Clean rootfs
 

Guys, I don't know whether this information deserves a new topic but yesterday I've found a way to clean the N900 rootfs that worked fine on my device. Please handle this information with care, since I've read about people running ubuntu or debian who got the system erased by this command.
I've typed this (as root):

apt-get autoremove

my free rootfs increased by 8% but before I recommend to try this:

apt-get --simulate autoremove

this command simulates the autoremove action so, you can check the output in order to be sure that only useless packages will be removed.

Try also: apt-get moo

This won't help you in rootfs cleaning but is absolutely safe! ;-)

Re: Clean rootfs
 

I accidentally extracted NITDroid to my root directory (for got a cd /And). Is this a good way to clean out the excess files?

Re: Clean rootfs
 

ive done the exact same thing grrrrr lol

Re: Clean rootfs
 

how to remove useless config.files ? the packages i have already uninstalled through HAM ,but still i can see some of their files in Filebox..
how to get rid of all of them ?
how to do this safely ?

Re: Clean rootfs
 

Try something like:

Re: Clean rootfs
 

it says ..
''E:package couldnt find, <app> not installed so not removed ''
nothing happened i guess,still files can be seen in filebox,rootfs hasnt freed too.

Re: Clean rootfs
 

Yes, use purge for installed apps...

Re: Clean rootfs
 

thanks but what about those config.files appearing in the filebox,i already have uninstalled those apps through HAM..so any solution for that buddy ?

Re: Clean rootfs
 

dpkg -l | grep ^rc (this command will show you a list of apps configuration files still left in the system from uninstalled app)
dpkg --purge <appname> (This will remove it)

Re: Clean rootfs
 

so what you both did to solve this because I also did this but now can't solve this problem

Re: Clean rootfs
 

That's exactly what I managed to do yesterday! If anyone knows what to do now, please share your knowledge.

I was installing NITDroid following the instructions shown in this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HF0uv0nJIj0 and I'm 100% sure I did everything precisely as in the video. My SD card was brand new, plugged it in straight from the package before trying to install NITDroid. What the heck went wrong?

Re: Clean rootfs
 

I got a huge list of config files. Anyway to delete all those (that are not required) files at once?

Re: Clean rootfs
 

May be this even might be done with a one-liner, but i use those two lines

Re: Clean rootfs
 

To Clean rootfs or Free up rootfs space, there's a WIKI page.
The most effective i did was Moving the microb-engine (has to be done as root) will save 13.9 Mb:
these are the commands
Warning !
First save both commands on a file on your N900 to be sure.
If you do the first command and you lost connection, opening pages is not possible.
Also found the browser opening pages takes a while...
To speed up microb again, this can help you and there's no difference anymore :)

Re: Clean rootfs
 

routinely frees up to 5 MB

Re: Clean rootfs
 

I don't see anything like that in my N900, thought I can see something like /var/lib/dpkg/*old

There seems to be three files that would match the criteria and would free up about 2.7Mb in my case. Is that what you are talking about? Or is it indeed *.old?

Re: Clean rootfs
 

Doesn't seems to work with and without root.

dpkg: --purge needs at least one package name argument.

Re: Clean rootfs
 

"dpkg -l | grep ^rc | cut -d " " -f 3 | xargs dpkg --purge" as root worked. About 1.5Mb root space freed.

Re: Clean rootfs
 

my mistake, indeed...
meant to be
guess *old amounts to the same

Re: Clean rootfs
 

here is a wiki page that 'optifies' a few packages part of Maemo core (thus, can't be optified prior to install, any more, obviously :p
alas :mad:
CSSU, anyone :D )

Free up rootfs space

YMMV...
here are most lines...
last command has been rewritten by Joseph9560 as
nota bene: moving & relinking the theme part means you can't install any new themes unless you delete the link & move the files back to their original place...

i use those exact instructions routinely when reflashing my N900s (now mostly the test model :cool:) and never had any problems
then again, i don't give a darn about themes :rolleyes:

Re: Clean rootfs
 

Ouch. After:

dpkg -l | grep ^rc | cut -d " " -f 3 | xargs dpkg --purge

my free rootfs space went from 30.6 to 29.4!?! Any idea what went wrong or where the missing 1.2mb is from?

Re: Clean rootfs
 

@szopin,

LOL :) Could be that the dpkg log (I suppose there's some log somewhere) grew more than the config files that were deleted :)

Are you sure you measured free space right before and after the dpkg command?

Re: Clean rootfs
 

Yeah, was doing steps from this thread and checking 'df -h /' after each. Strangely enough microb-engine gave me only ~7mb and microb seems to start up faster (compression on rootfs?). Now to find that dpkg log, if it grew by 1mb and is on rootfs optifying that should give lots more free space...

Re: Clean rootfs
 

Got it:
rm /var/lib/dpkg/*old
should be executed last, or new -old files get created.

Re: Clean rootfs
 

I followed these instructions and now my media doesn't play in open media player or the regular media player. As a matter of fact my media played shows 'No music', 'No videos' etc...

Opera stopped working past log in prompts etc...

Re: Clean rootfs
 

how exactly do i use these things?

Re: Clean rootfs
 

If you used some Application Manager to install or remove packages, there is no need for the autoremove, because that is invoked by those Application Managers.

If you did not use the Application Manager, but apt-get in X-Terminal you could use the command as root to erase the downloaded installable packages after the installation.