Trash management
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To prevent accidental deletion of files, you can use a trash can. To ensure compatibility between multiple applications, you can use software (CLI, GUI or Library) that follow the FreeDesktop.org's Trash specification.
Note: Some applications can use a trash can per filesystem (see the specification)
Warning: When deleting files on another filesystem, usage of a trash can induce some latency because the files will be transferred between filesystems. In this case, you might want to use a implementation that create a trash folder per filesystem (See
Trash directories
in the specification).Contents
Trash creation
- trash-cli — A command-line interface implementing FreeDesktop.org's Trash specification.
- bashtrash — Freedesktop-complient trashcan implemented in bash script
- trashman — A Python trash manager
- rmtrash — trash-put made compatible to GNUs rm and rmdir
Trash space usage management
To prevent the trash can from using to much space, you can empty it yourself, or have a pruning policy
Software list
autotrash (not in the AUR)
Criteria
- make sure to have at least x MB of free space
- delete files older than x days
- only empty if you have less than x MB of free space (useful in combination of previous criteria)
- maximum trash can size
- file size
- file type
- original path
Automation
To automate emptying the trash can, you can use cron, systemd/Timers, or inotify (using inotify, only new deletion would trigger the trash can automation)