All, I don't know if anybody uses these scripts, but I've updated them to handle the stray packages with the nonconforming filenames in the form of: <name>-num-num-arch.pkg.tar.xz I've additionally added a check to optimize the scripts a bit by checking for at least the presence of one actual duplicate before executing the removal code. Prior to the overhead of the nonconforming file check, it wasn't really needed, but after the nonconforming filename code was added, you get a meaningful time benefit from the check. The scripts are here: http://www.3111skyline.com/dl/arch/scripts/fduparch.sh http://www.3111skyline.com/dl/arch/scripts/fduppkg For those not familiar with the scripts, they simply parse the files in /var/cache/pacman/pkg and move any duplicates (old versions) to a separate directory (/home/backup/pkg-1 by default). This does 2 things: (1) is cleans the pkg directory so that only current packages are present and (2) by moving duplicates to /home it frees space on the / partition. The files on the /home dir can be kept for a period of time or simply deleted. The pair of scripts function as one script. The "wrapper" script 'fduparch.sh' simply calls 'fduppkg' setting the search dir and duplicate dir according to the directory array. fduppkg generically just removes duplicates (saving the most recent file) from dir_1 -> dir_2. They provide output advising of the duplicates found as well as logging detailed information about what was done to /home/backup/log/pkgdups.log.bz2. By default, fduppkg is called 3 times: /var/cache/pacman/pkg -> /home/backup/pkg-1 /home/backup/pkg-1 -> /home/backup/pkg-2 /home/backup/pkg-2 -> /home/backup/pkg-del If you simply want to run the script once, just edit fduparch.sh and just remove directories from: DIRLIST=( /var/cache/pacman/pkg /home/backup/pkg-1 /home/backup/pkg-2 /home/backup/pkg-del ) Making it: DIRLIST=( /var/cache/pacman/pkg /home/backup/pkg-1 ) The scripts are reasonably commented, so they are easy to follow. The only requirement is that both be placed in /usr/local/bin (or just modify the script location in fduparch.sh) I just soft link then to /usr/local/bin. Obviously since they are moving files from the pkg directory, they must be run as root or the user must have sudo privileges. Output is verbose by default. The output is shown below. The pkg [index] is simply the file index number of that file in the list of 2743 below: 17:27 archangel:~> fduparch.sh calling: 'fduppkg /var/cache/pacman/pkg -d /home/backup/pkg-1 -l pkgdups.log' Total packages to screen: 2743 Removing duplicates from: /var/cache/pacman/pkg Duplicates directory: /home/backup/pkg-1 Log file location: pkgdups.log Verbose mode set: [use -q to stop pkg output | -s to stop all output] <snip> pkg [ 116] boost dup => boost-1.47.0-2-i686.pkg.tar.xz pkg [ 118] boost-libs dup => boost-libs-1.47.0-2-i686.pkg.tar.xz <snip> 754 duplicates moved to /home/backup/pkg-1 calling: 'fduppkg /home/backup/pkg-1 -d /home/backup/pkg-2 -l pkgdups.log' Total packages to screen: 2527 Removing duplicates from: /home/backup/pkg-1 Duplicates directory: /home/backup/pkg-2 Log file location: pkgdups.log Verbose mode set: [use -q to stop pkg output | -s to stop all output] <snip> pkg [ 55] b43-fwcutter dup => b43-fwcutter-013-1-i686.pkg.tar.xz pkg [ 75] boost dup => boost-1.47.0-1-i686.pkg.tar.xz pkg [ 77] boost-libs dup => boost-libs-1.47.0-1-i686.pkg.tar.xz <snip> 601 duplicates moved to /home/backup/pkg-del Package Disk Usage Summary 4.7G /var/cache/pacman/pkg 3.4G /home/backup/pkg-1 1.1G /home/backup/pkg-2 1.3G /home/backup/pkg-del That's all there is to it. The log entries look like this: Nov 02 18:16:52 killerz fduppkg Removing duplicates from: /var/cache/pacman/pkg Number of packages: 3545 `/var/cache/pacman/pkg/accountsservice-0.6.14-1-i686.pkg.tar.xz' -> `/home/backup/pkg-1/accountsservice-0.6.14-1-i686.pkg.tar.xz' removed `/var/cache/pacman/pkg/accountsservice-0.6.14-1-i686.pkg.tar.xz' `/var/cache/pacman/pkg/arch-wiki-docs-20100914-1-any.pkg.tar.xz' -> `/home/backup/pkg-1/arch-wiki-docs-20100914-1-any.pkg.tar.xz' removed `/var/cache/pacman/pkg/arch-wiki-docs-20100914-1-any.pkg.tar.xz' `/var/cache/pacman/pkg/ati-dri-7.11-2-i686.pkg.tar.xz' -> `/home/backup/pkg-1/ati-dri-7.11-2-i686.pkg.tar.xz' removed `/var/cache/pacman/pkg/ati-dri-7.11-2-i686.pkg.tar.xz' <snip> So if you ever have any questions about what was done, it is there for your review in the log file. They take less than 60 seconds or so to run. Very handy for cleaning the pkg dir and also for keeping a 'last known' set of good packages around. I agree, no need for a 2nd or 3rd set, but that's just kind of hung around since they were first developed. Give them a try. The scripts are here: http://www.3111skyline.com/dl/arch/scripts/fduparch.sh http://www.3111skyline.com/dl/arch/scripts/fduppkg Then make sure they are executable (chmod 0755 will do). The just link them from wherever you save them to /usr/local/bin as follows: ln -s /path/to/fduparch.sh /usr/local/bin/fduparch ln -s /path/to/fduppkg /usr/local/bin/fduppkg Then just execute the fduparch link and watch it run. With the addition of the check for nonconfirming filenames, you will pick up another 300-600 duplicates out of your package directory. Anyway. Enjoy! Send any bugs to me. Thanks! -- David C. Rankin, J.D.,P.E.