The best way to keep the system clean?

[Christian Baer]

On Mon, 24 Sep 2007 20:17:42 +0800 ronggui wrote:

> My problem, many times I install some software from ports, it install
> the dependency software. Then after some time, I find that software
> isn't what I want, and deinstall it. At this point, the dependency
> software isn't necessary as well. Is there a way to clean them
> automatically, like the apt-get autoremove in the Ubuntu system.

pkg_cutleaves was mentioned here a few times. I just want to tell you, why
I think it's the best idea:

Automatically deinstalling stuff can leave a mess. Sometimes you deinstall
too much, because one of the other ports your application depended on is
also needed by others. Think about what could happen if you deinstalled
gtk.

pkg_cutleaves lets you go through the list of installed stuff and asks if
you wish to remove each item. All packages shown are leaves, which means
they are not required by any other program. After deinstalling a few
leaves, you will get new leaves which you can deinstall.

> And the related general question is, what's the best way to keep my
> system clean? Thanks.

Define "clean".

Regards
Chris