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the vacuum command isn't available. Tracking is disabled

aqua >= v2.63.0

You may face the error when you run aqua vacuum or aqua vacuum --init.

e.g.

$ aqua vacuum
ERR aqua failed doc="https://aquaproj.github.io/docs/reference/codes/007" error="the vacuum command isn't available. Tracking is disabled" program=aqua

What does this error mean?​

This error occurs when the environment variable AQUA_DISABLE_TRACKING is true.

aqua vacuum removes installed packages which haven't been used for over the expiration days, based on packages' last used date times recorded by aqua. If AQUA_DISABLE_TRACKING is true, aqua doesn't record last used date times, so the recorded date times get stale. Running aqua vacuum in that state would remove packages which are actually in use, so aqua rejects the command instead.

Please see Disable tracking too.

How to solve the error​

If you want to run aqua vacuum, please unset the environment variable AQUA_DISABLE_TRACKING.

unset AQUA_DISABLE_TRACKING

Note that packages' last used date times aren't recorded while AQUA_DISABLE_TRACKING is set, so aqua vacuum may remove packages in use. Please run aqua vacuum --init to record the current date time as the last used date time of installed packages before running aqua vacuum.

$ aqua vacuum --init

If AQUA_DISABLE_TRACKING is set because $AQUA_ROOT_DIR isn't writable, granting write permission to the metadata directory is a better solution. Then aqua records last used date times without making $AQUA_ROOT_DIR/pkgs writable, and aqua vacuum remains available.