BleachBit 6.0.5 beta

Submitted by andrew on Fri, 10/09/2026 - 21:52

Help us test BleachBit 6.0.5 beta, a release focused on stability, reliability, speed, and conservative feature enhancements. This release makes BleachBit noticeably faster, especially at startup, during deep scans, and when wiping files. It also introduces a cleaner for the Helium browser; expands cleaning across web browsers, Docker, and Claude Code; and resolves various crashes, freezes, and preference issues.

Highlights of enhancements and features:

Major Performance Improvements: Significantly faster application startup through lazy-loading modules and optimized list sorting/processing, accelerated deep scans, and faster file wiping using 512 KiB blocks.
New and Expanded Cleaners: Adds a cleaner for the Helium browser, Docker Desktop support on macOS, Docker's AI assistant option, Claude Code support, and expanded cleaning across multiple web browsers, GIMP, Google Earth, VLC, Zoom, and Visual Studio Code.
macOS support continues to mature: while more work is needed for a smooth experience on macOS, the gap is quickly closing.

Special thanks to XhmikosR for again being the top contributor this release cycle, trhuxtonr for macOS improvements, and Josh Santiago for deep scan optimizations.

Since version 6.0.4, there have been 259 changes. As with the large 6.0.4 release, these release notes use expandable summaries to reduce clutter: click the arrow for more detail.

All Platforms

This release makes BleachBit noticeably faster, especially at startup, during deep scans, and when wiping files. This releases adds a cleaner for the Helium browser, expanding cleaning across web browsers, Docker, and Claude Code, and fixing crashes, freezes, and lost preferences.

4a93da8c - Add a cleaner for Helium browser
3ac138ba - Clean more crash reports across many web browsers
92198768 - Add Windows and Linux support to the new Docker cleaner. Also add a cleaning option for Docker's AI assistant.
0628eed3 - Improve cleaning of GPUPersistentCache, Dawn{Graphite,WebGPU}Cache
3cac6b7b - Overhaul cleaning of Network Persistent State (NPS)
31b4dfd3 - Fix language selection in preferences dialog
3a48079a - Quickly abort wiping CD-ROM instead of freezing
32c9a5e5 - Fix crash in Arabic and Hebrew when wiping was nearing completion
b9bd31c2 - Allow comma-separated lsits and negatio in the CleanerML os attribute
23db88d9 - Clean more cache and session files in Claude Code and detect it running on macOS
9c76ef80 - Detect CD-ROM
303cb56a - Fix preference changes being lost when quitting with Ctrl+Q (Cmd+Q on macOS) instead of the window's close button
6f0b2615 - Speed up processing paths during deep scan
a69db918 - Wipe file contents in 512 KiB blocks instead of 4 KiB to improve wiping speed
b74bf6c4 - Fail closed on unrecognized tokens in CleanerML os attribute
0b4032d9 - Avoid bindtextdomain() error messages during startup when GTK is not available
4254a45a - Reload the app menu only after translations are set up again for speed
ba9bf768 - Avoid updating the cleaner list twice when a refresh starts while one is still in progress
d8a3af7c - Import psutil on first use instead of at module import to boost startup speed
8e35a6b6 - Scan for orphaned wipe files off the main thread to boost startup speed
2effe1d6 - Speed up sorting of the cleaner list to boost application startup
79fca2c4 - Show startup messages in their own idle callback to boost application startup speed
722f3fc2 - Delay initialization of the preferences dialog during startup to boost application startup speed
e5721315 - Speed up refreshing the cleaner list (such as after closing Preferences)
4c450c36 - Load the app menu once instead of twice to boost startup speed
47612d91 - Import minidom on first use instead of at module import to boost startup speed
71b1d42a - Import urllib.request on first use instead of at module import to boost startup speed
8208143f - Speed up loading cleaner definitions to boost startup speed
60ad2708 - Queue one log scroll at a time instead of one per line
dee7bdd0 - Drop the direct log scroll from worker_done()
30e5419a - Speed up deleting files by checking each path's type once instead of several times
1a9cc66e - Speed up the startup check for leftover wipe files
29eee44f - Cache the process list for is_process_running()
8ce0d38a - Improve user-facing messages
3796a6d4 - Use options.commit() instead of close() in on_quit()
24c6398f - Fix: when CLI was given multiple paths to wipe and one failed, the others would not be attempted.
88fde7f7 - Fix: new test caused tests to crash on Windows
73b9a980 - Fix leaked code comment into translation hint
82852d8c - Move the duplicated infobar code into a shared mixin
960f9b4c - Share one helper for the PyGObject asyncio warning filters

Windows

Windows users get noticeably faster startup, lower memory usage, and fewer antivirus false positives. Program files are no longer stored compressed, so compared to 6.0.4 the installed app uses about 25 MB more disk space and the portable zip is about 1 MB larger, though the installer download is about 2 MB smaller. This tradeoff balances multiple considerations, optimizing for speed and a smooth experience with security software. This release also brings a more polished installer and updated interface libraries, and it fixes wiping FAT32 drives, cleaning security files in Chromium-based browsers, and applying language changes without a restart.

