Cylon-deb, perform Ubuntu 18.04 maintenance from terminal

In the next article we are going to take a look at Cylon-deb. This is a maintenance program that uses a CLI menu written in Bash. It is a free and open source program hosted on GitHub.

This program provides a terminal-based alternative to the GUI software managers found in many distributions. In short, it is about a TUI (terminal user interface) which allows users to maintain their Ubuntu 18.04 system.

In the Cylon-deb menu we will find different sections. The first three deal with the system maintenance. Among these options we will find the possibility to carry out updates, installations, searches, maintenance of packages, such as eliminating obsolete or orphaned packages and some other general options, as well as a CLI wrapper for bleachbit.

Tasks that we can perform with Cylon-deb

• Will allow us install and remove packages.
• Delete all orphaned packages. That is, they are not required as dependencies.
• We can also update installed packages.
• Find already installed packages.
• Search for updates.
• Show the details of a package.
• Show the details of installed packages.
• List all files that belong to a package dice.
• We will be able clear local cache.
• We can see detailed information about the configuration of the system or the given package.

These are just some of the tasks. They can consult all in the project GitHub page.

Cylon-deb installation

The developer has created a PPA to facilitate installation. The package has been built only for Ubuntu 18.04 LTS (Bionic Beaver) 64bit. To install this on your system, run the following commands in the terminal (Ctrl + Alt + T):

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:typematrix/cylondeb

sudo apt install cylondeb

Use

Once installed, we can start Cylon-deb typing in terminal (Ctrl + Alt + T):

cylondeb

As you can see in the previous screenshot, the Cylon-deb main menu doesn't need much explanation. It contains the following six submenus, plus the option to exit.

• 1st System maintenance menu.
• 2st System maintenance menu.
• 3st System maintenance menu.
• Open Terminal x.
• System information.
• Information about Cylon-deb.
• Exit.

In this menu we will find the bulk of the possibilities available in the first three options. The rest of them I think are self explanatory. Although it must be said that in option 6 we can consult the required dependencies that Cylon-deb needs to function correctly. You just have to install the missing dependencies on your computer with the command 'sudo apt install dependency-name'.

System maintenance menu 1

Type the number 1 in the main menu to open the 1st maintenance menu. In it we can find the following options:

1. Search for updates (no download).
2. Update everything. Upgrading apt and && apt dist-upgrade.
3. Install a package.
4. Delete a package.
5. Show the remote packet information.
6. Search for packages in the apt database.
7. Find already installed packages. Search with aptitude '~ i.'
8. Show information for locally installed packages.
9. List all files that belong to a package dice.
10. Write a list of installed packages.
11. Watch the dpkg log file en /var/log/dpkg.log.
12. Show all or most of the information about a package.
13. Show log package changes.
14. Check all packages.
15. Check the full system dependencies.
16. Add a PPA to the system.
17. Purge a PPA from the system.
18. Back to main menu.

We will only have to write a number to execute the respective actions. After completing the selected action, press any key to return. To return to the main menu, type 18 on the screen.

Menu 2 system maintenance

In this section we will have the following options:

1. Clear all local cache.
2. Eliminate the pkgs installed by other pkgs.
3. Remove packages that are no longer included in any repository.
4. Delete the orphaned packages.
5. Delete packages and configurations that are not required.
6. Remove orphaned packages automatically.
7. Delete the cylon output folder.
8. Back to main menu.

Menu 3 system maintenance

The system maintenance options that we will find here are the following:

1. Systemd Status and Services Failed.
2. Review the Journalctl log for errors.
3. Check Journalctl for SSD fstrim trim.
4. Analyze the system boot performance.
5. Check for broken symbolic links.
6. Find files where no group or user matches the ID file number.
7. Use of disc space.
8. Find 200 of the largest files.
9. Find use of inodes.
10. Exploration of old configuration files.
11. Print sensor information.
12. Clean journal files.
13. Delete memory dumps / var / lib / systemd / coredump /.
14. Delete files.
15. bleachbit n / A.
16. List all open files.
17. Back.

Cylon-deb is just a script, but it is fully functional and can be helpful in maintaining our Ubuntu 18.04 systems.