To clear the package cache on a Debian or Ubuntu system, you can use the apt-get command with the clean option. This will remove the downloaded package files from the package cache, freeing up disk space on your system.
To clear the package cache, run the following command:
sudo apt-get clean
This will remove all of the downloaded package files from the /var/cache/apt/archives directory.
You can also use the autoclean option to remove only the package files that are no longer needed. This can be useful if you want to keep the package files for packages that are currently installed on your system:
sudo apt-get autoclean
Note: Clearing the package cache will not uninstall any packages or remove any configuration files from your system. It will only remove the downloaded package files from the cache. If you want to remove packages and their configuration files from your system, you can use the
apt-getcommand with theremoveorpurgeoption.