deborphan

Deborphan

deborphan is a tool that identifies orphaned packages on Debian-based Linux distributions. It detects packages that have no other packages depending on them, which may indicate that they are no longer needed as dependencies.
Os & Utilities Package Management
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orphan dependencies debian linux
Deborphan alternatives ➤

Deborphan: Identify Orphaned Packages

Deborphan is a tool for Debian-based Linux distributions to identify packages with no dependent packages, indicating potential removal of unused dependencies.

What is Deborphan?

deborphan is a utility program included in Debian-based Linux distributions such as Ubuntu and Linux Mint. It is used to identify orphaned packages on the system - packages that were installed to satisfy a dependency of another program but are no longer needed as a dependency for anything.

When packages are installed via a package manager like APT, they can often pull in other packages to satisfy dependencies. Over time, as software gets removed or upgraded, these previously needed dependency packages can be left behind, unneeded. These orphaned packages unnecessarily take up disk space.

deborphan detects such packages by analyzing the libraries, binaries, and other files the package installed against the package database. If it doesn't find any packages that depend on the files installed by a package, it will flag it as orphaned.

The tool can be run manually by a user to generate a list of orphaned packages that can then be easily removed. It is often included as part of automated job scripts to keep a system clean of cruft over time. By removing obsolete and orphaned packages that accumulated over years of adding/removing software, deborphan can recover considerable disk space and reduce clutter on Debian-based Linux installations.

Deborphan Features

Features

  1. Identifies orphaned packages on Debian-based Linux distributions
  2. Detects packages that have no other packages depending on them
  3. Helps identify unneeded package dependencies
  4. Command line interface
  5. Integrates with apt package manager

Pricing

  • Free
  • Open Source

Pros

Helps reduce disk usage by removing unneeded packages

Keeps system clean of cruft from old dependencies

Easy to use

Lightweight and fast

Cons

Only works on Debian-based systems

May incorrectly flag some needed packages as orphans

Requires some knowledge of apt and dpkg

Not a full Debian package management solution

Official Links

Official Website
https://freecode.com/projects/deborphan

The Best Deborphan Alternatives

Top Os & Utilities and Package Management and other similar apps like Deborphan

Here are some alternatives to Deborphan:

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Synaptic
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GtkOrphan
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Synaptic icon

Synaptic

Synaptic is a graphical user interface for advanced package management on Debian, Ubuntu and other Linux distributions using the APT package management system. It provides an easy way to install, upgrade and remove software packages without having to use apt commands in the terminal.Some key features of Synaptic include:User-friendly interface...
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GtkOrphan

GtkOrphan is a graphical application for Linux systems aimed at finding and removing unused GTK+ resources. GTK+ is a popular toolkit for creating graphical user interfaces in Linux, and over time unused icon files, themes, language files or interface layout files can accumulate and take up disk space.GtkOrphan provides an...
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Debfoster

debfoster is a utility program for managing packages installed on a Debian Linux system. It aims to identify packages which are no longer needed on your system, allowing you to easily remove obsolete and unused packages.debfoster keeps track of which packages are required by other installed packages, and which packages...
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Localepurge

localepurge is a utility program for Linux and other Unix-like operating systems that removes unused language locale data from the system. By default, most Linux distributions come with locale data for many different languages installed, even if only one or two languages are actually needed on that system.Having lots of...
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