Score:0

Ubuntu

Discrepancy in disk usage after `apt-get purge` and `apt-get autoremove`

Jake Levi

6/22/24, 7:59 PM

I recently ran the command sudo apt-get install imagemagick
During installation, apt-get showed the message After this operation, 84.7 MB of additional disk space will be used.
I then decided I didn't want imagemagick any more, so ran sudo apt-get purge imagemagick, which showed the message After this operation, 119 kB disk space will be freed.
Noticing the discrepancy between 84.7 MB and 119 kB, I then ran the command sudo apt-get autoremove, which showed 0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 281 not upgraded., and sudo apt-get autoremove --purge, which also showed 0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 281 not upgraded.
Am I missing something here? It seems like imagemagick consumed 84.7 MB on installation and only freed 119 kB on removal - how do I remove the remaining data?

1 + 13

package-management

apt

dependencies

disk-usage

18.04

mook765

6/22/24, 8:14 PM

Ubunut version please?

Jake Levi

6/22/24, 8:21 PM

`$ lsb_release -a` -> ... `Description: Ubuntu 18.04.2 LTS` ... (installed inside WSL on Windows 10)

mook765

6/22/24, 8:32 PM

18.04 is End of Life and not supported anymore, therefor off-topic here. `imagemagick` is a dummypackage, removing this package does not remove the software. Check your logs `/var/log/apt/term.log` which packages actually got installed. I think `sudo apt remove --autoremove imagemagick*` will solve your problem

Jake Levi

6/22/24, 8:37 PM

Interesting, thanks! When you say "removing this package does not remove the software" - what is `apt` removing, if not the software?

Jake Levi

6/22/24, 8:44 PM

Also, is it safe to use `*` in `apt remove`? I'm just looking through the comments and answers [here](https://askubuntu.com/questions/187888/what-is-the-correct-way-to-completely-remove-an-application)

mook765

6/22/24, 9:03 PM

It removes the package named `imagemagick` which is a dummy package. Read the package description `apt show imagemagick`.The command I suggested should be safe, just read the output of apt carefully before proceeding. In doubt, check your logs as suggested and remove the specific packages.

Jake Levi

6/22/24, 9:03 PM

Note to self: an easy and safe way to see all installed packages which contain the string `imagemagick` is to use the command `apt list | grep imagemagick`

Jake Levi

6/22/24, 9:20 PM

*That should have said `apt list --installed | grep imagemagick` (note **`--installed`**)

Jake Levi

6/22/24, 9:48 PM

Also, @mook765 what exactly do you mean by a "dummy package" in this context? I've done some Googling but there doesn't seem to be a unique definition of "dummy package", and it's not explained explicitly what's meant by "dummy package" in the output from `apt show imagemagick`

raj

6/22/24, 10:31 PM

"Dummy package" is a package that installs basically almost nothing by itself (hence only 119 kB is freed by removing it), but pulls in several other packages as dependencies when installed - and it's those dependencies that take up 84.7 MB. Running `apt autoremove` not always removes all package's dependencies. You might need to check the dependencies of `imagemagick` and remove each of them individually. When you installed `imagemagick`, `apt` should have shown you all the dependencies it pulled in.

user535733

6/22/24, 10:38 PM

`281 not upgraded` suggests that you have other problems to address first.

guiverc

6/22/24, 10:48 PM

[Ubuntu 18.04 LTS has reached the end of it's *standard* support life](https://fridge.ubuntu.com/2023/05/13/extended-security-maintenance-for-ubuntu-18-04-bionic-beaver-begins-31-may-2023/) thus is now off-topic here unless your question is specific to helping you move to a supported release of Ubuntu. Ubuntu 18.04 ESM support is available, but not on-topic here, see https://askubuntu.com/help/on-topic See also https://ubuntu.com//blog/18-04-end-of-standard-support

guiverc

6/22/24, 10:49 PM

18.04.2 implies you're *years* behind on applying security fixes... I hope you keep that system offline! (https://fridge.ubuntu.com/2019/08/08/ubuntu-18-04-3-lts-released/ shows the date in 2019 when the 18.04.3 ISO was released, but installed systems upgraded to it **before** that date!)

Score:0

Ubuntu

Jake Levi

6/23/24, 1:38 AM

Luckily I still had the terminal window open with the output from the command sudo apt-get install imagemagick, which contained the following output in particular:

$ sudo apt-get install imagemagick

...

The following additional packages will be installed:
...
Suggested packages:
...
The following NEW packages will be installed:
  fontconfig fontconfig-config fonts-dejavu-core fonts-droid-fallback fonts-noto-mono ghostscript gsfonts hicolor-icon-theme imagemagick
  imagemagick-6-common imagemagick-6.q16 libavahi-client3 libavahi-common-data libavahi-common3 libcairo2 libcups2 libcupsfilters1 libcupsimage2
  libdatrie1 libdjvulibre-text libdjvulibre21 libfftw3-double3 libfontconfig1 libgraphite2-3 libgs9 libgs9-common libharfbuzz0b libijs-0.35
  libilmbase12 libjbig0 libjbig2dec0 libjpeg-turbo8 libjpeg8 liblcms2-2 liblqr-1-0 libltdl7 libmagickcore-6.q16-3 libmagickcore-6.q16-3-extra
  libmagickwand-6.q16-3 libnetpbm10 libopenexr22 libpango-1.0-0 libpangocairo-1.0-0 libpangoft2-1.0-0 libpaper-utils libpaper1 libpixman-1-0
  libthai-data libthai0 libtiff5 libwmf0.2-7 libxcb-render0 libxcb-shm0 libxrender1 netpbm poppler-data
...

So I copied all the packages listed below "The following NEW packages will be installed" into a single command preceeded by sudo apt purge, which I ran, and this reclaimed the missing disk space.

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EN: Discrepancy in disk usage after `apt-get purge` and `apt-get autoremove`

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