Updated: 3 November 2026 · Applies to: agedu, tested on current Debian/Ubuntu; not packaged for AlmaLinux, Rocky Linux or RHEL 10
agedu scans a directory like du does, but it also records when each file was last accessed, so it can show you not just what is using disk space, but what has not been touched in months or years and is safe to clean up.
Installing agedu
On Debian or Ubuntu, agedu is in the default repositories:
apt install -y agedu
On AlmaLinux, Rocky Linux or RHEL, agedu is not currently packaged, including through EPEL, up to and including EL10. If you are on an older EL8 or EL9 system, check whether your EPEL release still carries it before assuming it is unavailable. Otherwise, compile it from source, which needs no more than a C compiler and the standard build tools:
wget https://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/agedu/agedu-20260410.3622eda.tar.gz tar -xzf agedu-20260410.3622eda.tar.gz cd agedu-20260410.3622eda ./configure make make install
Check the agedu project page for the current source tarball name before running this, since the version number in the filename changes with each release.
Scan a directory
This scans a directory and everything under it, and builds an index file recording size and last access time for everything found:
agedu -s /var/www
By default the index is written as agedu.dat in the current directory.
Browse the results in a web browser
Once scanned, start agedu's own small web server to browse the report:
agedu -w
It prints a local URL to open:
Using Linux /proc/net magic authentication URL: http://localhost:34895/
Open that address in a browser on the same machine. Each directory is color coded by how recently its contents were accessed, and you can click into any subdirectory for its own breakdown. Press Ctrl+C in the terminal to stop the web server when you are done.
To use a fixed address and port instead of a random one, for example to reach it over an SSH tunnel from your own computer:
agedu -w --address 127.0.0.1:8081
Add simple password protection if more than one person can reach that port:
agedu -w --address 127.0.0.1:8081 --auth basic
agedu generates and prints a random username and password for that session; use those to log in when your browser prompts for credentials.
Browse the results in the terminal instead
No web browser needed for a quick check over SSH:
agedu -t /var/www
To see only files that have not been accessed in the last 12 months or more:
agedu -t /var/www -a 12m
Scan for one file type only
To check how much space a specific file type is using, for example old log archives, exclude everything else and include only that pattern:
agedu -s /var/log --exclude '*' --include '*.gz'
Then browse the result the same way as any other scan, with -w or -t.
Remove the index file when you are done
The index can grow fairly large on a directory with a lot of files. Check its size first:
ls -lh agedu.dat
Then remove it:
agedu -R
