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I turned on my pc today and got a message that my memory was almost full. Come to find out it is something with GDM3 in /var/log directory. I am not sure what this is and if I can somehow clean it up or remove files to get some memory back?

uname -a
Linux name 5.8.0-50-generic #56~20.04.1-Ubuntu SMP Mon Apr 12 21:46:35 UTC 2021 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux

enter image description here

Per user535733's request here is the output requested

ls -lah /var/log
total 379G
drwxrwxr-x  16 root              syslog          4.0K Apr 16 15:59 .
drwxr-xr-x  15 root              root            4.0K Sep 27  2020 ..
-rw-r--r--   1 root              root            1.8K Apr 16 16:03 alternatives.log
-rw-r--r--   1 root              root            7.3K Mar 30 06:00 alternatives.log.1
-rw-r--r--   1 root              root            1.2K Feb 27 06:04 alternatives.log.2.gz
-rw-r--r--   1 root              root            1.8K Jan 29 06:46 alternatives.log.3.gz
-rw-r--r--   1 root              root             369 Dec 31 14:30 alternatives.log.4.gz
-rw-r--r--   1 root              root             838 Nov 30 11:18 alternatives.log.5.gz
-rw-r--r--   1 root              root             526 Oct 31 11:41 alternatives.log.6.gz
-rw-r--r--   1 root              root            3.6K Sep 28  2020 alternatives.log.7.gz
drwxr-x---   2 root              adm             4.0K Apr 16 00:00 apache2
-rw-r-----   1 root              adm                0 Mar 21 00:00 apport.log
-rw-r-----   1 root              adm              345 Mar 20 12:44 apport.log.1
-rw-r-----   1 root              adm             1.6K Feb 11 15:49 apport.log.2.gz
-rw-r-----   1 root              adm              158 Feb  6 09:09 apport.log.3.gz
-rw-r-----   1 root              adm             1.2K Feb  5 16:35 apport.log.4.gz
-rw-r-----   1 root              adm              437 Feb  2 07:05 apport.log.5.gz
-rw-r-----   1 root              adm              256 Jan  1 14:21 apport.log.6.gz
-rw-r-----   1 root              adm             1.3K Dec 30 15:54 apport.log.7.gz
drwxr-xr-x   2 root              root            4.0K Apr 16 16:04 apt
-rw-r-----   1 syslog            adm             116K Apr 16 17:19 auth.log
-rw-r-----   1 syslog            adm             133K Apr 10 23:39 auth.log.1
-rw-r-----   1 syslog            adm             8.7K Apr  3 23:39 auth.log.2.gz
-rw-r-----   1 syslog            adm             9.0K Mar 27 23:39 auth.log.3.gz
-rw-r-----   1 syslog            adm             9.9K Mar 20 23:39 auth.log.4.gz
-rw-------   1 root              root             12K Apr 16 15:59 boot.log
-rw-------   1 root              root             12K Apr  6 00:00 boot.log.1
-rw-------   1 root              root             12K Mar 21 00:00 boot.log.2
-rw-------   1 root              root             12K Mar 10 06:03 boot.log.3
-rw-------   1 root              root             23K Feb 21 00:00 boot.log.4
-rw-------   1 root              root             12K Feb 12 00:00 boot.log.5
-rw-------   1 root              root             12K Feb  9 00:00 boot.log.6
-rw-------   1 root              root             11K Jan 30 00:00 boot.log.7
-rw-r--r--   1 root              root            102K Jul 31  2020 bootstrap.log
-rw-rw----   1 root              utmp               0 Apr  1 00:00 btmp
-rw-rw----   1 root              utmp               0 Mar  1 00:00 btmp.1
drwxr-xr-x   2 root              root            4.0K Apr 16 00:00 cups
drwxr-xr-x   2 root              root            4.0K Jul 20  2020 dist-upgrade
