've installed via slackpkg? will it screw with my /home config files? am I drinking too much beer and reading into things?

Basically, I got a little over-zealous with SlackBuild.org and want to go back without reformatting or removing all the unwanted packages.

Thanks in advance,
Scott

disturbed1 · 03-04-2010, 08:18 PM

slackpkg clean-system will compare /var/log/packages to your defined Slackware version and mirror tree. What ever is in /var/log/packages but not in the default Slackware mirror will be removed.

IF a config file is part of the package it will be removed as well. If you installed a program and it dropped some clutter in $HOME/.clutter after you ran it - well $HOME/.clutter stays behind as it was not installed by the package.

cat /var/log/packages/name/* to see what files were installed.

mRgOBLIN · 03-05-2010, 12:21 AM

It does however prompt you with a list of the packages that will be removed. So it should be safe enough to run "just to see".

If using dialog mode you will have the option to "un-check" any packages that you wish to keep.

Scott271 · 03-05-2010, 01:30 PM

Thanks guys! I tooled around with it a bit, and found that I could easily do what I wanted with removepkg instead. But it did give me a nice look of all the stuff I've thrown on since installing.

Thanks again,
Scott