Written by edbian the 23 Jul 09 at 16:07.

There should be a new flag added to aptitude (and apt-get and a new function added to synaptic). Right now I can "remove" a package which removes most of the files but leaves the /etc config files and the .appName. Alternatively I could "purge" the program which will remove everything except the .appName folder.

I should be able to "sudo aptitude -h remove " which will remove the package and the .appName folder hidden in /home. Alternatively I should be able to "sudo apt-get -h purge " which would remove all of the package files including /etc config files AND the .appName folder in /home. In my opinion this would be a more intuitive "purge" but I don't think it is a good idea to change the meaning of the "purge" command. Too many people will be accidentally removing the .appName folders that they may want to keep.

There should be a new flag added to aptitude (and apt-get and a new function added to synaptic). Right now I can "remove" a package which removes most of the files but leaves the /etc config files and the .appName. Alternatively I could "purge" the program which will remove everything except the .appName folder. I should be able to "sudo aptitude -h remove <packageName>" which will remove the package and the .appName folder hidden in /home. Alternatively I should be able to "sudo apt-get -h purge <packageName>" which would remove all of the package files including /etc config files AND the .appName folder in /home. In my opinion this would be a more intuitive "purge" but I don't think it is a good idea to change the meaning of the "purge" command. Too many people will be accidentally removing the .appName folders that they may want to keep.

Written by Darwin Survivor the 8 Aug 09 at 12:30.

Removing all .appName folders from every user's home folder could cause problems if other users had intended to keep those folders. A better idea may be to make it easier for users to manage and clean their home folders.

I propose we make a way of tracking which applications use which configuration folders (maybe a specially-named file in the root of the config folder) and create a utility that will list folders vs applications and highlight which ones are for applications that no longer exist. The user could then hit a "delete" button and delete the un-used folders they no longer wish to keep.

Removing all .appName folders from every user's home folder could cause problems if other users had intended to keep those folders. A better idea may be to make it easier for users to manage and clean their home folders. I propose we make a way of tracking which applications use which configuration folders (maybe a specially-named file in the root of the config folder) and create a utility that will list folders vs applications and highlight which ones are for applications that no longer exist. The user could then hit a "delete" button and delete the un-used folders they no longer wish to keep.