DEBFOSTER(8) BSD System Manager's Manual DEBFOSTER(8)NAMEdebfoster — weed unnecessary Debian packages
SYNOPSISdebfoster [-acdefhiknopqrstvV] [--verbose] [--version] [--help] [--quiet]
[--force] [--mark-only] [--upgrade] [--config file]
[--keeperfile file] [--no-keeperfile] [--ignore-default-rules]
[--show-keepers] [--show-orphans] [--show-depends package]
[--show-dependents package] [--show-providers package]
[--show-related package] [--use-tasks] [--option opt=val]
[package1 ...] [package2- ...]
DESCRIPTIONdebfoster maintains a list of installed packages that were explicitly
requested rather than installed as a dependency. Arguments are entirely
optional, debfoster can be invoked per se after each run of dpkg and/or
apt-get.
Alternatively you can use debfoster to install and remove packages by
specifying the packages on the command line. Packages suffixed with a -
are removed while packages without a suffix are installed.
If a new package is encountered or if debfoster notices that a package
that used to be a dependency is now an orphan, it will ask you what to do
with it. If you decide to keep it, debfoster will just take note and
continue. If you decide that this package is not interesting enough it
will be removed as soon as debfoster is done asking questions. If your
choices cause other packages to become orphaned more questions will
ensue.
Whenever debfoster asks you about a package, any of the following
responses can be given:
‘y’ Yes, keep the package. This is the default response.
‘n’ No, delete the package.
‘p’ Prune the package. This tells debfoster to also delete all
packages that are only installed because this package
depends on them. A list of such packages, if any, is shown
above the prompt.
‘s’ Skip this question. The next time you run debfoster it will
ask you again about this package.
‘h’ Print a help message.
‘i’ or ‘?’ Show information about the package.
‘u’ Undo last response.
‘q’ Exit without removing packages. All changes will be lost.
‘x’ Save changes to debfoster database, remove unwanted pack‐
ages, and exit without asking further questions.
Command line options
-v, --verbose
debfoster will show which packages have disappeared, have become
dependencies or (if Quiet is enabled) have become orphans.
-V, --version
Display version and copyright information.
-h, --help
Display a concise summary of the available options and argument
syntax.
-f, --force
Don't ask anything and assume ‘no’ as the answer to all ques‐
tions. It also installs any packages that seem to be missing,
thus forcing your system to comply with the debfoster database.
Can have ‘interesting’ results if you're not careful.
-q, --quiet
Don't ask anything and assume ‘yes’ as the answer to all ques‐
tions. Useful to create an initial /var/lib/debfoster/keepers
file or to recreate it after changing the configuration file.
-m, --mark-only
Instructs debfoster to make changes to the keeper file but not to
actually install or delete any packages. This can be used to
‘edit’ a keeper file by invoking debfoster one or more times in a
row. The changes can then be committed by invoking debfoster
with the --force option, which will delete/install any necessary
packages. This is mainly useful for scripts and frontends, but
may be useful from the command line as well.
-u, --upgrade
If used as ‘debfoster -u package’ it will install or upgrade the
packages specified on the command line and try to upgrade all
packages that it relies on.
-c, --config file
Specify a different configuration file to use.
-k, --keeperfile file
Specify a different debfoster database to use.
-n, --no-keeperfile
Don't read the debfoster database and start with an empty list.
-i, --ignore-default-rules
This will instruct debfoster to ignore the UseHold, UseEssential,
MaxPriority, KeepSections, and NokeepSections settings in the
config file (i.e., assume that any package can be an orphan).
This is a good option for those who really want to make sure
their system is squeaky clean. It's also useful when sharing or
transferring a keeper file between multiple machines where dif‐
ferent config files can cause some confusion. Properly used, -i
eliminates that uncertainty.
-a, --show-keepers
Lists the contents of the debfoster database.
-s, --show-orphans
List all orphaned packages that are not mentioned in the
debfoster database.
-d, --show-depends package
List all packages that this package depends on.
-e, --show-dependents package
List all packages in the debfoster database that depend on this
package.
-p, --show-providers package
List all packages that provide the dependency target specified by
package (e.g. "debfoster -p x-terminal-emulator" ).
-r, --show-related package
List all packages that are only installed because this package
depends on them.
-t, --use-tasks
Make tasks visible as packages. This will make tasks that are
selectable using tasksel(1) appear as packages named
task-<label>.
-o, --option opt=val
Override any configuration option specified in the configuration
file.
