Clearing orphaned and unused packages from CentOS 6.3

This is a follow on post from my guide to installing CentOS 6.2 (or you can read my updated 6.3 version) and auditing your software installs. We will go through some of the steps required to secure your server and get it ready for production use.

As always, I suggest you take this time to tighten up your machine first; run updates, turn off services, install software and harden your machine. You should also consider setting up your SSH settings.

To check which packages are left on your system just run the following command:

package-cleanup --leaves --exclude-bin

(NOTE: The --exclude-bin option means that packages with bin files are not included; to see packages with bin files just delete the option)

If you are happy with the list produced, run the modified version to delete all the files:

package-cleanup --quiet --leaves --exclude-bin | xargs yum remove -y

Further Reading

• Nux! has the short and sweet of it
• The man page for the package-cleanup tool
• A guide to the yum tool in CentOS 6