-rw-r--r--   1 root              adm              87K Apr 16 15:59 dmesg
-rw-r--r--   1 root              adm              85K Apr  5 06:26 dmesg.0
-rw-r--r--   1 root              adm              22K Mar 20 10:05 dmesg.1.gz
-rw-r--r--   1 root              adm              22K Mar 10 06:03 dmesg.2.gz
-rw-r--r--   1 root              adm              22K Feb 20 17:01 dmesg.3.gz
-rw-r--r--   1 root              adm              22K Feb 20 14:21 dmesg.4.gz
-rw-r--r--   1 root              root             91K Apr 16 16:04 dpkg.log
-rw-r--r--   1 root              root            163K Mar 31 06:39 dpkg.log.1
-rw-r--r--   1 root              root             18K Feb 27 06:04 dpkg.log.2.gz
-rw-r--r--   1 root              root             24K Jan 31 08:10 dpkg.log.3.gz
-rw-r--r--   1 root              root            6.4K Dec 31 13:08 dpkg.log.4.gz
-rw-r--r--   1 root              root             16K Nov 30 11:18 dpkg.log.5.gz
-rw-r--r--   1 root              root             11K Oct 31 11:05 dpkg.log.6.gz
-rw-r--r--   1 root              root            127K Sep 29  2020 dpkg.log.7.gz
-rw-r--r--   1 root              root             32K Jan 23 10:42 faillog
-rw-r--r--   1 root              root             12K Apr 16 16:03 fontconfig.log
drwx--x--x   2 root              gdm             4.0K Oct  7  2019 gdm3
-rw-r--r--   1 root              root            1.4K Apr 16 15:59 gpu-manager.log
drwxrwxr-x   2 root              root            4.0K Sep 26  2020 installer
drwxr-sr-x+  3 root              systemd-journal 4.0K Sep 26  2020 journal
-rw-r-----   1 syslog            adm             4.5M Apr 16 17:20 kern.log
-rw-r-----   1 syslog            adm             5.6M Apr 10 23:58 kern.log.1
-rw-r-----   1 syslog            adm             468K Apr  3 23:59 kern.log.2.gz
-rw-r-----   1 syslog            adm             441K Mar 27 23:59 kern.log.3.gz
-rw-r-----   1 syslog            adm             492K Mar 20 23:59 kern.log.4.gz
-rw-rw-r--   1 root              utmp            286K Jan 23 10:42 lastlog
drwxr-xr-x   2 mongodb           mongodb         4.0K Jan 23 10:43 mongodb
drwxr-x---   2 mysql             adm             4.0K Apr 16 00:00 mysql
drwxr-xr-x   2 root              root            4.0K Sep  5  2019 openvpn
drwxrwxr-x   2 root              root            4.0K Jan  8 13:59 php
-rw-------   1 root              root             338 Apr 16 15:59 php7.4-fpm.log
-rw-------   1 root              root             338 Apr  5 06:25 php7.4-fpm.log.1
-rw-------   1 root              root              73 Jan 31 00:00 php7.4-fpm.log.10.gz
-rw-------   1 root              root             281 Jan 29 06:46 php7.4-fpm.log.11.gz
-rw-------   1 root              root              73 Jan 17 00:00 php7.4-fpm.log.12.gz
-rw-------   1 root              root              72 Mar 28 00:00 php7.4-fpm.log.2.gz
-rw-------   1 root              root              73 Mar 21 00:00 php7.4-fpm.log.3.gz
-rw-------   1 root              root             192 Mar 20 10:05 php7.4-fpm.log.4.gz
-rw-------   1 root              root             239 Mar 10 06:03 php7.4-fpm.log.5.gz
-rw-------   1 root              root             221 Mar  1 06:17 php7.4-fpm.log.6.gz
-rw-------   1 root              root              73 Feb 21 00:00 php7.4-fpm.log.7.gz
-rw-------   1 root              root             380 Feb 20 17:01 php7.4-fpm.log.8.gz
-rw-------   1 root              root             694 Feb 11 08:36 php7.4-fpm.log.9.gz
-rw-------   1 root              root             338 Apr 16 15:59 php8.0-fpm.log
-rw-------   1 root              root             338 Apr  5 06:25 php8.0-fpm.log.1
