[SOLVED] Can this chromium folder be safely deleted?

[Schultz]

I just discovered that there is a folder named "chromium-browser" in /etc. I don't use Chromium, so is it safe to delete this folder? There is also one in the home folder, and I know that one can be safely deleted.

[karlchen]

Hi, Schultz.

You can easily find out the answer to your own question this way:

Code: Select all

sudo mv  /etc/chromimum-browser /etc/chromium-browser.bak

In case you have not experienced any problems after, let us say, 2 weeks, chances are that it is safe to remove the (renamed) folder including content, because you do not use chromium.
Unanswered is the question: what the heck is to be gained by removing this small folder?

Regards,
Karl

[Schultz]

Not much is to be gained. I just have a phobia with anything named Chrome/Chromium.

About the command you gave, it looks like you want me to rename the folder, but doesn't mv stand for move?

[karlchen]

Hi, Schultz.
The Linux command mv is used for both, moving to a new location and renaming. Renaming is merely a special case of moving.
Karl

Code: Select all

$ mv --help
Usage: mv [OPTION]... [-T] SOURCE DEST
  or:  mv [OPTION]... SOURCE... DIRECTORY
  or:  mv [OPTION]... -t DIRECTORY SOURCE...
Rename SOURCE to DEST, or move SOURCE(s) to DIRECTORY.
[...lots of more text cut ...]

[Schultz]

It's been 6 days I've renamed that folder, and noticed no ill effects. I'll delete the folder and mark this thread as solved.

[lmuserx4849]

It might be a losing battle, because if the package that installed that file is updated, it may install the file again. You might be better off removing the entire package than just 1 file, but that is easier said than done sometimes.

In the future, when you see a file that you want to know more about, ask the question, "what package installed that file", and from the command line do a dpkg -S pattern, where the pattern is part of the file name --- dpkg -S /etc/chromium-browser.

I did the above command and found that this directory was installed by adobe-flashplugin. Clicking on Installed Files in Synaptic Package Manager confirmed this, as well as,
doing the command, dpkg -L adobe-flashplugin | less.