d123995e - Fix cleaning of TransportSecurity files for Chromium-based browsers on Windows
f37404bc - Ship fc-cache.exe again so the installer can build the font cache for fontconfig
94df1e2d - Fix wiping FAT32 on Windows
67c6cfff - Fix: application menu required application restart after changing languages to take effect
23c898f5 - Shrink the Windows build by ~1 MB by removing unused modules and codecs
296af28e - Exclude unittest and test from library.zip to shrink the Windows build by ~150 KB
348b25d6 - Skip redundant language dialog in the elevated installer
c37c73c2 - In System Information, show an environment variable with compatibility mode settings
cf3f00a4 - In the Windows installer, show the license as rich text instead of plain text
d01e5693 - Write the Add/Remove Programs links to the real uninstall key
d3f61ea3 - Use English instead of fuzzy translations in the installer
97fbf06e - Keep the fontconfig cache inside the portable folder
d8b8e033 - Fix translated uninstaller text being replaced by an unrelated string
c4a7a2e8 - Match any fontconfig cache version when checking for a font cache
62270430 - Keep the keyboard hook responsive while the splash screen starts
21e7ebcc - Store Python modules in library.zip uncompressed to speed up application startup
7742e281 - Yield between winapp2.ini sections so the GUI keeps painting
4bc12f5e - Probe each winapp2 Detect key once per load to boost startup speed
10072c95 - Speed up importing Winapp2.ini cleaners to boost startup speed
b508b67d - Add line break for Italian NSIS finish/reboot pages
a8a43222 - Remove two unneeded .pyd files that took 43 KB to shrink installation footprint
3107d0b8 - Disable executable compression (UPX) for exe, dll, and pyd files to reduce false positives with antivirus software, improve application startup, reduce memory usage, and shrink the installer (~500 KB) at the tradeoff of increasing installed footprint (~22MB) and larger portable zip file (~2.6 MB)
48a60f56 - Bind the loop value into the system path lambda
0dfde857 - Use ctypes.windll instead of importing windll
89dd8cef - Update bundled dependencies to PyGObject 3.58.0, Pango 1.58.0, and HarfBuzz 14.4.0

POSIX

POSIX users get fixes for language detection and locale matching, including on C.UTF-8 systems, broader localization support beyond Linux, and a fix so scans for unneeded localization files skip unreadable folders instead of stopping.

4a0d2687 - Find the package in /share when installed with make install
2500f39c - Fix: skip folders without read permission when scanning for unneeded localization files, instead of stopping the scan
b1f5827d - Check whether a temporary file is open last, not first
01b0c97d - Fix automatic language detection when the system locale is C.UTF-8
8f1fc1a1 - Prefer UTF-8 in locale matching
9af3246c - Load localization paths on Unix, not only Linux.
452fbf5f - Extract normalize_locale_code() and use it consistently

Linux

Linux users get expanded cleaning for snap packages and LibreWolf, a fix for running BleachBit as administrator on Fedora and Debian-based distributions, and a fix for building .rpm packages on openSUSE Leap 16.1.

6c4977e8 - Clean more snap revisions, while avoiding duplicates in the preview. Clean more LibreWolf installed as deb or Flatpak.
7dc2e355 - Fix building .rpm for openSUSE Leap 16.1
61f0d1ca - Fix 'BleachBit as Administrator' on Fedora and other Red Hat-based distributions by using pkexec instead of consolehelper
e1f7ee7b - Recommend pkexec for the .deb administrator launcher
429724b9 - Drop the redundant attachments action from the Geary cleaner

macOS

macOS users get a new Docker Desktop cleaner, expanded support in existing cleaners such as GIMP, Google Earth, VLC, Zoom, and Visual Studio Code, and cleaning of orphaned Chrome framework versions. This release fixes translations, language detection, and menu updates after language changes, and adds support for macOS 27 (Golden Gate).

3ec5c185 - Add cleaner for Docker Desktop (initially here only for macOS)
dcc141fb - Add macOS support to cleaners for GIMP and Google Earth
0db93d42 - Clean orphaned Chrome framework versions on macOS
c522f843 - Fix locale directory resolution in macOS .app to enable translations
8e6a42ed - Add macOS support for to the VLC and Zoom cleaners
17c50abd - Add macOS support to the Devin cleaner
887f75b6 - Add macOS support to Visual Studio Code and forks
798343b3 - Fix automatic language detection when the app is launched from Finder on macOS
675e377a - Fix detection of read-only status of paths such as /tmp
6bec78c5 - Fix hamburger menu not following language changes on macOS (#2335)
25d73999 - Add codename for macOS 27 (Golden Gate)
1d76a22b - In System Information, show macOS version number for unknown codenames
c6eb1397 - Hide desktop_entry and localizations, which are not compatible with macOS, in the System cleaner
ed17f372 - Detect process names in versioned binaries
60f5026e - Avoid a possible error when detecting the system language on macOS
31a1ef09 - Improve error handling when reading the macOS language preferences
86792f03 - Explain empty except clause in Safari cookie temp file cleanup

BSD

BSD users get more reliable detection of open files on FreeBSD and improvements to the FreeBSD testing infrastructure, including resuming interrupted image downloads.

