Since my Gnome OS was reinstalled I have found a lot of entries in the ./config file which point to software that is no longer on my laptop and will never again be used on it. Some of these files relate to Chromium based browsers I had previously installed but are no longer present (i.e. Brave, Thorium and Vivaldi) and they are taking up 1.3GB of SSD space.
Will it cause any issues if I delete these files?
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And the inxi 
I tried using ddg and the forum to find an answer, but I couldn’t find anything of note. I then tried the You.com search engine which has a ChatGPT element, and this is what I got…
can obsolete files be deleted from arch linux /config
Yes, obsolete files can be deleted from the Arch Linux /config directory. Cleaning up your Arch Linux system can help free up disk space and keep your system organized.
Here are some steps you can take to clean up obsolete files in the /config directory:
Remove unused packages (orphans):
Use the pacman package manager to remove orphaned packages. Orphaned packages are packages that were installed as dependencies but are no longer needed by any other package.
Run the following command to remove orphaned packages: sudo pacman -Rns $(pacman -Qdtq)
.
Remove old configuration files:
Configuration files for packages that have been uninstalled may still remain in the /config directory.
You can use the find command to locate and delete these files. For example, to delete all .conf files in the /config directory, run: find /etc -name "*.conf" -type f -delete.
Clean up cache files:
Over time, cache files can accumulate and take up disk space. You can clean up cache files using the following commands:
To clean the package cache: sudo pacman -Sc
.
To clean the cache in your home directory: rm -rf ~/.cache/*
.
Remove duplicates, empty files, empty directories, and broken symlinks:
You can use the fdupes command to find and remove duplicate files.
To remove empty files and directories, you can use the find command with the -empty option.
To remove broken symlinks, you can use the find command with the -xtype l option.
Remember to exercise caution when deleting files, especially system configuration files. Always double-check the files you are deleting to avoid accidentally removing important files.
Please note that the steps provided here are general guidelines, and it’s always a good idea to refer to the official Arch Linux documentation or seek assistance from the Arch Linux community for specific instructions or recommendations.
BINGO, congrats
It is safe to delete these files. If you decide at some point to use any of these browsers again, your settings will be lost and it will be as if you had opened the browser for the first time.
You can remove orphans to free up space, but the -Rns option can be overly aggressive; see also this discussion here: Discussion about handling orphaned packages - #6 by BluishHumility
Do not run this command! The command the chat bot has suggested you run will remove all files that end in .conf from the /etc directory. These are important files in an important directory. Running this command will break your system. This should be considered bad advice.
There is no /config directory, by the way. User configs are stored in the ~/.config directory.
Deleting cache is not without consequences. For example, if you delete all your yay or paru cache you won’t see diffs properly when updating AUR packages. Depending on how much space is tied up there, it may not be worth messing with it.
TL;DR: yes, you can delete configs from ~/.config for applications you don’t use anymore, but be careful.
Thanks for the info.
It was never my intention to use an automated method of deleting the files, I am simply going to manually remove the files from the Chromium based browsers as they’re unnecessarily taking up a lot of space.
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