How to Clean Arch Linux 🧹

Date: 21-7-2024

In this artical I will be telling you how to clean up your Arch Linux system in the same way I do so.

Package Cache

The first thing you want to do is clean the Pacman cache, as Pacman does not automatically clean it. This is because Pacman retains the cache in case you need to downgrade a package or reinstall it after uninstalling. To clean the cache, use the following commands:

sudo pacman -Sc # Remove packages from cache not installed

sudo pacman -Scc # Remove packages from cache both installed and not installed

Some people like to automate this task of cleaning the cache with paccache, but personally I would not because it is something that takes around five minutes max to do. However, it is your choice if you want to do so to avoid the trouble of doing it manually. Regardless of whether you choose to do this manually or automatically, I suggest cleaning the cache monthly. -

Removing Orphan Packages

Orphan packages are those installed as dependencies for other software but are no longer needed. For example, when you install LibreWolf, it downloads a package called librewolf-debug as a dependency. Once the installation is complete, librewolf-debug becomes an orphan package because it is no longer used by LibreWolf.

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sudo pacman -Qtdq # Identify orphan packages

sudo pacman -Rns $(pacman -Qtdq) # Uninstall orphan packages

I suggest uninstalling Orphan packages every month or so, just like cleaning the Pacman cache.

Cache

Sometimes you want to clean out the ~/.cache directory, as it can accumulate a large number of files from various programs on your system. The cache directory contains temporary files used by different applications to speed up their processes. In general, it is safe to delete all items in this directory, but be cautious if you have specific applications with unusual caching mechanisms. To clean the cache directory run the following command:

rm -rf ~/.cache/* # Clear the cache directory

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That is all for now, I hope this artical has helped you clean your system.

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How to Clean Arch Linux 🧹

Date: 21-7-2024

In this artical I will be telling you how to clean up your Arch Linux system in the same way I do so.

Package Cache

sudo pacman -Sc # Remove packages from cache not installed

sudo pacman -Scc # Remove packages from cache both installed and not installed

Removing Orphan Packages

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sudo pacman -Qtdq # Identify orphan packages

sudo pacman -Rns $(pacman -Qtdq) # Uninstall orphan packages

I suggest uninstalling Orphan packages every month or so, just like cleaning the Pacman cache.

Cache

rm -rf ~/.cache/* # Clear the cache directory

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That is all for now, I hope this artical has helped you clean your system.

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How to speed up Pacman 🚗

Date: 23-7-2024

It is very easy to speed up Pacman, and we can do it in a few easy steps, so follow this guide, and your favourite package manager will be fast as anything!

Pacman.conf

Pacman can download packages in parallel, meaning you are able to download more than one package at a time, which makes the process of installing and updating packages way faster!

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The first thing you want to do is go to the location of pacman.conf, which is located in /etc/pacman.conf. So you would want to run a command like this but with your preferred text editor:

sudo nvim /etc/pacman.conf

Now that you are in the configuration file, you want to navigate to a section where it says Misc options. You want to uncomment the line where it says 'ParallelDownloads.' It should look something like this:

# Misc options
- #UseSyslog
- Color
- #NoProgressBar
- CheckSpace
- #VerbosePkgLists
- ParallelDownloads = 5
- ILoveCandy

If you have a keen eye, you may have spotted the last line, which says 'I Love Candy,' and the reason why this line is here is because it gives the Pacman prompt when you run it a bit of styal with the pound signs being replaced with Pacman!

Mirrors 🪞

If you did not know, a mirror is a server where the packages you install are hosted. Ideally, you want to download all of your packages from the fastest mirrors, so let me show you how to do that!

The first thing you will need to do is install the reflector program and run the reflector command.

sudo pacman -S reflector
sudo reflector --latest 10 --sort rate --save /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist
sudo pacman -Syy # To update package list from server

After running this command, your download speed should be way faster!

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I hope this has helped you in making Pacman not only look better but function better!

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