How can I safely clean up root's .cpan folder?
perl
Solution
Short answer: Yes, you can delete that ~root/.cpan/build folder without affecting your system.
On the other hand: It's not recommended that user `root` has a `.cpan` folder at all. Usually you would install modules as some other (non-root) user. `cpan` then complains about not being able to install the modules in question and asks what to do. `sudo` is one option, I usually choose that. `cpan` will then compile and test new modules in that user's `$HOME/.cpan` and when it comes to installation it'll ask you for root's (or your) password (depends on settings in `/etc/sudoers`).
There's also a setting for the maximum size of the `~/.cpan/build` directory. Run:
$ cpan
$ o conf build_cache
and see what the current setting is. For me it's [100] which means 100 MB. Type (e.g.)
$ o conf build_cache 50
$ o conf commit
to set it to 50 MB. The `cpan` shell will instruct you further.
I'm not perfectly sure but I think you need to run the `clean` command afterwards to actually reduce the size of `~/.cpan/build`, i.e. (in the `cpan` shell):
$ clean
Problem
I have a development class Linux server which has been used for a great deal of Perl code creation and testing. On this machine is a /root folder, part of the / partition, and in there is a .cpan folder - which is currently consuming almost 1TB of disk space. We have been having issues with free space on the / partition and I'd like to 'clean up' this .cpan folder. The build sub-directory has 100's of sub-folders, which appear to be already installed CPAN modules. Is it safe to delete those? Is there an option/command I can use inside of cpan to check or assist in the clean up? I've checked several man pages and on-line searches, but I'm not certain what could be removed without impacting the system. Are there setting I could change that would keep this folder clean in the future? Thanks.