Why use BleachBit?

[atari800]

Me joining in this chat (and a great chat that I hoped would have been created a while ago) isnt about making people angry. This is the open chat section, right?
I am asking (now begging) for a thread of people that regret using it. Not someone blindly saying it sucks without some proof or a good story. You call it a wrecking ball and it cause a many issues. I would love to see what occurred.

You can poke fun at my signature and think I got tunnel vision or am being bribed by BleachBit corp or you can joke about using a search engine, hell you can call me a ***** but lets be fair....

You speak of bleachbit like it was a bomb. There just isnt enough evidence to back this up. BleachBit is not the HolyGrail of fix it apps either. BB isnt proprietary code that does some secret closed source magic on items. Yes if you/me/anyone wants to read the code for each action, you can see how it works.


If you guys/girls just quit this conversation, sorry to see you leave. I have no issues with you personally. But leaving and slapping each other on the back and saying "good job, we showed him. Look at his signature, its amazing he uses a computer at all" or whatever your point might be.... seriously?

If that is how this thread ends, then wow.

BLEACHBIT IS BAD BECAUSE.... 10 people with 1000+ posts say its bad and thats enough
Is this the correct answer we all agree on?

[LinuxJim]

Me joining in this chat (and a great chat that I hoped would have been created a while ago)

Speaks volumes about your motives here.

[atari800]

LinuxJim
I have no motives - it was a conversation from this thread that got me started

I do a lot more outside of BleachBit for sure


---edited url---

[kyphi]

I looked at your referenced URL, atari800 and the comments I can make (this is the open Chat section isn't it?) is that the honorific of "Guru" should not be applied too freely.

After reading this thread, in particular I object to having my freedom of choice eroded by self-styled know-alls (no offence is intended) who practice the common but noxious human trait of trying to lord it over others.

I see plenty of accolades in the Software Manager for Bleachbit and it seems that for many people it provides a solution to restore space.
.... but then similar misdirection has been published by those same few regarding the evils of Ubuntu-tweak which had the temerity of using a bleachbit icon in its Janitor section as well as Brasero and probably other programmes (wait, I will get my little black book and check).

For myself I do not use Bleachbit but if I ever wish to do so, I reserve my right to do just that and if I should strike a problem, I am knowledgable enough to be able to extricate myself.

What saddens me somewhat is that if a Linux Mint user gets into difficulties after confessing to use Bleachbit, will he/she get unbiased assistance or will this self-righteous evangelising drive them away.

Perhaps we should consider a code of conduct similar to the Ubuntu Code (yes I agreed to be an Ubuntero many years ago) and become Minteros - now that's a topic worthy of a thread - any takers?

[atari800]

if a Linux Mint user gets into difficulties after confessing to use Bleachbit, will he/she get unbiased assistance or will this self-righteous evangelising drive them away.

Excellent point.
I see something like this occurring...

Code: Select all

Topic: Software Manager quit working...
Description: Software manager quit working sometime after PERL update

User1: says run INXI
User2: says look at logs and says did you try anything else?
OP: I tried removing PERL update and reinstalling
User3: suggested creating a new user
User4-8: try this and that
OP: No those didnt work, I tried BleachBit to see if this would help
User 9: "BB is a wrecking ball that causes more damage than it does fix anything. [lecture lecture lecture].", then in some fancy banter "you got what you deserved"
THREAD ABANDONED

After reading this thread, in particular I object to having my freedom of choice eroded by self-styled know-alls (no offence is intended) who practice the common but noxious human trait of trying to lord it over others.

You know your chances of getting into the secret club just quashed right here

Pjotr wrote:
@ LinuxJim and all41: I think it's just a waste of time trying to discuss rationally and constructively with this guy.... He's obviously obsessed with playing word games and somehow "winning" this discussion (at least in his own imagination).

I knew this thread ended when this was said

I bet, if I created a new user on this forum as Commodore64 or Vic20 or whoever.... and I created "cool things for personal maintenance and security" using the OS Level code from BleachBit, it would go unchallenged or better yet examined and have some constructive dialog about some bits.

*You know, I might have to make a new account because if i have a problem, I need to not be shunned as "the bleachbit guy".

[Moem]

You know, I might have to make a new account because if i have a problem, I need to not be shunned as "the bleachbit guy".

You know, this isn't high school. If you post about a problem, I'm sure you'll get help just like anyone else... as long as you go easy on the attitude.

[Crewp]

You know, I might have to make a new account because if i have a problem, I need to not be shunned as "the bleachbit guy".

You know, this isn't high school. If you post about a problem, I'm sure you'll get help just like anyone else... as long as you go easy on the attitude.

There are two sides to every coin. You are free to use what you like, and express your opinions, but others may not agree, which is fine. You must remember that on any computer forum, that there are people with all kinds of skill levels. Some are IT pro's, or dev's, hobbyist's, new user's, We tend to see things based on experience here, Some see BB as trouble because of the problem's it has caused, others see it as a useful tool, based on positive experience. You won't be the BB guy, you are just a guy who like's BB. But this thread is at stale mate.

