Hidden files in home directory, how to get rid of most of them?

In my home directory are a lot of hidden files, and even whole hidden
directory trees. For some of them I can imagine the need to be there,
however, it seems that most any program nowadays dumps a truckload of
files in the home directory.

Is there are way that this can be minimized? At last count there where
over 18000 files, for a total of 2.3 gigabytes. That's a bit rich, I think.

Even Gnome itself seems very generous in generating all sort of crap on
disk. Again, I understand some of them need to be there (settings,
themes) but surely there is no need for all this bloat?

Any thought how to manage this?

Bob

On 2008-10-28, Bob <invalid@invalid> wrote:[color=blue]
>
> In my home directory are a lot of hidden files, and even whole hidden
> directory trees. For some of them I can imagine the need to be there,
> however, it seems that most any program nowadays dumps a truckload of
> files in the home directory.
>
> Is there are way that this can be minimized? At last count there where
> over 18000 files, for a total of 2.3 gigabytes. That's a bit rich, I think.
>
> Even Gnome itself seems very generous in generating all sort of crap on
> disk. Again, I understand some of them need to be there (settings,
> themes) but surely there is no need for all this bloat?
>
> Any thought how to manage this?[/color]

Most of those files will be tiny and inconsequential.
I would use FileLight to find out where the space is being used.
(If I had to guess: thumbnails)
Once you know what the big files are, you can make a more informed
decision on what to do with them.

[url]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Filelight[/url]

--
-Toby
Add the word afiduluminag to the subject to circumvent my email filters.

On Tue, 28 Oct 2008 14:00:01 +0000, Toby Newman wrote:
[color=blue]
> Most of those files will be tiny and inconsequential. I would use
> FileLight to find out where the space is being used. (If I had to guess:
> thumbnails)
> Once you know what the big files are, you can make a more informed
> decision on what to do with them.
>
> [url]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Filelight[/url][/color]

Or if you don't want to see pictures, try

du | sort -n

The bottom of the output will be the big files and folders.

In article <slrnggdqh9.ia4.google@ID-171443.user.uni-berlin.de>,
Toby Newman <google@asktoby.com> wrote:[color=blue]
> On 2008-10-28, Bob <invalid@invalid> wrote:[color=green]
> >
> > In my home directory are a lot of hidden files, and even whole hidden
> > directory trees. For some of them I can imagine the need to be there,
> > however, it seems that most any program nowadays dumps a truckload of
> > files in the home directory.
> >
> > Is there are way that this can be minimized? At last count there where
> > over 18000 files, for a total of 2.3 gigabytes. That's a bit rich, I think.
> >
> > Even Gnome itself seems very generous in generating all sort of crap on
> > disk. Again, I understand some of them need to be there (settings,
> > themes) but surely there is no need for all this bloat?
> >
> > Any thought how to manage this?[/color]
>
> Most of those files will be tiny and inconsequential.
> I would use FileLight to find out where the space is being used.
> (If I had to guess: thumbnails)
> Once you know what the big files are, you can make a more informed
> decision on what to do with them.
>
> [url]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Filelight[/url][/color]

A script I wrote, ddu, can show you their (sorted) sizes.

[url]http://royalty.mine.nu:81/cgi-bin/getscript?file=%2Fexport%2Fbin%2Fddu[/url]

eben@pc:~$ ddu -h .[^.]* # I think that'll get most of them except for
# pathologic cases
[161 items not shown]
62M .pan
78M .thumbnails
108M .mozilla
136M .gimv
eben@pc:~$

--
-eben [email]QebWenE01R@vTerYizUonI.nOet[/email]P royalty.mine.nu:81

Unix is user-friendly; it's just picky
about who it makes friends with.

On October 28, 2008 10:10, in alt.os.linux.ubuntu, jellybean stonerfish
(stonerfish@geocities.com) wrote:
[color=blue]
> On Tue, 28 Oct 2008 14:00:01 +0000, Toby Newman wrote:
>[color=green]
>> Most of those files will be tiny and inconsequential. I would use
>> FileLight to find out where the space is being used. (If I had to guess:
>> thumbnails)
>> Once you know what the big files are, you can make a more informed
>> decision on what to do with them.
>>
>> [url]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Filelight[/url][/color]
>
> Or if you don't want to see pictures, try
>
> du | sort -n
>
> The bottom of the output will be the big files and folders.[/color]

Good advice.

Alternatively,
du | sort -nr
will put the biggest files and folders at the top of the list, and
du | sort -nr | head -10
will report the ten biggest files/folders


--
Lew Pitcher

Master Codewright & JOAT-in-training | Registered Linux User #112576
[url]http://pitcher.digitalfreehold.ca/[/url] | GPG public key available by request
---------- Slackware - Because I know what I'm doing. ------

On Tue, 28 Oct 2008 10:58:37 -0400, Lew Pitcher wrote:

[color=blue]
>
> Alternatively,
> du | sort -nr
> will put the biggest files and folders at the top of the list, and
> du | sort -nr | head -10
> will report the ten biggest files/folders[/color]

I rather like the 'disc usage analyser' under accessories. The graphical
output rapidly shows where space is being taken, and the % values enable
some quantification.

