System maintenance for the PI

FlightAware ADS-B Flight Tracking
1

Hi everyone,
I’ve been running my PI for a few years now and wanted to ask whether I should clear any logs to avoid running into problems. I’m sending data to Flight Aware, FR24 and ADS-B E.
So, in short, are there any commands I can use to give my system a bit of a boost?

2

Hi and welcome to this forum MTappe

My AI answers you question as follows

❯ A USER ASKS :

I’ve been running my PI for a few years now and wanted to ask whether I should clear any logs to avoid running into
problems. I’m sending data to Flight Aware, FR24 and ADS-B E.
So, in short, are there any commands I can use to give my system a bit of a boost?

WHAT DO WE ANSWER WITHOUT ACCESS TO HIS RPI ?
`
● General advice for a PiAware/FR24/ADSBX Pi:

# 1. Check disk usage first
df -h

# 2. Clean old apt cache (biggest space hog usually)
sudo apt clean

# 3. Remove old kernels/packages no longer needed
sudo apt autoremove -y

# 4. Clear old journal logs (keep last 7 days)
sudo journalctl --vacuum-time=7d

# 5. Check what’s eating space
du -sh /var/log/* | sort -rh | head -10

# 6. Truncate any bloated logs
sudo truncate -s 0 /var/log/syslog.1
sudo truncate -s 0 /var/log/daemon.log.1

# 7. Check SD card health (read-only test)
df -h /

Key points to mention:

  • dump1090-fa doesn’t accumulate logs — its data is in /run/ (RAM tmpfs), wiped on reboot
  • FR24 feeder can grow /var/log/fr24feed.log — safe to truncate
  • PiAware logs to /var/log/piaware.log — also safe to truncate
  • The real killer is usually /var/log/syslog and /var/log/daemon.log growing over years, plus apt cache
  • journalctl storage under /var/log/journal/ can be huge on old installs
  • A sudo reboot once in a while doesn’t hurt either — clears tmpfs and restarts all feeders cleanly

No “boost” as such — a Pi either works or it doesn’t. But freeing SD card space prevents the system from grinding to a halt when it hits 100%.
`

HTH
Evangelos

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