SA1: Running out of disk space

[pjp]

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Safe to delete:

• /var/tmp/portage
  which can get filled if emerges are aborted (or crash?).
  
• Unused kernel sources under /usr/src
  "du -h --max-depth=1 /usr/src" will report how much space is being used.
  
• Unused modules under /lib/modules
  Delete only those modules associated with old kernels you are no longer using.
  
• Unused firmware under /lib/firmware (see section Optional: Savedconfig of the Linux firmware wiki page)

Delete with caution:
*Above all else, please respect the donated hardware and bandwidth that is provided for Gentoo users.

• /usr/portage/distfiles
  Deleting all files in this directory should only be done if you are having serious issues with disk space. Do not think downloading isn't a problem because you have "plenty of bandwidth."* Consider using a script to delete only the files that aren't needed. More scripts are available here. Note that eclean is included in gentoolkit.
  
• /usr/src
  If you keep old kernels installed, you may be able to free up some disk space by removing them. /usr/src/linux is a link to the currently used kernel, so be careful what you delete. Also, a minor amount of diskspace can be restored from removing unused "arch"es in /usr/src/<kernel version>/arch/.
  
• /usr/portage/packages/All
  If you use portage's -b (--buildpkg) option, you probably have unused binaries in this directory. Consider using a script such as eclean to remove old binaries. If they are removed from this directory, you will likely be left with dead links from directories in /usr/portage/packages/ that symlink to All. After removing the binaries, this script will remove the dead links:

  Code:

  #!/bin/bash find /usr/portage/packages -xtype l -print0 |xargs -0 rm

  Note: You can replace 'rm' in xargs with 'echo' to see what it will do without removing anything.
  
• /var/log/messages
  And other log files. These files can sometimes become very large. Consider using a log rotating program, such as logrotate.

Do NOT delete:

• /var/cache/edb if you use portage-2.0.50 or lower. Users of portage-2.0.51 can delete /var/cache/edb.
  
• /var/db/pkg

Other:

• tune2fs -m 0 /dev/hdaX
  Normally there is some 5% of each partition reserved for the admin, with this command you can decrease it,in this case to 0%, but u can place other values as well. (suggested by defenderBG, 2007.May)

FAQ in progress, see this thread. Other reference threads: 1, 2, 3.

Search keywords: diskspace space disk

2022-11-02: Added reference to /lib/firmware savedconfig wiki page. --pjp
2006-06-22: Added note about eclean being included with gentoolkit. --kallamej
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