Finding obsolete files with Agedu
The Comber
© kardo, Fotolia.com
Agedu helps you clean up your hard drive by identifying old files. Free up wasted space instead of creating wasted time.
In this multimedia age, home computer hard disks always seem too small. Giant files quickly fill up drives that somehow seem to have a very short half-life. The consequence is too many time-consuming disk cleaning sessions.
Depending on your choice of window manager, Linux offers a variety of graphical tools that show your disk and directory space usage. Nearly all of these tools are based on the du command-line utility, which provides statistics for individual directories. The downside of du is that it is hard to tell which subdirectories have more than their share of obsolete files.
Simon Tatham, a developer from the UK, looked into this problem and came up with a tool named Agedu that reliably identifies unneeded file ballast. Agedu reads the Linux filesystem's internal last-access timestamp for each file and displays the results as an easy-to-read bar chart in a web browser. This display gives users a reliable at-a-glance overview of directories containing files that have not been accessed for an extended period of time. Agedu additionally combines the timestamp function with du disk space statistics for the files in each directory.
[...]
Buy this article as PDF
(incl. VAT)
Buy Linux Magazine
Subscribe to our Linux Newsletters
Find Linux and Open Source Jobs
Subscribe to our ADMIN Newsletters
Support Our Work
Linux Magazine content is made possible with support from readers like you. Please consider contributing when you’ve found an article to be beneficial.
News
-
Hannah Montana Linux Is Back!
Developer Noah Cagle decided the world needed the once obscure but beloved Linux distribution and gave it a decidedly pink refresh.
-
System76 Refreshes the Lemur Laptop
If you're looking for a laptop with tons of power and battery, look no further than the latest iteration of the System76 Lemur Pro.
-
More than 43 Million Lines of Code in Linux Kernel 7.2
Using the cloc utility, Michael Larabel of Phoronix discovered that Linux kernel 7.2 has over 43 million lines of code.
-
Kubuntu Focus Goes Ultra
The Kubuntu Focus team has upped the performance ante of its M2 and Zr laptops with the latest, greatest CPUs from Intel.
-
Linux Gamers May Soon See Less Mouse Lag in KDE Plasma
Gamers using KDE’s Plasma desktop have been suffering from a slight input delay in mouse movement that could lead to getting fragged.
-
Three Lines of Code Improve Linux Storage Performance
A developer changed three lines of code, giving Linux storage performance a 5% bump.
-
AUR Hit Again with Malicious Packages
Once again the Arch User Repository is plagued by a high volume of malicious packages.
-
Alpine Linux 3.24 Features Fresh Desktops and a Newer Kernel
If you're a fan of Alpine Linux, it's time to upgrade because the latest version has been released with KDE Plasma 6.6, Gnome 50, and Linux kernel 6.18 LTS.
-
EU Open Source Strategy Plays Key Role in Tech Sovereignty Package
Comprehensive measures adopted by the European Commission aim to reduce dependency on non-EU countries.
-
Linux Foundation Report Indicates AI Driving Tech Hiring
Within growing security and skills gaps, AI has been found to be a positive driving force behind tech hiring trends in Europe.