BleachBit 4.9.1 alpha

We invite you to test BleachBit 4.9.1 alpha, a precursor to our 5.0.0 major release.

Changes

For a list of changes, see the commit log and GitHub bug tracker.

The Windows build includes a fix for DLL-related system vulnerabilities (one, two) that exist in BleachBit 4.6.2 and earlier versions.

Test new to 4.9.1

Please test the application in general with special attention to the following tests.

The following tests apply to both Windows and Linux:

• Clean Discord.
• In the application menu, click Wipe free space and choose a directory to wipe. Choose any directory on a partition. (You do not need to wipe multiple directories per partition.) Check for a regression: it should succeed without any error messages. It can take a long time proportional to the amount of free space available. Test it on various filesystems, such as NTFS, FAT32, ext2, ext3, ext4, vfat, xfs, and btrfs. Tip: On Linux, you can make extra partitions using a loopback file system. On Windows, use a virtual drive. Tip: to test the condition of wiping a partition that is not full, make a sparse file, to fill it to about 95%. Leave more than 5GB free.
• Also, test "wipe free space" on a partition that was already 100% full. See How to fill up a partition.
• In the preferences, disable the option for debug logging. Open a terminal and run python3 bleachbit.py --debug --gui (Linux) or bleachbit_console.exe --debug --gui (Windows). You should see many lines such as "automatically hiding" and "Cleaner is not usable on this OS".
• Check that the preferences dialog opens.
• Check for extra space in the language selection combobox in the preferences (issue 1764).
• In the same combo box, browse the list of language names. Most should be in the format like "English United States (en_US)" with the native name and a language code.
• Test the feature to restore window size and position.

  Basically, every time BleachBit starts, it should restore the application with the same size, position, and maximized state. First, in the preferences, check the option remember window geometry.

  The complexity involves that it may not be possible to honor the request exactly because the number of monitors changed or the resolution of the monitors changed.

  • Basic test: Change the default position and size, close and restart the application. Verify the window is restored to the same size and position.
  • Maximized test: Maximize the application, restart it, and verify it was maximized.
  • Multiple monitors test: Start the application on the second monitor, close the application, disconnect the monitor, and restart the application. Verify it appears on the primary monitor.
  • Resolution change test: Start the application in the bottom right corner of the primary monitor (not using a secondary monitor), reduce the resolution, and restart the application. Verify the application appears visible (instead of off screen). Tip: either reduce the resolution on your regular display or use a virtual machine like VirtualBox that allows dynamic resolution changes.
• Test deleting files and registry keys (on Windows) that cause "access denied" errors, and the error messages should be a single line (instead of multiple lines). Also, on Windows, the slashes should not be doubled like c:\\windows\\logs\\log.txt. To trigger these errors, run BleachBit without administrator privileges (Windows) or sudo (Linux), and then clean system files such as APT (Linux) or System - Windows Update (Windows). Test variations such as toggling "overwrite files" in the preferences: test it both ways. Some common options for registry keys that require elevated permissions (marked by HKLM, HKU, HKCR) can be found under the section Microsoft Windows (when winapp2.ini is installed): Regedit, Windows Error Reporting, Windows Notification, and Windows Logs. See also issue 1790
• Test starting the application when its configuration directory is full. See How to fill up a partition. Test two variations: the bleachbit.ini file did or did not exist before filling the partition. On Windows, the file is located at %appdata%\bleachbit\bleachbit.ini and on Linux in ~/.config/bleachbit/bleachbit.ini.
• Test starting the application when access to its configuration file is locked (but the partition is not full). Scenario 1 is the bleachbit.ini file already exists, and then own it by root sudo chown root ~/.config/bleachbit/bleachbit.ini or equivalent on Windows. In scenario 2, delete it and lock the directory with sudo chown root ~/.config/bleachbit/.
• Clean a CleanerML file with a space (871) and dconf (1096). Download test491.xml and put it in the personal cleaners directory. On Windows, it's %appdata%\bleachbit\cleaners\, and on Linux, it's ~/.config/bleachbit/cleaners/. Restart BleachBit, and test the new options. Note: dconf applies only to Linux.
• Click the application menu and choose system information. Verify it doesn't crash, and check that the information is correct.