[X-Rock]

Is this what Linux mint forums is all about?

Somebody asked a perfectly simple and reasonable question of why BB was bad and why it had such a bad reputation.
He stated he was neither for or against BB,and was willing to change his view of BB if it could be proved to do harm to a system.
He started to look at the code to see what the programme was doing,
He offered up his laptop to test out different scenarios using BB,to destruction if necessary (which nobody offered )
He was simply trying to get to the truth about BB in a calm and intelligent way.
And what did he get in return? People making snide and smug comments about his signature for some reason.
Not once did they offer any evidence of why BB is bad for a system nor did they even make any attempt to.
Correct me if I am wrong,but I thought this forum was a place to find help and information?
How can I,and others,make any kind of judgement on whether or not to use a piece of software that someone has concerns about if the only advice they get is 'don’t it's rubbish' without any reason why?

Hardly helpful.

[killer de bug]

There are two sides to every coin. You are free to use what you like, and express your opinions, but others may not agree, which is fine.

Exactly. The most important piece of text from this topic.

[LinuxJim]

Is this what Linux mint forums is all about?

Somebody asked a perfectly simple and reasonable question of why BB was bad and why it had such a bad reputation.
He stated he was neither for or against BB,and was willing to change his view of BB if it could be proved to do harm to a system.
He started to look at the code to see what the programme was doing,
He offered up his laptop to test out different scenarios using BB,to destruction if necessary (which nobody offered )
He was simply trying to get to the truth about BB in a calm and intelligent way.

Hardly helpful.

You left out:

Poor and flippant attitude
Confrontational questions and 'dares'
Attempts to lead down rabbit trails to disguise the issue
Inability to read entire posts thoughtfully, just focusing on out-of-context nuggets

Your summation of the thread is heavily filtered by rose-colored glasses.

I harbor no ill will against anyone, and certainly no shunning. We're all adults here (I think). But I've exhaused my breath on the topic and wish to get back to more constructive activities.

[atari800]

LinuxJim...
I hope this was for the entire thread and not specifically at me?

I may use "blah blah blah" to fill in obvious long winded areas but it wasnt meant to be flippant

LinuxJim please...

Poor and flippant attitude

all41 wrote:
So open bb as normal user and choose only the 'Free disc space' option.
Press the 'Clean' button.
Come back and tell us how you like your weasle-ware now

Use BleachBit to:

• Improve system performance (by vacuuming the Firefox database, for example)

Another case, where obviously religious believe in a feature list is greater than knowledge. We had this vacuum-nonsense already a few weeks ago. I say nonsense, because it is not only useless, but it is a "nuclear option" (see the link in the linked post). It is a perfect proof (not chosen by me, but by you!), that BB is dangerous.

Discussion about nothing. Is BB dangerous? Probably yes in some cases. That's all.
But is BB a single dangerous program in universe? No, there is a lot of dangerous programs. Let me tell my own rating of three:
1. Linux Mint (and not only Mint) installation.
2. Gparted.
3. Terminal.

That's stretching the issue so broadly, that it loses all meaning.

BleachBit is a dedicated tool, which is ... useless at best and at worst very dangerous.

Until the differences between using BB and the above named programs are not sorted, those users should avoid to power on the computer.

Confrontational questions and 'dares'

What is more dangerous - a newbie user using VI on /etc/fstab or a newbie user using BleachBit?
A newbie using RM or BB?
A newbie installing a game as a superuser or using BB?
Can you point to a thread (here or someplace else on the web) that proves BB is a weapon?

Now open up BleachBit and tell us what you think is destructive. Lets begin here. I am sure we can agree on a scenario that would wipe out a machine completely.
I have a Laptop with LM on it that I can sacrifice. I want to upgrade it anyway.
So give me some options and lets kill this and document that BB can kill a linux environment

Attempts to lead down rabbit trails to disguise the issue

Wait...regardless of results, NO ONE will change their opinion of BleachBit if this succeeds.

Why should we accept your positive view of BleachBit, even if you would claim that your test appears to do no damage on your test machine? There are already so many examples on this forum of BleachBit causing damage to others..... People who were not biased in favour of BleachBit to begin with, but neutral victims.

Inability to read entire posts thoughtfully, just focusing on out-of-context nuggets

I wait for the day, where somebody tells, that gedit (or whatever text editor) has to be equally judged as BB, because you can easily set e.g. the file fstab in a state that the system will no longer be bootable. Or any file manager, because you can easily delete your complete home and all your data. Those people are qualified to use a live system and only a live system - but than they would be very unlucky, because their beloved and adored BB has nothing to bleach.

I never had a chance in this thread....



TO ALL - open chat is always good.
Cheers

[karlchen]

<moderator on>
Very obviously, X-Rock's post would have been a very good summary of this thread and the perfect point in time to close this thread.
Stupidly, I let this chance go by. And so it happened what could have been foreseen, the thread posts start repeating themselves in circles.
So let us call it quits for the moment and close the thread.
</moderator off>