Hey everyone! I'm getting familiar with using the terminal on Linux Mint Cinnamon and I've been learning how to manage my packages with apt commands. Recently, I tried to uninstall three packages that weren't working for me by using the 'apt purge' command, which is supposed to remove packages along with their system-wide configuration files. However, I've noticed that there are still some leftover files scattered around my system. I've also tried running 'apt autoclean', 'autoremove', and 'autopurge', but it still feels like there's a lot of junk left. What are your go-to methods for thoroughly cleaning out all traces of a program from your system?
2 Answers
You might want to try 'sudo apt autoremove --purge'. I don’t use 'autoclean' all that much, but if you decide to manually delete files, definitely create a Timeshift snapshot first. It’s a great way to prevent any accidental mishaps.
For cleaning up after removing packages, I usually run 'sudo apt remove' followed by 'autoclean' and 'autoremove'. If you have specific config files you'd like to delete, you can use 'rm -rf /path/to/file', but be super careful with that command unless you're confident about what you're doing! Also, just a heads up, watch out for typos like 'rm -rf /'—that could really mess things up!
Yeah, some of those leftover files might actually be dependencies for other packages, so it’s a good idea to double-check before deleting everything!