Caches manager

A simple script that helps keep selected directories clean by symlinking or mounting to tmpfs ramdisk.
Useful for temporary, cache and other junk directories.

Installation

Copy caches-manager script to some $PATH directory, e.g. /usr/bin.
Copy systemd directory to /usr/lib.

If you want to use the script without systemd, just make it run early at system startup with --system flag and on user log-in with --user flag.

Usage

Services

Enable system, user or both services depending on your needs.

    # systemctl enable caches-manager.service
    $ systemctl --user enable caches-manager.service

Changes will be applied on the next boot (or user log-in in case of the user service). You can force changes by executing the services or running the script manually, but this is not recommended.

Configs

The script reads all .conf files from respective directories:

/etc/caches-manager/system - system-wide configs.
/etc/caches-manager/user - configs for all users.
$XDG_CONFIG_HOME/caches-manager (~/.config/caches-manager) - per-user configs.

Configs are read as one path per line. Default mode of operation is to symlink the directory. If target exists, the app will backup existing content.
If you want to use mount instead, prefix the path with b:. Mounts require root privileges but more failsafe and non-destructive (mounts overlay existing content), so they are preferred for system directories.
System-wide configs require full absolute paths (e.g. b:/var/cache).
User configs treat paths relative to user home directory (e.g. .cache will be resolved to ~/.cache).

WARNING! Tmpfs keeps data in RAM and drops it on every shutdown or reboot.

Packages

Arch Linux AUR