Linux

• Clean Librewolf.
• Clean Geary (email client).
• Clean temporary files in Bash.
• Check that the provided .rpm and .deb files install correctly. Verify the application starts.
• Install the dependency for App Indicator. On Ubuntu, run `sudo apt install gir1.2-appindicator3-0.1`. Start the BleachBit GUI, and there should be a trash can icon in the top-right corner. Click on it, and use the two menu commands.
• Clean non-beta Microsoft Edge (1743).
• Clean rotated logs (1744).
• Check the notification either notifies you or does not throw an error (1779). To trigger a notification, run a preview or clean operation that takes more than ten seconds, and make sure the BleachBit window is not active: either minimize it, or make another window in the foreground.
• Enable the option System - Broken Desktop Files and run a preview. If any files listed are valid, please submit a sample. If on Linux Mint, create WebApps such as ChatGPT before running the preview. See 1729 and (1756).

Windows

• Check that the application menu is translated. If your system is in English, go to the preferences and change the language to another language. Restart the application for it to fully take effect.
• Either install using the English only installer or delete c:\program files (x86)\bleachbit\share\locale. Then, verify the preferences dialog opens (1768).
• Run `bleachbit_console.exe`, and there should be no error messages such as about dbus (1775) or g_module_open().
• Click the application menu and choose "Shred settings and quit" to delete Winapp2.ini, if it was already downloaded. In preferences, enable the option for Winapp2.ini. Restart the application, and verify it downloaded. There should be no error messages, and more cleaning options should appear.
• Click the application menu and choose "Make chaff." Make some files. There should not be an error during the one-time download of the needed data files. If they were already downloaded, use "Shred settings and quit" to delete them, and then repeat the test the downloaded process.
• In the preferences, enable the Windows 10 theme. Restart the application, and verify the theme was applied (1782).
• Clean System - Windows Updates and verify MMC add-ons still work (1215)
• If your system is in English, use the BleachBit preferences to choose another language. Click the application menu and choose "About." Verify the close button is translated (1474)

Tests for previous release 4.9.0

The following tests apply to both Windows and Linux:

• When launching, verify the display language is correctly detected. Then, in the preferences, uncheck the option to automatically detect the display language. Choose another language and close the preferences dialog. Verify BleachBit shows in the selected language. (1758, demo video)
• Press CTRL+Q or CTRL+W to close the application, and verify it closes.
• In the preferences, click on the Custom and Whitelist tabs. Add a path to one tab, and then try to add it in the other. Verify the application prevents the same path in both lists.
• Launch an application such a Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge, or Firefox that cannot be cleaned while running. Try to clean it anyway, and verify BleachBit prevents it.
• Log in to a system as two users simultaneously. As user A, launch an application such as Google Chrome. Then, run BleachBit as user B, and as user B, do not run the same application. Run BleachBit as user B, and clean the application (e.g., Google Chrome). Verify BleachBit cleans it without complaining that it is running.
• In a file browser, copy one or more files. In BleachBit, press CTRL+V to paste them, and verify the preview is correct. Alternatively, click the application menu and choose shred files from clipboard.

Linux

• Clean Chromium installed as a Snap.

Windows

• In the preferences, check the option to use the Windows theme, and test it both in dark mode and in light mode.
• Test that BleachBit works in general, as there have been major changes to the bundled dependencies.

How to fill up a partition

For testing purposes, here are methods to quickly fill up a partition, either partially or fully, or to create a virtual partition.

Sparse files

A sparse file occupies space, but the system does not have to write to it, so creating it is fast. On Windows run fsutil sparse create %userprofile%\testsparse.dat 10737418240 to make a 10GB sparse file on C:\. On Linux, run truncate -s 10G ~/sparsefile.img to do the same. Depending on how full you want your partition and how much free space is left, adjust the size of the sparse file, or make multiple sparse files. When done testing, delete the sparse files.

Loopback file system on Linux

On Linux, you can use a loopback file system to create a virtual disk of any size, up to the amount of free space on a real partition. Creating small partitions is helpful for testing.

dd if=/dev/zero of=/tmp/config_disk.img bs=1M count=1
mkfs.ext4 /tmp/config_disk.img
rm -rf ~/.config/bleachbit
sudo mount -o loop /tmp/config_disk.img ~/.config/bleachbit
sudo chown `whoami` ~/.config/bleachbit
sudo dd if=/dev/zero of=~/.config/bleachbit/largefile.bin bs=1M count=100

When done testing, unmount the loopback file system and delete the file.

Virtual hard disks on Windows

On Windows, create a virtual hard disk using either the Disk Management (GUI) or DiskSpart (CLI).

Developers

Run the new script windows/build-environment-install.bat to install the development environment.

Downloads

See the downloads folder. Linux users can download .deb or .rpm packages, while Windows users can download a digitally signed installer or a portable package.

After testing

If something is broken, please file a bug report. If it works well, please post a comment with what you tested in the testing forum, as a comment at the bottom of this page, or as a GitHub issue.