How to clean /var/cache?

Question

When I woke up this morning, I found my root had filled overnight

du -hx --max-depth=1 /

132M    /boot  
4.0K    /media  
16K /lost+found  
16M /root  
702M    /lib  
4.0K    /OLDHOME  
8.2G    /usr  
73M /etc  
4.0K    /srv  
11M /sbin  
4.0K    /selinux  
8.0K    /.config  
4.0K    /cdrom  
4.6G    /var  
181M    /opt  
4.0K    /mnt  
9.3M    /bin  
4.0K    /lib64  
14G /

The space is used by /var/cache/polipo (2.7G). How can I clean this up safely?
I tried restarts=>didn't work
Used bleachbit=>the space is not detected in the cleanup preview

PS: I did rm -rf youtube inside /var/cache/polipo and it freed up 2G space. Dunno if it was safe though

1

polipo is a caching proxy – avmohan Oct 29 '13 at 02:12

score 70 · Answer 1 · edited Apr 13 '17 at 12:24

70

Method 1:

sudo apt-get autoclean
sudo apt-get autoremove

Method 2:

Launch your bleachbit as root user : no space in disk; sudo apt-get clean not working

edited Apr 13 '17 at 12:24

Community

1

answered Oct 29 '13 at 00:42

Raja G

102,391
106
255
328

7

All these were already done. The problem is in /var/cache. I want to know how to clean /var/cache safely. – avmohan Oct 29 '13 at 02:13
1

went from 500M to 300M but somehow not everything...hmm... – rogerdpack May 08 '17 at 05:10

score 18 · Accepted Answer · answered Aug 28 '17 at 20:27

18

Polipo, a web caching program may store a lot of data in an on-disk cache.

One way to clear this up is to issue the command sudo polipo -x - this will cause polipo to clear the local disk cache.

answered Aug 28 '17 at 20:27

Charles Green

21,339

4

This is the ONLY right answer to this question (regarding polipo)! Why the hell does it not already have enough votes to make that clear?!? – Jeremy Davis Oct 12 '17 at 03:09

score 16 · Answer 3 · edited Jul 15 '21 at 07:21

16

The most powerful of all commands to clean the cache for command line users is of course

sudo apt clean

Which will also delete all the cached files.

edited Jul 15 '21 at 07:21

Pablo Bianchi

15,657

answered Aug 28 '17 at 20:00

Corrado Topi

697

I don't know what this command did but it didn't clear /var/cache, space is nearly double after I ran it! – Nagev Oct 02 '18 at 08:51
2

This command will only delete the apt cache from /var/cache/apt. – ranu Jan 18 '21 at 17:17

score 5 · Answer 4 · edited Jul 15 '21 at 07:21

It sounds so obvious, and yet chances are you haven’t done this.

By default Ubuntu keeps every update it downloads and installs in a cache on your disk, just in case you ever need it again.

This is useful if you regularly add and remove apps, find yourself needing to reconfigure/reinstall a specific package, or simply have a poor connection.

But the flip side is that the apt package cache can quickly swell to several hundred MBs. This command tells you how big your apt cache is:

du -sh /var/cache/apt/archives

To clean the apt cache on Ubuntu simply run the following command.

sudo apt-get clean

The apt clean command removes ALL packages kept in the apt cache, regardless of age or need. If you’re on a slow, capped or intermittent connection you may want to consider skipping this step.

Source.

It is all true what you say but the OP wrote "The space is used by /var/cache/polipo (2.7G)" — PerlDuck, Feb 07 '19 at 19:32

score 5 · Answer 5 · answered Jan 08 '14 at 08:47

5

Try cleaning ubuntu unnecesarry files using bleachbit. It is a tool that will help you clean your cache, temp files, cookies and it has other features also...

To install it:

sudo apt-get install bleachbit

answered Jan 08 '14 at 08:47

jnhghy - Alexandru Jantea

161
1
5

5

Unfortunately it appears to be an X windows app, any love for us server command line folk? – rogerdpack May 08 '17 at 05:09
2

yes that will work when your disk is full... – RickyA Jun 13 '17 at 15:19

score 1 · Answer 6 · answered Feb 14 '22 at 04:22

1

Go to settings > privacy > File history & Trash scroll down and click delete temporary files.

answered Feb 14 '22 at 04:22

Sbbah Eltag

21

How to clean /var/cache?

6 Answers6