This is a text-only version of the following page on https://raymii.org:
---
Title       : 	Deborphan cleanup until no more orphaned packages left
Author      : 	Remy van Elst
Date        : 	11-01-2016
URL         : 	https://raymii.org/s/snippets/Deborphan_cleanup_until_no_more_orphaned_packages_left.html
Format      : 	Markdown/HTML
---



### Deborphan

Deborphan removes packages it thinks your system doesn't need anymore. It is a
great tool for package cleanup and maintenance. Sometimes, after cleaning up the
packages, it will find new packages that are orphaned (because you just cleaned
up).

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This is a small script that cleans up with deborphan until there is nothing more
to cleanup.

### Script

First install deborphan, otherwise the script will not work:

    
    
    apt-get install deborphan
    

This is the script:

    
    
    #!/bin/bash
    # run deborphan and remove the output packages untill there are no more
    while true; do
        if [[ $(deborphan --guess-all) ]]; then
            apt-get purge `deborphan --guess-all`
            apt-get --purge autoremove
        else
            break
        fi
    done
    

Make sure to review the packages that are going to be deleted, not keeping an
eye could result in a broken system. If you add `-y` you're on your own.

   [1]: https://www.digitalocean.com/?refcode=7435ae6b8212

---

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