8d54e9af - Fix: only strip device suffix from lsof output on FreeBSD
0b5104b7 - Detect open files on FreeBSD with psutil.
05e8c9b2 - Replace the source tree in a reused FreeBSD VM instead of extracting over it
c0de5b7a - Resume an interrupted FreeBSD image download instead of decompressing it

Developers

This release adds a unified make lint that enforces pylint, pyflakes, shellcheck, and autopep8 findings, backed by a new lint workflow and a dedicated Windows pylint job, plus a large cleanup that fixes or documents each finding. It also hardens the Windows, macOS, and RPM build pipelines to fail fast on warnings, missing files, crashes, and upload errors, and adds conveniences like opt-in UPX compression and a startup timing profiler.

0f2f9d13 - Log cleaners dropped from the Windows build at info level
e75c0dbe - Run the Windows build unbuffered so py2exe output stays in order
f244e13c - Fail the Windows build on NSIS warnings
f5781078 - Install dev/lint tools via Homebrew on macOS
4f626442 - Bump the github-actions group with 3 updates
85e1189b - Bump pyflakes from 3.4.0 to 4.0.0
d4c15706 - Bump the pip group across 1 directory with 2 updates
e7ad7e31 - Fail the RPM check when BleachBit crashes before wc -l
d5fa20e4 - Name the UPX installer the way windows.setup expects
bbec1437 - Fail the Windows build check when a required module is missing
38c8fc78 - Fail the Windows deploy when any upload fails, not just the last one
d70d7847 - Drop Windows build cleanup steps for files that are no longer produced
89a0b750 - Skip the missing-tool pause in the Windows build on CI
4e208b3e - Retry the test ISO download on Windows and Linux, including refused connections
4f9fe842 - Fail the macOS smoke test when --list exits with an error
8cca2727 - Drop pytest-rerunfailures and serialize the clipboard test
3a9e4b90 - Fail the Windows build when a file to copy is missing
f78ece1d - Stop copying GTK paths the vcpkg bundle does not have
b865f009 - Silence the NSIS warning for the Italian reboot text override
a97cdf45 - Check the exe still starts after repacking library.zip
4d429a93 - Log startup timings when BLEACHBIT_STARTUP_PROFILE is set
39fb4502 - Fix lint and run `make pretty`
81333f78 - Include windows/ directory in lint and pretty targets
197f6727 - Improve logging in GitHub Actions for Windows build
574a2f70 - Fix dev install for openSUSE Leap 16
012aa25d - Fix: test_with_sudo
4baa3504 - Fail make lint on pylint and autopep8 findings
a6c5a87b - Add a Windows pylint job that checks the win32 calls for real
e02279ca - Narrow the pylint ignore list on Windows and add a lint-pylint target
a9150ab4 - Allow pylint to introspect pywin32 where it is installed
f5b83336 - Silence the remaining pylint findings with a reason at each site
b56cca65 - Run shellcheck as a single invocation, parallel with pyflakes and pylint
72ba80a6 - Pin the lint tool installs to requirements-lint.txt and use it in CI
77ba9f33 - Fix and document the names that shadowed or redefined another
7dba1afb - Raise RuntimeError instead of a bare Exception
24924521 - Compare against the True sentinel with is
189d08c6 - Fix or silence the pylint warnings that are deliberate or platform-guarded
c591ea38 - Run autopep8
01226550 - Use else for the unknown-OS branch so the import chain is exhaustive
029d07d3 - Add docstrings to the custom action methods
15878339 - Drop else and elif after a branch that always exits
c79a8e84 - Use list() and in-comparisons instead of the long forms
dce2cd16 - Simplify negated comparisons and redundant expressions
0b205a96 - Remove redundant returns, imports, and an override
2a018507 - Use a comment instead of a bare string statement
308a5927 - Drop the now-redundant inline import-outside-toplevel disables
2fc2dd43 - Add a pylint config tuned to the project's conventions
9d90305b - Find pyflakes by module when the distro binary name differs
f0e50980 - Fix the remaining pyflakes findings
09bf052b - Fix or silence the shellcheck findings in the shell scripts
2c78e4fc - Fail make lint on shellcheck and pyflakes findings
4e717963 - Add a lint workflow running make lint on Linux with default Python
464ba753 - Pass check=False to subprocess.run explicitly
d028a7ce - Specify the encoding when opening text files
769aa433 - Let logging do the formatting instead of formatting eagerly
dd6f2a03 - Chain the original exception when re-raising as OSError
b54b66c3 - Improve return type for get_filesystem_type()
e21a407c - Fix: remove unneeded localedef in local Docker