Clean your filesystem with FSlint
Garbage Collector
© Lead Image © denis cristo, 123RF.com
FSlint detects the source of filesystem problems and remedies or mitigates them while cleaning up the hard drive.
In principle, filesystems are large, not particularly intelligent databases that tend to gather a lot of dust and fluff over time. Occasionally checking and, if necessary, repairing filesystems to keep them functional is considered good practice.
At the system level at startup, fsck acts as a wrapper for various special tools that check and repair filesystems at the lowest (block) level; however, it does not take into account any problems that have anything to do with the logical (directory) structure, which can cause virtually the same amount of damage in the case of a mishap. Problems in the directory layer of the filesystem typically include "dangling links" (symbolic links that point to non-existent files) and problematic file names, among other difficulties.
Padraig Brady created the easy-to-use solution FSlint [1] with a straightforward graphical interface, fslint-gui, that combines and unifies the use of more than a dozen tools, each of which addresses a specific task (Table 1). All tools also can be used independent of the interface, enabling scripting and supporting work in the shell.
[...]
Buy this article as PDF
(incl. VAT)
Buy Linux Magazine
US / Canada
UK / Australia
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
-
TuxCare Announces Support for AlmaLinux 9.2
Thanks to TuxCare, AlmaLinux 9.2 (and soon version 9.6) now enjoys years of ongoing patching and compliance.
-
Go-Based Botnet Attacking IoT Devices
Using an SSH credential brute-force attack, the Go-based PumaBot is exploiting IoT devices everywhere.
-
Plasma 6.5 Promises Better Memory Optimization
With the stable Plasma 6.4 on the horizon, KDE has a few new tricks up its sleeve for Plasma 6.5.
-
KaOS 2025.05 Officially Qt5 Free
If you're a fan of independent Linux distributions, the team behind KaOS is proud to announce the latest iteration that includes kernel 6.14 and KDE's Plasma 6.3.5.
-
Linux Kernel 6.15 Now Available
The latest Linux kernel is now available with several new features/improvements and the usual bug fixes.
-
Microsoft Makes Surprising WSL Announcement
In a move that might surprise some users, Microsoft has made Windows Subsystem for Linux open source.
-
Red Hat Releases RHEL 10 Early
Red Hat quietly rolled out the official release of RHEL 10.0 a bit early.
-
openSUSE Joins End of 10
openSUSE has decided to not only join the End of 10 movement but it also will no longer support the Deepin Desktop Environment.
-
New Version of Flatpak Released
Flatpak 1.16.1 is now available as the latest, stable version with various improvements.
-
IBM Announces Powerhouse Linux Server
IBM has unleashed a seriously powerful Linux server with the LinuxONE Emperor 5.