Is it safe to remove?

[docnascar]

I don't really understand all of the programs that are actually required to run linux....

My root drive is getting full. The other day I tried to upgrade libre office but couldn't because I didn't have enough disk space. I was able to remove about 500M of programs but libre office still would not upgrade. Eventually I uninstalled libre office and re-installed it and that worked.

So now I want to free up some more space and clean up. My /home folders are on a separate drive. My file system is on an 8G drive. Kdisk free is telling me I have about 992meg of free space. I want to up this some.

Looking through synaptic I found some things but is it safe to remove??
-aqbanking + aqhbci (i use kmymoney)
-kernel-2.6.33.5-pclos1.bfs + devel. (I'm using kernel-2.6.38.8-pclos1.bfs, don't think I need 33.5 any more.)
-teX (don't know what this is, but it takes up alot of space)
-python (don't program much)
-perl (don't program much)
-ruby (don't program much)
-tcl (I've actually used this at work, I don't think I need it for pclinux to run)

Gotta go, I'll post more as I find them. Thanks for the reviews and any suggestion of other stuff to remove that takes up a fair amount of space will be appreciated. I know everyone's system is different but there should be some common stuff.

[JohnW_57]

Perl, Python packages are depended on your system so never remove them, with C++ they are most important programming languages to build software for Linux.

Guess removing them you have a fully destroyed install!

JohnW

[T6]

you can't use kernel 2.6.33 anymore so you can remove it and devel kernel 2.6.33 too, that is around 80 mbs

the rest of the list, if it doesn't pull kde with it or alot of files, you can remove them

i think you need phyton, not just for make programs but i could be wrong, probably is how JohnW says

don't remember if tmp files are stored in the partition you have your system but i think you can empty that folder, there is a command that can be run to make it and there is a option to check in the pclinux control center

also, a considerable number of users is not using small partitions for system install, you can have / and swap only, not necessarily have a /home partition, i never had it for 5+ years

[muungwana]

open the terminal, type "su" then press "enter" then enter root's password and then press "enter" again to log in to root's account then run the following command and paste its output

du  -sch  /var  /tmp  /opt  /root

You could have junk taking up space you dont know about

[CaptainSarcastic]

Do you have a separate home partition?

If so, then you could boot to a live CD, then run Gparted or another partition editor and resize your root partition to make it larger.  Just don't delete any partitions - that will hose things.

***Obligatory Warning:  Resizing a partition can be dangerous, and you could possibly lose data or corrupt your system.***

That said, I've never had an issue with resizing partitions using Gparted - it's always been fine for me.

[sling-shot]

If you have changed Synaptic settings to keep downloaded package updates, that could be a space hog. Check in /var/cache/apt/

You could use graphical utilities like Filelight or Baobab a.k.a. Disk Usage Analyzer to get a good idea of where is your space being used, then take appropriate decisions.

This Baobab a.k.a. Disk Usage Analyzer comes as part of gnome-utils package.

[kjpetrie]

Don't remove the languages. They're needed by various scripts that make the system work. Much of PCC is written in PERL, for instance, as is mylivecd. Python is also widely used.

Have you any spare disc space? Could you make a separate partition for /usr/, or perhaps a large area under /usr/

You haven't told us why your / disc is so small. Is it an SSD or SD card or something like that? Getting a bigger one is probably worth considering if that's possible.

[menotu]

remove-unused-packages  Script to remove unused packages

The above is in the repos - it's just a small script which mainly lists any video drivers that can be "safely" removed.

I've run it before and it's always been hitch-free but YMMV

To give an idea of how it works I just ran a test in a VirtualBox VM install of pclinuxos-kde-2012.08 - see screenshot for what it removed



The script is in the testing section of the repo's - it can be run from the command line using remove-unused-packages  as the command or it can be found in KMenu > More Apps > Configuration

[joseph_1802]

Try installing BleachBit (you can find it in Synaptic), run it and see how much space it cleans. I always use it before shutting down my laptop.
About the packages you mention, I wouldn't touch the languages, even if you don't use them, since Linux actually does. The only one I'm not sure it's used is TeX, which is for creating papers (mostly scientific documents, or proffesional ones). If it's not your case, and Linux doesn't really need it, I'd uninstall it (I have it but only because I use it).

[JohnW_57]

Did a test with Synaptic.
Removing Python and Perl language packages removes almost all system/desktop packages and more!
Ruby and Tcl  are not installed on a default install but guess you have packages installed who depend on it (you want to remove it)!

JohnW

[sling-shot]

The OP has not responded yet.

First of all he should try to find what is taking up the space before going about removing things.
Let him come back with muungwana's suggestion results first.

[Just17]

remove-unused-packages  Script to remove unused packages

The above is in the repos - it's just a small script which mainly lists any video drivers that can be "safely" removed.

I've run it before and it's always been hitch-free but YMMV

To give an idea of how it works I just ran a test in a VirtualBox VM install of pclinuxos-kde-2012.08 - see screenshot for what it removed



The script is in the testing section of the repo's - it can be run from the command line using remove-unused-packages  as the command or it can be found in KMenu > More Apps > Configuration

I just now installed it and ran it ........  it wanted to remove the dkms-nvidia-current package as it claimed I was not using it.


Everything I can access here .....  including the nVidia Settings utility .....  tells me I am using it.


So from my VERY brief encounter, I would be hesitant to blindly trust what it will remove.

[T6]

if you are not using a nvidia or a ati, yes youcan remove those drivers, my netbook is intel and is ok

my desktop has a ati card but is so old that xorg supports it and the ati driver doesn't work

[Just17]

if you are not using a nvidia or a ati, yes youcan remove those drivers,

Of course ......  but this wanted to remove an in-use driver!   

[T6]

Sorry, didn't read that part