Duplicate files

[Nils Kassube]

Steven Vollom wrote:
> I just opened filelight; it is fasinating.  Some areas occupy as much
> as 6gb of data, but how do I learn what is relevant and needs to be
> kept and what is either no longer needed or redundant or saved for
> purposes I do not require?  

If you don't know what those data are needed for, it is probably safe to 
keep them.

> When I google something like, /var, I get 
> a rather basic understanding of what it is, but whether it is
> necessary to the continued function of the computer is not mentioned.

Don't remove /var - it is really vital for your system. There may be a 
few files in that directory tree which are not needed but I don't think 
you gain a lot of free space if you search for those few.

>  I don't even know what temporary files should be retained; can they
> all be removed, or by having them do they save time when you may need
>  them again?

Temporary files should be retained until the application that wrote them 
is closed. I don't think you can easily find out which application 
wrote which files, so it is safe to keep the files. The /tmp directory 
is cleared anyway when you boot your machine, so unless your machine is 
running all time I wouldn't care about those temp files.

> After reading the function of /var files, it looked to me like they
> should all be kept, if you have sufficient space.  The key being
> whether you will use them again or often, I guess.

No, IMHO the question is more if you KNOW what the files are good for. 
If you don't know, keep the files because they may be vital.

> When people start making decisions about what to keep or what to get
> rid of, what are some examples of how such decisions are made?  Or is
> there a tutorial for that; and what would I google to find it?

Sorry, I don't know about a tutorial. However I would suggest you keep 
your data in your home directory and don't care about the system 
directories. If the / partition has too little space left, uninstall 
(purge) unneeded applications.


Nils