Keith

Bob <invalid@invalid> wrote:
[color=blue]
> In my home directory are a lot of hidden files, and even whole hidden
> directory trees. For some of them I can imagine the need to be there,
> however, it seems that most any program nowadays dumps a truckload of
> files in the home directory.
>
> Is there are way that this can be minimized? At last count there where
> over 18000 files, for a total of 2.3 gigabytes. That's a bit rich, I
> think.
>
> Even Gnome itself seems very generous in generating all sort of crap
> on disk. Again, I understand some of them need to be there (settings,
> themes) but surely there is no need for all this bloat?
>
> Any thought how to manage this?[/color]

Find out which the big files/directories are and if you really need
them.

Often browser caches or databases for desktop search engines use a lot
of space.



Florian
--
<http://www.florian-diesch.de/>
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
** Hi! I'm a signature virus! Copy me into your signature, please! **
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

On Tue, 28 Oct 2008 17:03:13 +0100, Florian Diesch <diesch@spamfence.net> wrote:[color=blue]
>Bob <invalid@invalid> wrote:[/color]
[color=blue][color=green]
>> In my home directory are a lot of hidden files, and even whole hidden
>> directory trees. For some of them I can imagine the need to be there,
>> however, it seems that most any program nowadays dumps a truckload of
>> files in the home directory.
>>
>> Is there are way that this can be minimized? At last count there where
>> over 18000 files, for a total of 2.3 gigabytes. That's a bit rich, I
>> think.
>>
>> Even Gnome itself seems very generous in generating all sort of crap
>> on disk. Again, I understand some of them need to be there (settings,
>> themes) but surely there is no need for all this bloat?
>>
>> Any thought how to manage this?[/color][/color]
[color=blue]
>Find out which the big files/directories are and if you really need
>them.[/color]
[color=blue]
>Often browser caches or databases for desktop search engines use a lot
>of space.[/color]

User data including email is stored there as well. On my system, 99% of
the space used in the .x files is my kmail account.

keith wrote:[color=blue]
> I rather like the 'disc usage analyser' under accessories. The graphical
> output rapidly shows where space is being taken, and the % values enable
> some quantification.[/color]

Good advice from everyone. Seems the diskspace was being used almost
completely in the .cache and .thumbnails directory. I've removed them
(after renaming them and seeing nothing breaks) and now diskspace isn't
an issue anymore.

However, the numbers of .x files in my homedir is still huge, even if
they are all small files.

I think it would be much better if all the programs that need to save
some settings would do this in ~/.config/ or somesuch. Not in the
homedir itself.

Or I need to stop doing "ls -al", and be blissfully unaware of the
mess... :-)

Bob

Florian Diesch wrote:[color=blue]
> Find out which the big files/directories are and if you really need
> them.
>
> Often browser caches or databases for desktop search engines use a lot
> of space.[/color]

True. I found most of the diskspace was in two directories that could be
emptied without bad results.

However, if at all possible I would like to get rid of all the .x
files/directories that are created by all sorts of applications. Perhaps
by putting them in a special .config dir or some such.

Obviously creating a symlink from ~ to ~/.config isn't going to work
very well... :-)

Bob

On Tue, 28 Oct 2008 17:44:23 +0100, Max wrote:

[...]
[color=blue]
> However, the numbers of .x files in my homedir is still huge, even if
> they are all small files.
>
> I think it would be much better if all the programs that need to save
> some settings would do this in ~/.config/ or somesuch. Not in the
> homedir itself.[/color]

Hey, here's a neat idea: we could organise it that all configuration
settings and temporary data are stored in a massive binary blob, along
with all system configs and the configs of all other users of the
system ;-)
[color=blue]
> Or I need to stop doing "ls -al", and be blissfully unaware of the
> mess... :-)[/color]

.... as you would be if they were all in ~/.config/ or somesuch.

--
Lionel B

Max schreef:[color=blue]
> Florian Diesch wrote:[color=green]
>> Find out which the big files/directories are and if you really need
>> them.
>>
>> Often browser caches or databases for desktop search engines use a lot
>> of space.[/color]
>
> True. I found most of the diskspace was in two directories that could be
> emptied without bad results.
>
> However, if at all possible I would like to get rid of all the .x
> files/directories that are created by all sorts of applications. Perhaps
> by putting them in a special .config dir or some such.
>
> Obviously creating a symlink from ~ to ~/.config isn't going to work
> very well... :-)
>
> Bob[/color]
They are already in a special place, it's a directory or file with the
name .*
You (your applications) need these configuration files and as they are
different for all users the logic is to store them in the users own
directory.
Personally I don't care where they are, when I need (to edit) them I
just enable 'View hidden files'.

As you found out the biggest space hogs are thumbnails, programs that
generate and use them can usually be told not to.

