Install tmpreaper with Homebrew, apt, MacPorts

Project links

• Homepage
• Upstream docs
• Package manager page

Commands and aliases

• tmpreaper

Project history

The Debian manpage describes tmpreaper as a tool that recursively removes files and empty directories that have not been accessed for a specified period, especially in temporary holding areas such as /tmp. It emphasizes security behavior: avoiding symlink traversal, avoiding chdir(".."), not switching file systems, and stopping after a default runtime limit to reduce race-condition exposure.

The manpage names Karl M. Hegbloom as author, says tmpreaper is mostly based on tmpwatch 1.2/1.4 by Erik Troan, and lists Paul Slootman as the Debian maintainer. The Debian changelog shows active maintenance going back to the late 1990s and continuing through the 2025 1.6.18 release.

Adoption history

tmpreaper is historically rooted in Debian administration rather than in a GitHub-first CLI culture. Debian's package page places it in the admin section and documents the daily run configured through /etc/tmpreaper.conf.

The supplied source facts show availability through Homebrew, Debian, Ubuntu, and MacPorts. That spread reflects its appeal to users who want an established temp-file cleanup tool on both Linux distributions and macOS package ecosystems.

How it is used

System administrators use tmpreaper to clean directories such as /tmp with explicit age thresholds and protect patterns. The manpage documents dry-run behavior, verbose output, shell-command-style reporting of deletions, ctime and mtime modes, symlink handling, runtime limits, and protect patterns.

For package-focused users, tmpreaper is the classic installable answer to a recurring housekeeping problem: clean old temporary files without writing an ad hoc find command for every host, while retaining options shaped by multi-user Unix security concerns.

Why package nerds care

tmpreaper is significant because it embodies the older Debian package model: a small C utility, a manpage, a conffile, cron integration, and decades of changelog-driven maintenance. It is not trendy, but it is exactly the kind of durable system utility package nerds notice.

Its history is also a reminder that temp cleanup is security-sensitive. The changelog records fixes for directory traversal, bind-mount/race-condition issues, systemd PrivateTmp protection, default ignore patterns, and reproducible-build concerns.

Timeline

• 1998: Debian changelog entries show tmpreaper 1.4.x maintained by Karl M. Hegbloom.
• 2001: Version 1.5.0 added autoconf support and portability work for Solaris and NetBSD.
• 2002: Version 1.6.0 added ctime handling for Samba-share scenarios.
• 2003: Version 1.6.1 made cron execution opt-in through /etc/tmpreaper.conf and added runtime limiting.
• 2019: Version 1.6.14 fixed CVE-2019-3461-related bind-mount race-condition behavior.
• 2025: Version 1.6.18 was accepted into Debian unstable and migrated to testing.

Related projects

• tmpwatch is the older cleanup utility named by the tmpreaper manpage as the basis for tmpreaper.
• Debian cron and /etc/tmpreaper.conf are the package integration points documented by Debian.

Sources

• https://manpages.debian.org/tmpreaper
• https://metadata.ftp-master.debian.org/changelogs//main/t/tmpreaper/tmpreaper_1.6.18_changelog
• https://packages.debian.org/sid/tmpreaper
• https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/tmpreaper
• input.source_facts.package-manager