Prowler

Delete unwanted files that otherwise pollute $HOME. Read more about it here: prowler: an inotify based home directory cleaner.

Dependencies

• inotify-tools

Setup

1. Create a watchfiles file containing the files and directories that you want to be tracked (relative to your home. regexes are possible):

    $ echo Desktop >> ${XDG_CONFIG_HOME:-"$HOME/.config"}/prowler/watchfiles
   

2. Before running prowler for the first time, make sure the watchfiles are already deleted (this only works on non-regex rules):

    $ rm -rf ~/`cat ${XDG_CONFIG_HOME:-"$HOME/.config"}/prowler/watchfiles`
   

3. Run prowler

    $ ./prowler &
    $ mkdir ~/Desktop
    $ ls ~/Desktop
    ls: cannot access Desktop: No such file or directory
   

4. Optional before_rm hook:

    $ $EDITOR ${XDG_CONFIG_HOME:-"$HOME/.config"}/prowler/config
   

   By defining a before_rm function you can inform yourself before the actual removal takes place or allow yourself to intervene. The call to this function is synchronous, and if you don't return 0 the rm will abort.

5. LOG and LOG_FILE settings in the config toggle logging, and set the logfile location, respectively.

In the examples directory, you'll find a sample config and watchfiles file.