Lionel B wrote:[color=blue]
>
> Hey, here's a neat idea: we could organise it that all configuration
> settings and temporary data are stored in a massive binary blob, along
> with all system configs and the configs of all other users of the
> system ;-)[/color]

I'm not really advocating to recreate the registry abomination of that
other OS, I just don't think all those programs need to store so many
settings. Or, just write those setting when *I* change something, and
don't write the default settings.

Bob

Dirk T. Verbeek wrote:[color=blue]
>
> As you found out the biggest space hogs are thumbnails, programs that
> generate and use them can usually be told not to.[/color]

I've set it up now that all unnecessary settings, configs and caches are
removed at logout. That'll teach them! :-)

Bob

On Tue, 28 Oct 2008 14:00:01 +0000, Toby Newman wrote:
[color=blue]
> On 2008-10-28, Bob <invalid@invalid> wrote:[color=green]
>>
>> In my home directory are a lot of hidden files, and even whole hidden
>> directory trees. For some of them I can imagine the need to be there,
>> however, it seems that most any program nowadays dumps a truckload of
>> files in the home directory.
>>
>> Is there are way that this can be minimized? At last count there where
>> over 18000 files, for a total of 2.3 gigabytes. That's a bit rich, I think.
>>
>> Even Gnome itself seems very generous in generating all sort of crap on
>> disk. Again, I understand some of them need to be there (settings,
>> themes) but surely there is no need for all this bloat?
>>
>> Any thought how to manage this?[/color]
>
> Most of those files will be tiny and inconsequential.
> I would use FileLight to find out where the space is being used.
> (If I had to guess: thumbnails)
> Once you know what the big files are, you can make a more informed
> decision on what to do with them.
>
> [url]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Filelight[/url][/color]

Find really big files/directories: (1G or larger):

$ du . -h|grep [0-9]G[[:space:]]|sort -gr|more

Sort files/directories by size:

$ du . |sort -gr|more
--
MarkA
Keeper of Things Put There Only Just The Night Before
About eight o'clock

On Tue, 28 Oct 2008 10:26:42 -0500, keith wrote:
[color=blue]
> On Tue, 28 Oct 2008 10:58:37 -0400, Lew Pitcher wrote:
>
>
>[color=green]
>> Alternatively,
>> du | sort -nr
>> will put the biggest files and folders at the top of the list, and
>> du | sort -nr | head -10
>> will report the ten biggest files/folders[/color]
>
> I rather like the 'disc usage analyser' under accessories. The
> graphical output rapidly shows where space is being taken, and the %
> values enable some quantification.
>
> Keith[/color]

Yeah that is pretty, I didn't even know it was there.

Max wrote:

[color=blue]
> However, the numbers of .x files in my homedir is still huge, even if
> they are all small files.[/color]

Best tell Mulder and Scully...

--
[url]http://www.petezilla.co.uk[/url]

Peter Chant wrote:[color=blue]
> Best tell Mulder and Scully...[/color]

Damn, I miss that show.

--
As we enjoy great advantages from inventions of others, we should be
glad of an opportunity to serve others by any invention of ours;
and this we should do freely and generously.
--Benjamin Franklin

jellybean stonerfish wrote:[color=blue]
> On Tue, 28 Oct 2008 14:00:01 +0000, Toby Newman wrote:
>[color=green]
>> Most of those files will be tiny and inconsequential. I would use
>> FileLight to find out where the space is being used. (If I had to guess:
>> thumbnails)
>> Once you know what the big files are, you can make a more informed
>> decision on what to do with them.
>>
>> [url]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Filelight[/url][/color]
>
> Or if you don't want to see pictures, try
>
> du | sort -n
>
> The bottom of the output will be the big files and folders.
>[/color]

I usually do "du -s . | sort -n", then recurse into the bottom directories.

--
These are my personal views and not those of Fujitsu Siemens Computers!
Josef Möllers (Pinguinpfleger bei FSC)
If failure had no penalty success would not be a prize (T. Pratchett)
Company Details: [url]http://www.fujitsu-siemens.com/imprint.html[/url]

On Tue, 28 Oct 2008 18:43:40 +0100, Bob wrote:
[color=blue]
> Lionel B wrote:[color=green]
>>
>> Hey, here's a neat idea: we could organise it that all configuration
>> settings and temporary data are stored in a massive binary blob, along
>> with all system configs and the configs of all other users of the
>> system ;-)[/color]
>
> I'm not really advocating to recreate the registry abomination of that
> other OS,[/color]

Sure, it was a joke.
[color=blue]
> I just don't think all those programs need to store so many settings.[/color]

Who's to say? It's surely down to the authors of an app how much
configuration flexibility they choose to allow the user.
[color=blue]
> Or, just write those setting when *I* change something, and
> don't write the default settings.[/color]

Many apps do exactly that: default settings are stored in config files
(probably somewhere in /etc or /usr/share) while per-user settings -
which override default settings - are stored in ~/.whatever.

Per-user *data* (including "temporary" or "variable" data such as
caches), on the other hand, really should go in ~

But I don't see it as a big deal. If you don't want to see'em, don't
look. That's what the .* mechanism is for.

--
Lionel B