What's the right way to purge recursively with apt? I've just realised I'm not sure how to perform a purge with Apt, that will purge all the dependencies too. I'm reading here and there and still unsure have these candidates: apt purge --auto-remove <packagename> and (after purging some packages first): apt autoremove --purge Are they correct? Equivalent? Is there a better way?

They’re both correct, but not quite equivalent.


apt purge --auto-remove


purges `packagename` and any packages which are rendered unnecessary by its removal, as well as any other packages which aren’t necessary.


apt autoremove --purge


purges any packages which aren’t necessary (marked as “automatically installed” and with no dependent packages).

The first form is what you’d use when manipulating individual packages; the latter is a clean-up operation across all packages.

You could also enable `APT::Get::AutomaticRemove` in your `apt` configuration to get `apt` to always auto-remove (or use `aptitude` which behaves like that by default).