Can't delete cached package data from USC

[Julien Funk]

'Remove' does not actually remove data (until later). When I click to remove an app in Software Center, the app data (200mb in the case of Vendetta) is left on my computer for days until apt clears the cache. If a user wanted to clear space on their machine and was uninstalling applications for the purpose of clearing space, this would be very frustrating. Many users are people who do not know how to clear the apt cache (or in many cases, don't even know apt exists, never mind a cache)

<https://wiki.ubuntu.com/SoftwareCenter#residual>: "In the “File” menu, immediately following the “Remove Including Settings” item should be a “Show Residual Files” item..."

On Wed, Dec 01, 2010 at 04:21:34PM -0800, Julien Funk wrote:
> Hey Michael,
> I was recently testing the zero $ purchase of Vendetta online. The
> software installed properly after downloading 200mb of content.
>
> Next, I removed it using Software Center and reinstalled it again.
> Everything installed and uninstalled visually. I was unable to find
> Vendetta in the list.
>
> Next, I installed it again. It installed in a matter of seconds without
> downloading the 200mb of content again.
>
> I would expect a prompt when 'Remove' was clicked to delete all content
> associated with the application.

[mvo]
Right, this has to do with the way apt works, it will cache the
downloaded deb package for a certain amount of time (around two days
by default) in /var/cache/apt/archives. This is true for all debs.

I agree that its kind of odd (and unexpected) that remove does not
remove the package but only the content of the package.

Cheers,
 Michael
[/mvo]

[Matthew Paul Thomas (mpt)]

Thanks for this report, Julien, and sorry for the slow response.

I've discussed this further with Michael. The package data is cached for a good reason, in case you uninstalled the package by mistake and want to reinstall it. However, it should be easier to remove extra files if you are low on disk space. In that case, it doesn't particularly matter what kind of files they are.

So I've expanded the proposed "Show Residual Settings" command (to show files that would have been deleted by an apt-get purge, but weren't deleted by an apt-get remove) to a "Show Residual Files" command that also shows cached packages. So you could delete files of either or both kinds at once. <https://wiki.ubuntu.com/SoftwareCenter?action=diff&rev2=578&rev1=577>