CONFIGURATION
Some aspects of the behaviour of debfoster can be configured in the con‐
figuration file, /etc/debfoster.conf. Options are specified as
Option = Value
Option names are case insensitive.
InstallCmd
Default: apt-get install
Command invoked with a number of packages on the command line.
The command is not passed to /bin/sh but invoked like xargs(1)
with a number of packages as extra options.
RemoveCmd
Default: apt-get --purge remove
Like InstallCmd but for removing packages.
InfoCmd
Default: dpkg -s
Like InstallCmd but called with a single package as an argument
to display information on.
KeeperFile
Default: /var/lib/debfoster/keepers
The file where the list of orphans is stored. You can use this
file for reference when installing a machine or even to make
identical Debian installs.
DpkgStatus
Default: /var/lib/dpkg/status
The file where dpkg(8) stores its information about which pack‐
ages are more or less installed. This value can usually be left
untouched.
DpkgAvailable
Default: /var/lib/dpkg/available
The file where dpkg(8) stores its information about which pack‐
ages are available. This value can usually be left untouched.
MaxPriority
Default: standard
Any packages with a priority greater than this value will be con‐
sidered too basic to ask questions about. The default value
means that questions will be asked about packages with priority
"standard", "optional" and "extra". With the special value ‘ANY’
you can indicate that all known priorities should be considered
too important to ask questions about. These priority values are
known to debfoster (taken from the debian-policy package):
required
important
standard
optional
extra
UseHold
Default: yes
Use the hold attribute from the Status: line. Packages with this
attribute won't ever be upgraded by apt, so it's safe to assume
that you want to keep it.
UseEssential
Default: yes
Use the Essential: line from dpkg(8) 's status file. Most pack‐
ages which are marked essential shouldn't be removed anyway, so
if you don't want to be bothered with it, enable this option.
UsePreDepends
Default: yes
A package that pre-depends on another package requires the latter
during installation. This option will make debfoster count these
pre-dependencies as ordinary dependencies. If you frequently
update your packages you may want to keep an eye out for pre-
depended packages that have become obsolete.
UseRecommends
Default: yes
Recommended packages would be installed together with the package
that recommends them in all usual setups. This option will make
debfoster count these recommendations as real dependencies.
Enabling this option will enable you to better manage packages
which were installed because another package recommended them.
UseSuggests
Default: no
Packages suggested by another package usually enhance the func‐
tion of the latter or have a related function which may be useful
in combination with the package that suggested them. This option
will make debfoster count these suggestions as real dependencies.
Using this option will result in even fewer questions being
asked.
UseTasks
Default: no
Make tasks visible as packages. This will make tasks that are
selectable using tasksel(1) appear as packages named
task-<label>. debfoster will treat them as if they were normal
packages. Tasks cannot be removed but marking a task for removal
will stop debfoster asking questions about it.
KeepSections
Default:
You may find that you are always interested in keeping (for exam‐
ple) documentation. With this option you can indicate that pack‐
ages from a certain section should always be kept. You can spec‐
ify a comma separated lists of ‘precious’ sections.
NokeepSections
Default:
List the sections you are never interested in. For example,
‘libs’ is a good candidate, as most libraries debfoster asks
about are leftovers from old packages.
GuessDepends
Default:
List name extensions for packages that you want to group with
their base packages. Applications are often separated into multi‐
ple packages with names like "app", "app-doc", "app-dev". If you
don't want to answer questions about "app-doc", you can add the
"doc" extension to the GuessDepends list.
NegativeKeepers
Default: yes
Remember explicit removals of packages. If a package is
installed that has been explicitly removed before, remove it
again without asking. Set this to no if you want to be asked
anyway.
Verbose
Default: no
Using this option has the same result as having -v on the command
line. It will make debfoster show which packages have disap‐
peared or have become a dependency.
Force Default: no
This option has the same meaning as the -f command line option.
All orphaned packages are scheduled for removal without asking
any question.
Quiet Default: no
Having this option (which has the same meaning as the -q command
line argument) in your configuration file more or less defeats
the purpose of debfoster although the KeeperFile is still kept
up-to-date.
BUGS
Send reports to the Debian bug tracking system:
http://bugs.debian.org/debfoster
with as much information as you can gather (error messages, configuration
files, versions of dpkg/apt, whatever might be relevant). A tool such as
reportbug might come in handy.
SEE ALSOapt-get(8), apt-cache(8), dpkg(8), deborphan(1)tasksel(1)Debian GNU/Linux April 23, 2024 Debian GNU/Linux
