MobileRead Forums - View Single Post - In case you are oddly low on space (solution)

mdp · 05-04-2017, 04:01 AM

You may sometimes receive an error according to which you cannot install new software applications, because "the device is low on space".
That "device" is in fact '/data'.
I just found out yesterday that the device may not always do a clean-up after installing software, and probably this may be revealed by a warning 'rm failed for -f, No such file or directory'.
Fact is, the location '/data/local/tmp/' may still contain the installation packages for past applications (as revealed by a `ll /data/local/tmp/`). That "tmp" stands for "temporary".
Luckily enough, that location is not protected - any user can delete the files. So you can issue an `rm /data/local/tmp/*` to empty that location and release surprising amounts of space (space availability that is reported simply by `df`). Commands such as those indicated can be issued chiefly through `adb` on your desktop computer, or through terminals on the device (like jackpal.androidterm AKA "Terminal Emulator").

(Of course, be careful when using `rm`, the command to delete files. Android is well protected against accidental deletions of system files - and, correctly, only those files...)

Schematically:

Code:

df     # check avaliable space for apps. Look at /data
ll /data/local/tmp/    # verify you have junk there
rm /data/local/tmp/*   # remove the junk

Of course, [legal disclaimer here]

05-04-2017, 04:01 AM	#1
mdp Wizard Posts: 1,481 Karma: 9010563 Join Date: Jul 2013 Device: none	In case you are oddly low on space (solution) You may sometimes receive an error according to which you cannot install new software applications, because "the device is low on space". That "device" is in fact '/data'. I just found out yesterday that the device may not always do a clean-up after installing software, and probably this may be revealed by a warning 'rm failed for -f, No such file or directory'. Fact is, the location '/data/local/tmp/' may still contain the installation packages for past applications (as revealed by a `ll /data/local/tmp/`). That "tmp" stands for "temporary". Luckily enough, that location is not protected - any user can delete the files. So you can issue an `rm /data/local/tmp/` to empty that location and release surprising amounts of space (space availability that is reported simply by `df`). Commands such as those indicated can be issued chiefly through `adb` on your desktop computer, or through terminals on the device (like jackpal.androidterm AKA "Terminal Emulator"). (Of course, be careful when using `rm`, the command to delete files. Android is well protected against accidental deletions of system files - and, correctly, only those files...) Schematically: Code: df # check avaliable space for apps. Look at /data ll /data/local/tmp/ # verify you have junk there rm /data/local/tmp/ # remove the junk Of course, [legal disclaimer here] Last edited by mdp; 05-04-2017 at 04:05 AM.