localepurge is a small script to recover disk space wasted for unneeded locale
files and localized man pages. It will be automagically invoked by
dpkg upon completion of any
apt installation run. You have to define the locale
directory names you want to keep from removal after each
apt installation run
in the
/etc/locale.nopurge configuration file. Unless
localepurge has been adequately configured, the system's locale directories
won't be touched at all.
Any other directory (or file) in
/usr/share/locale not containing a subdirectory named
LC_MESSAGES will be discreetly ignored.
OPTIONS
The configurable options consist of toggling verbose output, reporting a
summary of freed space, and deletion of localized manual pages in
addition to locale files. All actions are specified in the
/etc/locale.nopurge configuration file. Since
localepurge uses debconf for storing its configuration data its configuration
should only be done via
dpkg-reconfigure(8) as outlined below. If not done via
debconf(8) any manual entries will be
irreversibly lost after an upgrade or reinstallation of the package.
For detailed debugging the commandline switch
-debug or just a short
-d instead are available for usage.
For verbose output the commandline switch
-verbose or just a short
-v can be added.
A Word of CAUTION
Please note, that
this tool is a hack which is not integrated with Debian's package management system and therefore is not meant for the faint of heart. Responsibility for its
usage and possible breakage of your system therefore lies in the sysadmin's
(your) hands.
Please definitely do abstain from reporting any bugs blaming localepurge if
you break your system by using it. If you don't know what you are doing and
can't handle any resulting breakage on your own then please simply don't
use it.
All locale directories containing a subdirectory named LC_MESSAGES
which are either commented out or not even listed at all in
/etc/locale.nopurge will be irreversibly deleted. The only way to
reinstall any lost locales is a complete reinstallation of all the
Debian packages containing them. See
/usr/share/doc/localepurge/reinstall_debs.sh for a recipe.
Alternatively you can reconfigure
it with
dpkg-reconfigure(8) to prevent locale files from being purged during subsequent runs of apt.
The localepurge configuration should only be configured by using the command
'dpkg-reconfigure localepurge' to add/remove locale entries or toggle verbosity. Since localepurge is
using the
debconf(8) facility for storing its configuration entries it
shouldn't be configured manually because all manual entries will get
lost after upgrade, reconfiguration or reinstallation of localepurge.
SOLVING PROBLEMS caused by localepurge
This program does interfere with the Debian package management and does
provoke strange, but usually harmless, behaviour of programs related
with
apt/dpkg like
dpkg-repack(1), debsums(1) , reportbug(1) , etc.
If you need to have any package in its full integrity so that e.g. the
formerly mentioned programs work as designed by its author and as
expected by you, simply deinstall
localepurge temporarily without purging its configuration and reinstall the packages
you need in their fully integral state. When you are done with what you
needed the integral packages for simply reinstall
localepurge again.
FILES
/etc/locale.nopurge
SEE ALSO
Administrators of systems with short disk space should have a look
at both the
deborphan and
debfoster packages. Especially
debfoster can work wonders for your scarce disk space!
localepurge and its accompanying manual page was written for the
Debian GNU/Linux system by Paul Seelig <pseelig@debian.org> with major contributions
from Gustavo Noronha Silva <kov@debian.org> who added the first debconf
functionality. The author sincerely hopes that some day further development
of Debian's great package management system will make
localepurge fully obsolete.