Find and remove unused packages in Linux
Tired of running of low disk space? You may need to check for unused packages, in other term orphaned packages, filled in your hard drive. Orphaned (unused) packages are nothing but the packages which will be installed as a dependencies/libraries when you install a software in your Linux box. As you know already, whenever we install an application, some other packages (dependencies) will also be installed along with the original application. These dependencies might exist in your hard drive even though you removed the application. After a particular period of time, your hard drive will be flooded with unused or orphaned packages, and you might end up with low disk space. Low disk space not only affects the system performance, it will also not let you to install new applications due to low disk space. So, it is very recommended to wipe out the orphaned packages in regular interval.
This brief tutorial will explain you how to remove unused, or unwanted, or orphaned packages in popular Linux distributions such as CentOS and Ubuntu. First, we will see how to find and remove unused packages in Ubuntu and its derivatives such as Linux Mint, elementary OS.