-rw-------   1 root              root              73 Jan 31 00:00 php8.0-fpm.log.10.gz
-rw-------   1 root              root             255 Jan 29 06:46 php8.0-fpm.log.11.gz
-rw-------   1 root              root              73 Jan 17 00:00 php8.0-fpm.log.12.gz
-rw-------   1 root              root              72 Mar 28 00:00 php8.0-fpm.log.2.gz
-rw-------   1 root              root              73 Mar 21 00:00 php8.0-fpm.log.3.gz
-rw-------   1 root              root             192 Mar 20 10:05 php8.0-fpm.log.4.gz
-rw-------   1 root              root             415 Mar 12 06:54 php8.0-fpm.log.5.gz
-rw-------   1 root              root             394 Mar  4 17:11 php8.0-fpm.log.6.gz
-rw-------   1 root              root              73 Feb 21 00:00 php8.0-fpm.log.7.gz
-rw-------   1 root              root             635 Feb 20 17:01 php8.0-fpm.log.8.gz
-rw-------   1 root              root             545 Feb 11 08:34 php8.0-fpm.log.9.gz
drwx------   2 root              root            4.0K Jul 31  2020 private
drwx------   2 speech-dispatcher root            4.0K Jan 19  2020 speech-dispatcher
-rw-r-----   1 syslog            adm             379G Apr 16 17:20 syslog
-rw-r-----   1 syslog            adm             5.8M Apr 16 00:00 syslog.1
-rw-r-----   1 syslog            adm             360K Apr 15 00:00 syslog.2.gz
-rw-r-----   1 syslog            adm             363K Apr 14 00:00 syslog.3.gz
-rw-r-----   1 syslog            adm             355K Apr 13 00:00 syslog.4.gz
-rw-r-----   1 syslog            adm             353K Apr 12 00:00 syslog.5.gz
-rw-r-----   1 syslog            adm             361K Apr 11 00:00 syslog.6.gz
-rw-r-----   1 syslog            adm             364K Apr 10 00:00 syslog.7.gz
-rw-------   1 root              root               0 Jul 31  2020 ubuntu-advantage.log
-rw-r-----   1 syslog            adm             4.3M Apr 16 17:20 ufw.log
-rw-r-----   1 syslog            adm             5.4M Apr 10 23:58 ufw.log.1
-rw-r-----   1 syslog            adm             444K Apr  3 23:59 ufw.log.2.gz
-rw-r-----   1 syslog            adm             425K Mar 27 23:59 ufw.log.3.gz
-rw-r-----   1 syslog            adm             447K Mar 20 23:59 ufw.log.4.gz
drwxr-x---   2 root              adm             4.0K Apr  6 00:00 unattended-upgrades
-rw-rw-r--   1 root              utmp             27K Apr 16 15:59 wtmp
Improve this question
4
  • Add to your question the complete output of ls -lah /var/log
    – user535733
    Apr 16, 2021 at 23:45
  • @user535733 just posted. Lmk if you need any other data or logs. Thank you
    – CodeConnoisseur
    Apr 17, 2021 at 0:22
  • @user535733 can you add your steps as an answer so I can accept and you get reputation points?
    – CodeConnoisseur
    Apr 17, 2021 at 0:32
  • @Rinzwind I deleted my post to avoid confusion - your way seems better (learning!) Are you willing to expand it into an answer (or link)?
    – user535733
    Apr 17, 2021 at 0:47

1 Answer 1

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3

Do a tail -n 100 /var/log/syslog and look for repeating lines that have a error in it. Copy those into a text file and then do

> /var/log/syslog

(this empties the file but keeps all the settings of the file. Deleting it and recreating it might create the file with the wrong permissions or user or group).

Then search for the problem on askubuntu or google and see what the fix is for that problem. If you fail to come up with a solution edit the question and add the lines to the question (feel free to then also delete the list of files).

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