Build cache retention

Pacvamp retains build runs, outputs, logs, and receipts for inspection. Check what is retained before deleting data, especially if you may need to compare or replay a build.

Inspect and preview

pacvamp cache status
pacvamp cache prune --dry-run

Both commands accept --json. Pruning defaults to runs older than 30 days. --older-than-days changes that age; --max-bytes selects the oldest eligible runs until the remaining total meets the requested size target.

Status and previews can inspect a running build under a shared lease. Sizes are live estimates. Actual pruning takes an exclusive lease and recalculates eligibility.

Remove eligible runs

pacvamp cache prune

Omitting --dry-run deletes eligible build runs. Recipe checkouts and synchronization locks remain. Use the same user's cache and the system ledger that records those builds; sharing a cache across independent sysroots is unsupported.

What cleanup protects

Active builds block pruning. Runs less than an hour old are protected, as are receipts referenced by the selected ledger or its pending transactions. Commands that may build or install hold a shared lease through approval, installation, and ledger recording, including long confirmation prompts.

If protected data exceeds the size target, it remains intact. Missing referenced receipts cause cleanup to fail rather than guess. An unreadable run is retained with unknown size (bytes: null in JSON); known size totals exclude it.

Pruning makes owned directories writable without changing file permissions or following symlinks. Removal failures are reported per run while other cleanup continues; any selected run that could not be removed makes the command fail. See the cache reference for selection flags.