How to recycle old versions of Debian

This article describes how to effectively clean up old versions of software and kernels in Debian systems, free up disk space and improve system performance. Be sure to back up important data before operation.

1. Clear useless software packages

Use the apt command line tool to easily remove packages and their dependencies that are no longer needed:

1. Open the terminal.
2. Execute the sudo apt-get autoremove command to automatically delete redundant dependencies of installed packages.
3. Use sudo apt-get purge command to delete the specified package and its configuration files. For example, delete firefox and its configuration files and execute sudo apt-get purge firefox .

2. Clean the command history

The system will record the commands executed by the user in the terminal. You can clean up the history with the following command:

• Temporary clearance: history -c command clears the command history of the current session.
• Permanently clear: rm ~/.bash_history command deletes the permanently saved command history file.

3. Uninstall the old kernel

Too many older kernel versions can take up a lot of disk space. You can uninstall the old kernel by following these steps:

1. View installed kernel: Use the uname -a command to view the kernel version currently in use. Use dpkg --get-selections | grep linux-image command to list all installed kernel images.
2. Uninstall the old kernel: Use the sudo apt-get purge linux-image- command to uninstall the specified old kernel and replace with the actual kernel version number (for example: linux-image-5.15.0-76-generic ). Note: Do not uninstall the kernel you are currently using!

Through the above steps, you can effectively clean up old versions of software and kernels in the Debian system, keeping the system clean and efficient. Again, be sure to back up important data before operation to avoid data loss.

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