LinuxJanitor is the Bash script your grandmother warned you about. It's an automated, multi-distro cleaning utility that goes into the dark corners of your filesystem and kicks out the dust bunnies (and the 40GB of Docker images you haven't used since 2021).
Current Version: 3.0 "Power User Edition" ⚡
Because manual cleanup is for people with too much free time.
I got tired of running pacman -Sc, docker system prune, and deleting ~/.cache manually every week. So I wrote a script that does it all, looks cool while doing it (spinners! progress bars!), and supports pretty much every major distro.
Supported Distros:
- 🏹 Arch Linux (Manjaro, Endeavour, etc.) - I use Arch btw.
- 🌀 Debian / Ubuntu / Mint / Pop!_OS
- 🎩 Fedora / RHEL / CentOS
- 🦎 openSUSE
- Gentoo (if you are compiling this README, hi).
We have 3 levels of aggressiveness, because sometimes you just want to tidy up, and sometimes you want to nuke everything from orbit.
Runs with safety scissors. Only touches temporary caches that are guaranteed to regenerate.
- Cleans: Browser caches, Thumbnails, Temp files.
- Risk Level: 0/10. Safe for your grandma's laptop.
Default. The sweet spot. Cleans what needs to be cleaned without breaking your dev environment.
- Cleans: Everything in Safe + Package Manager Cache (apt/pacman/dnf), Trash, Journal logs (keeps last 2 weeks), Snap, Flatpak, Telegram, JS managers, paccache, debtap, coredumps, fwupd, /tmp.
- Risk Level: 2/10. Standard maintenance.
WARNING: This mode wakes up and chooses chaos. Ideally for Power Users who know what git clone means.
- Dev Junk: Nukes
node_modulescaches, Cargo registry (Rust), Go mod cache, Gradle/Maven. (You will have to re-download deps!) - Docker: Prunes images AND Volumes (optional confirmation).
- Kernel Assassin: Hunts down old kernels and removes them (Debian/Fedora).
- Electron Bloat: Cleans heavy caches from Discord, Slack, Spotify, VS Code workspace history.
- /var/log: Removes old compressed and rotated log files, truncates large logs.
- Debtap & pkgfile: Cleans Arch-specific conversion and file search caches.
- Risk Level: 8/10. Don't come crying if you have to re-download the internet.
Download, install to ~/.local/bin, and make it executable automatically:
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ind4skylivey/LinuxJanitor/main/install.sh | bashThen you can just run it from anywhere:
system-cleanup-enhanced.sh(Running it without arguments opens the Interactive Menu)
Old school? I respect that.
# 1. Download the script (or clone this repo)
git clone https://github.com/ind4skylivey/LinuxJanitor.git
cd LinuxJanitor
# 2. Give it power
chmod +x system-cleanup-enhanced.sh
# 3. RUN IT (Opens Menu)
./system-cleanup-enhanced.shSkip the menu and just get things done:
| Flag | What it does |
|---|---|
--safe |
The boring mode. See above. |
--standard |
The default. Standard cleanup. |
--aggressive |
The fun mode. See above. |
-i |
Interactive Steps. Asks for permission before every single step. |
-y |
Yes Mode. Automatic mode. Great for cron jobs. |
-d |
Dry Run. Pretend to clean. See how much space you would save. |
-u, --user USER |
Run cleanup for a specific user (useful for system admins). |
-a, --all-users |
Clean ALL users on the system (asks confirmation per user). |
The script creates a config file at ~/.config/system-cleanup/config.conf.
You can edit it manually if you want to permanently enable the "Kernel Assassin" or disable "Browser Cleanup" because you like keeping 4GB of cookies.
You can clean up other users' caches without switching accounts:
# Clean another user's cache
./system-cleanup-enhanced.sh --user john --standard
# Clean root's cache (if you dare)
sudo ./system-cleanup-enhanced.sh --user root --aggressive
# Dry run for another user
./system-cleanup-enhanced.sh -u mary --dry-run
# Clean ALL users on the system (v2.7)
./system-cleanup-enhanced.sh --all-users- Removes snap download cache and disabled snap revisions
- Cleans unused Flatpak runtimes and apps via
flatpak uninstall --unused
- Cleans Telegram Desktop cache, emoji, media cache, and temp files
- Located at
~/.local/share/TelegramDesktop/tdata/
- Removes systemd coredumps from
/var/lib/systemd/coredump - Cleans Ubuntu/Debian apport crash reports from
/var/crash
- Removes compressed
.gzand.oldlog files older than 7 days - Removes rotated log files (
*.1,*.2, etc.) older than 7 days - Truncates large log files (>50MB) instead of deleting
- Cleans temp files older than 1 day (safe for running processes)
pnpm store prunefor pnpm storeyarn cache cleanfor yarn cachebun pm cache rmfor bun install cache
- Cleans
/var/cache/debtap/for debtap users - Cleans
/var/cache/pkgfile/for pkgfile users
- Uses
paccache(from pacman-contrib) instead ofpacman -Scwhen available - Configurable: keeps N versions (default: 2) via
paccache_keepconfig - Shows before/after cache size comparison
- Cleans
/var/cache/fwupd/firmware update cache
- Settings are automatically saved to disk after each run
- Loaded on next run — your preferences survive across sessions
- Config file:
~/.config/system-cleanup/config.conf
- Automatically cleans old HTML reports (>30 days)
- Cleans old log files (>30 days)
- Cleans old backup files (>90 days)
- Real data instead of placeholder values
- Dynamic donut chart percentage based on actual space freed vs disk size
- Accurate cache size reporting in details table
Generate beautiful HTML reports after cleanup:
- Visual dashboard with charts and icons
- Space freed, mode, distro summary
- Cleanup details breakdown
- Reports saved to
~/.config/system-cleanup/reports/
Clean all users on the system with confirmation per user:
./system-cleanup-enhanced.sh --all-users # Interactive
./system-cleanup-enhanced.sh -a --dry-run # Preview only
./system-cleanup-enhanced.sh -a -y # Auto confirm all- Excludes system users (root, daemon, mysql, etc.)
- Asks confirmation for each user before cleaning
Now supports both Podman and Docker:
- Auto-detects available container runtime
- If both detected, asks which to use
- Works seamlessly with
--aggressivemode
How it works:
- Uses
getent passwdto resolve the correct home directory - All user-specific paths (
.cache,.config, etc.) are automatically redirected - Perfect for system admins managing multiple accounts
Note: When using --user, the script runs with YOUR permissions. Use sudo if you need to access other users' files.
I am not responsible if this script deletes your homework, your Bitcoin wallet, or your cat.
I have tested this on my machines, but rm -rf is a powerful spell. Use --dry-run first if you are nervous.
Made with 💻 and ☕ by iL1v3y