rename system-cleaner-gtk to cruft-remover-gtk

Alan Pope alan at popey.com
Mon Nov 3 10:34:49 UTC 2008


2008/11/3 James Westby <jw+debian at jameswestby.net>:
> Perhaps we need some sort of tool installed by default that removes
> packages that are no longer needed, and may be considered cruft :-)
>

I'd agree the word "cruft" is unsuitable given the fact that it's a geek phrase.

By way of an unscientific test I just asked two co-workers if they
could define "cruft". One (who is quite a language enthusiast) said
he'd never heard it. The other said "something to do with dogs".

As well as the ambiguity of the word itself, it doesn't correctly
describe what the app actually does either. From what I can tell it
looks for .debs that have been installed via some method other than
apt - that is to say other than via a currently active repository.

I have installed a few applications from debs which I (as the
user/owner of the system) would certainly not class as cruft, and
wouldn't want this application to make that decision for me. Whilst I
appreciate that it's possible for me to 'uncheck' packages, I don't
like the idea that an Ubuntu supplied application is telling me that
my selection of applications is classed as cruft.

Of course this may be a bug in the app, or my misinterpretation of its use.

I'd go for a name like "Orphaned Package Cleanup" which is somewhat
less pejorative than "Cruft".

Cheers,
Al.




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