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How to Clean Up Flatpak Apps and Reclaim Disk Space
Optimizing Disk Space on Linux with Flatpak Cleanup Commands
Introduction
Flatpak, a popular package management system, provides a sandboxed environment for running applications. However, this sandboxed nature can result in the accumulation of significant disk space over time. In this guide, we will walk you through the process of cleaning up Flatpak apps to free up precious disk space on your Linux system.
Where Flatpak Packages are Installed
When you install a Flatpak package, it is stored in two primary locations on your system:
- System Installation Directory: `
/var/lib/flatpak
`
This directory contains all the files, metadata, application files, and runtime files shared among all Flatpak apps.
2. User Installation Directory: `~/.local/share/flatpak
`
Flatpak data specific to each user, including installed applications, is stored in this directory.
How to Find Out the Size of Flatpak Apps
Before proceeding with cleanup, it’s helpful to identify the disk space occupied by Flatpak apps. Here are some commands you can use: