Ubuntu Tutorials - Herong's Tutorial Examples - v1.25, by Herong Yang
"sudo apt autoremove" - Remove Unneeded Packages
This section provides a tutorial example on how to use the 'apt autoremove' command to remove all packages that are no longer needed on Ubuntu computer.
After using your Ubuntu computer for a while, you may noticed that the "apt install" command provides you a no-longer-required package list in the output as shown below.
herong$ sudo apt install smem Reading package lists... Building dependency tree... Reading state information... The following packages were automatically installed and are no longer required: ca-certificates-mono cli-common libgdiplus libglib2.0-cil libgtk2.0-cil libllvm7 libllvm9 libmono-addins-gui0.2-cil libmono-addins0.2-cil libmono-cairo4.0-cil libmono-corlib4.5-cil libmono-i18n-west4.0-cil ... Use 'sudo apt autoremove' to remove them. ...
The no-longer-required package list represents old packages that were installed as part of the original Ubuntu distribution or as dependencies of manually installed packages, and got obsolete after software updates. You can safely remove all of them using the suggested "sudo apt autoremove" command.
herong$ sudo apt autoremove Reading package lists... Building dependency tree... Reading state information... The following packages will be REMOVED: ca-certificates-mono cli-common libgdiplus libglib2.0-cil libgtk2.0-cil libllvm7 libllvm9 libmono-addins-gui0.2-cil libmono-addins0.2-cil libmono-cairo4.0-cil libmono-corlib4.5-cil libmono-i18n-west4.0-cil libmono-i18n4.0-cil libmono-posix4.0-cil libmono-security4.0-cil libmono-sharpzip4.84-cil libmono-system-configuration4.0-cil libmono-system-core4.0-cil libmono-system-drawing4.0-cil libmono-system-security4.0-cil libmono-system-xml4.0-cil libmono-system4.0-cil mono-4.0-gac mono-gac mono-runtime mono-runtime-common mono-runtime-sgen 0 to upgrade, 0 to newly install, 27 to remove and 6 not to upgrade. After this operation, 158 MB disk space will be freed. Do you want to continue? [Y/n] Y (Reading database ... 201429 files and directories currently installed.) Removing ca-certificates-mono (4.6.2.7+dfsg-1ubuntu1) ... Removing libmono-addins-gui0.2-cil (1.0+git20130406.adcd75b-4) ... Removing libmono-addins-gui0.2-cil from Mono Removing libmono-addins0.2-cil (1.0+git20130406.adcd75b-4) ... Removing libmono-addins0.2-cil from Mono Removing libgtk2.0-cil (2.12.40-2) ... Removing libgtk2.0-cil from Mono Removing libmono-system-drawing4.0-cil (4.6.2.7+dfsg-1ubuntu1) ... Removing libgdiplus (4.2-2) ... Removing libglib2.0-cil (2.12.40-2) ... Removing libglib2.0-cil from Mono Removing libllvm7:amd64 (1:7-3~ubuntu0.18.04.1) ... Removing libllvm9:amd64 (1:9-2~ubuntu18.04.2) ... Removing libmono-cairo4.0-cil (4.6.2.7+dfsg-1ubuntu1) ... Removing libmono-i18n-west4.0-cil (4.6.2.7+dfsg-1ubuntu1) ... Removing libmono-i18n4.0-cil (4.6.2.7+dfsg-1ubuntu1) ... Removing libmono-system-core4.0-cil (4.6.2.7+dfsg-1ubuntu1) ... Removing libmono-posix4.0-cil (4.6.2.7+dfsg-1ubuntu1) ... Removing libmono-sharpzip4.84-cil (4.6.2.7+dfsg-1ubuntu1) ... Removing cli-common (0.9+nmu1) ... Removing libmono-system-configuration4.0-cil (4.6.2.7+dfsg-1ubuntu1) ... Removing libmono-system-security4.0-cil (4.6.2.7+dfsg-1ubuntu1) ... Removing libmono-system4.0-cil (4.6.2.7+dfsg-1ubuntu1) ... Removing libmono-system-xml4.0-cil (4.6.2.7+dfsg-1ubuntu1) ... Removing libmono-corlib4.5-cil (4.6.2.7+dfsg-1ubuntu1) ... Removing mono-runtime (4.6.2.7+dfsg-1ubuntu1) ... Removing mono-runtime-sgen (4.6.2.7+dfsg-1ubuntu1) ... Removing mono-runtime-common (4.6.2.7+dfsg-1ubuntu1) ... update-binfmts: warning: no executable /usr/bin/cli found, but continuing anyway as you request Removing mono-gac (4.6.2.7+dfsg-1ubuntu1) ... Removing mono-4.0-gac (4.6.2.7+dfsg-1ubuntu1) ... Removing libmono-security4.0-cil (4.6.2.7+dfsg-1ubuntu1) ... dpkg: warning: while removing libmono-security4.0-cil, directory '/usr/lib/mono' not empty so not removed dpkg: warning: while removing libmono-security4.0-cil, directory '/etc/mono/certstore' not empty so not removed Processing triggers for desktop-file-utils (0.23-1ubuntu3.18.04.2) ... Processing triggers for libc-bin (2.27-3ubuntu1.6) ... Processing triggers for man-db (2.8.3-2ubuntu0.1) ... Processing triggers for gnome-menus (3.13.3-11ubuntu1.1) ... Processing triggers for ca-certificates (20230311ubuntu0.18.04.1) ... Updating certificates in /etc/ssl/certs... 0 added, 0 removed; done. Running hooks in /etc/ca-certificates/update.d... done. Updating Mono key store /etc/ca-certificates/update.d/mono-keystore: 10: /etc/ca-certificates/update.d/mono-keystore: /usr/bin/cert-sync: not found done. Processing triggers for mime-support (3.60ubuntu1) ...
Rerun the command to double-check.
herong$ sudo apt autoremove Reading package lists... Done Building dependency tree Reading state information... Done 0 to upgrade, 0 to newly install, 0 to remove and 6 not to upgrade.
Table of Contents
Introduction to Ubuntu Systems
GNOME - Desktop Interface and Environment
Shell - The Command-Line Interpreter
"apt list" - List Software Packages
"apt show" - Show Software Package Details
"sudo apt install/remove" - Install/Remove Package
►"sudo apt autoremove" - Remove Unneeded Packages
Manage "apt" Package Repositories
APT Configuration Settings and Overrides
APT Package Archives and Metadata