FSlint

FSlint is a utility to find and clean various forms of unwanted extraneous files on a computer file system. This excess of unnecessary files is referred to as lint. FSlint will help find unwanted or problematic lint in your files or file names. The most common forms of lint FSlint finds are duplicate files, empty directories, and improper names. FSlint has multiple tools to perform a multitude of tasks in both the graphical interface and command line modes.

It is the goal of this guide to walk you through each of the major functions and tools that FSlint provides within the graphical interface. As the graphical interface is simply a front end for the command line, this guide refers to the help page of each of the command line tools as they apply to the graphical tool set described in each chapter. The reader is encouraged to read through the command line help page as it often includes more insight as well as advanced methods used to fine tune the results. Even though you may not need to use the command line tools, the advanced information may provide a better understanding of how to use the graphical interface. Understanding the command line will also help those who wish to use the tools in more advanced settings, such as scripts or remote servers.

The reader is highly encouraged to have a good backup of their system before deleting or modifying any files. You are also encouraged to fully understand the tasks you FSlint to perform. FSlint is a very powerful tool, and it would be unfortunate to make a mistake and lose important data without having a backup.

FSlint can be found in the online repositories of several major Linux releases, and it can be easily installed through the package manager. This guide covers FSlint version 2.43 which is the latest release at the time of this writing. This guide was written and tested on Debian Lenny with further testing done on Ubuntu 10.04. Detailed information on how to install FSlint for a variety of distributions is kept up-to-date on FSlint's homepage.

Homepage: http://www.pixelbeat.org/fslint/