macOS
Homebrewverified · 100%
brew install tmpwatchlocal Homebrew formula metadata
brew
Install tmpwatch with Homebrew, dnf, Nix, zypper
Find and remove files not accessed in a specified time. Version 2.11 via Homebrew; verified from local package data.
install
Additional install commands
Linux
Fedora dnfverified · 92%
sudo dnf install tmpwatchFedora Rawhide package metadata · tmpwatch · source: dl.fedoraproject.org
Nixverified · 92%
nix profile install nixpkgs#tmpwatchnixpkgs package indexes · pkgs/by-name/tm/tmpwatch/package.nix · source: api.github.com
openSUSE zypperverified · 92%
sudo zypper install tmpwatchopenSUSE Tumbleweed package metadata · tmpwatch · source: download.opensuse.org
overview
Package summary
Find and remove files not accessed in a specified time
Project links
Commands and aliases
- tmpwatch
history
Project history and usage
tmpwatch is a small Red Hat-originated system administration utility for recursively deleting files that have not been accessed for a configured period. Its historical niche is simple, cron-friendly hygiene for temporary directories such as /tmp.
Project history
The upstream man page carries Red Hat copyright years from 1997 through 2009 and lists Red Hat authors including Erik Troan, Preston Brown, Nalin Dahyabhai, and Miloslav Trmac. That places tmpwatch in the older Linux distribution tooling tradition: focused utilities shipped by distributions to solve recurring operational problems with minimal ceremony.
Adoption history
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 technical notes still documented tmpwatch in 2011 as an updated package for RHEL 6, and Fedora package metadata describes the same temporary-directory cleanup role. In this batch input, the package is also present through Homebrew, dnf, Nix, and zypper names, showing that the utility survived outside its original Red Hat context as a portable admin tool.
How it is used
tmpwatch is normally run against one or more directories with an age threshold, commonly from cron or equivalent scheduled maintenance. Its safety details matter to administrators: the man page documents race-condition checks, avoiding filesystem crossings, ignoring symlinks in cleaned directories, and using atime by default with options for mtime and ctime.
Why package nerds care
For package-manager users, tmpwatch is interesting because it represents the pre-systemd era of distribution-specific housekeeping tools: tiny, scriptable, predictable, and packaged under the same name across several Unix-like ecosystems.
Timeline
- 1997-2009: Upstream man page copyright range records Red Hat maintenance of tmpwatch.
- 2009: The upstream man page is dated 2009-10-15.
- 2011: Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 technical notes documented a tmpwatch bug-fix update.
Related projects
- cron and rm are referenced by the upstream man page as related commands in the cleanup workflow.
- Distribution package metadata positions tmpwatch as a filesystem and temporary-file maintenance tool.
Sources
security posture
Risk level: green
narrow executable package without higher-risk signals.
Risk classifier
green risk · low confidence · appliance
Why
- narrow executable package without higher-risk signals
Signals
- metadata:no-higher-risk-signals
Install behavior
- No Homebrew post-install hook is recorded in formula metadata.
- Homebrew bottle metadata is available for 13 platform targets.
Recommended review
Before unattended agent use, check whether the tool reads plaintext credentials, writes remote state, publishes artifacts, or shells out to plugins.
executables
Installed executables
| Command | Kind | Exposure | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
tmpwatch | cli | global executable |
freshness
Version and freshness
These signals separate page generation age, package-manager activity, and upstream release comparison. Version lag is warned only when an evidence URL and comparable versions are present.
page generated2026-07-08
manager version2.11
manager updated
local dataok
upstreamnot checked
latest detectednot detected
- infoNo package-manager update timestamp was available.low confidence
- infoRelease/tag comparison is only available for GitHub repositories.https://pagure.io/tmpwatchnone confidence
install metadata
Package metadata
| Package key | brew:tmpwatch |
|---|---|
| Version | 2.11 |
| Package manager | Homebrew |
| Package manager page | https://formulae.brew.sh/formula/tmpwatch |
| Homepage | https://pagure.io/tmpwatch |
| Repository | https://pagure.io/tmpwatch |
| Upstream docs | https://pagure.io/tmpwatch/blob/master/f/tmpwatch.8 |
| License | GPL-2.0-only |
| Source archive | https://releases.pagure.org/tmpwatch/tmpwatch-2.11.tar.bz2 |
| Bottle | available (on arm64_big_sur, arm64_linux, arm64_monterey, arm64_sequoia, arm64_sonoma, arm64_tahoe, arm64_ventura, big_sur, catalina, monterey, sonoma, ventura, x86_64_linux) |
| Homebrew post-install | not defined |
| Service | none declared |
registry facts
Source database details
| Source Database | Homebrew formula API |
|---|---|
| Tap | homebrew/core |
| Full Name | tmpwatch |
| Version Scheme | 0 |
| Revision | 0 |
| Head Version | HEAD |
| Bottle Stable Root URL | https://ghcr.io/v2/homebrew/core |
| Deprecated | no |
| Disabled | no |
| Keg Only | no |
| URL Keys |
|
source database matches
Other package-manager records
Matches are pulled from external package-manager indexes and kept separate from local Automic Vault package links.
Nix95%
tmpwatch
nix profile install nixpkgs#tmpwatch- normalized package name match
- Matched by: Tmpwatch
dnf95%
tmpwatch 2.11-30.fc44
A utility for removing files based on when they were last accessed
sudo dnf install tmpwatch- License: GPL-2.0-only
- Category: Unspecified
- Architecture: x86_64
- Source Package: tmpwatch
- 4 dependencies
- 2 provides
- normalized package name match
- Matched by: Tmpwatch
zypper95%
tmpwatch 2.11-7.7
Watches file system activity, such as /tmp files
sudo zypper install tmpwatch- License: GPL-2.0-only
- Category: Productivity/Security
- Architecture: x86_64
- Source Package: tmpwatch
- 3 dependencies
- 1 provides
- normalized package name match
- Matched by: Tmpwatch
source trail
Generated from repository data
This page is generated by av-web from the private package SQLite artifact built by scripts/generate-pkg-sqlite.py.
Combined YAML source
View the package source record on GitHub.
Used sources
- Geiger risk classifier
- Nucleus package database
- av.db category and tag curation
- cross-ecosystem install command graph
- curated package history
- external package-manager database matches
- package relationship graph
- package version freshness
- package-page enrichment