---
name: "bupstash-gc"
section: "1"
platform: "linux"
package: "bupstash"
version: "0.12.0-4"
release: "Arch Linux 2026-11-01"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/bupstash-gc"
---

# bupstash-gc(1)

## SYNOPSIS

Run the garbage collector against a repository, removing unreferenced data and freeing disk space.

**bupstash gc \[OPTIONS\]**

## DESCRIPTION

**bupstash gc** walks the repository contents attempting to find unreachable data chunks and removing them, potentially reclaiming disk space.

It is safe to run **bupstash gc** at any time, but some operations (such as [bupstash-put(1)](/bupstash-put/1.md)) may temporarily be delayed.

The garbage collector only relies on unencrypted metadata, so does not need access to decryption keys to operate.

## OPTIONS

- \-r, --repository REPO

  The repository to connect to and operate on. May be of the form **ssh://$SERVER/$PATH** for remote repositories if ssh access is configured. If not specified, is set to **BUPSTASH\_REPOSITORY**.

- \--no-progress

  Suppress progress indicators (Progress indicators are also suppressed when stderr is not an interactive terminal).

- \-q, --quiet

  Be quiet, implies --no-progress.

## ENVIRONMENT

- BUPSTASH\_REPOSITORY

  The repository to connect to. May be of the form **ssh://$SERVER/$PATH** for remote repositories if ssh access is configured.

- BUPSTASH\_REPOSITORY\_COMMAND

  A command to run to connect to an instance of [bupstash-serve(1)](/bupstash-serve/1.md). This allows more complex connections to the repository for less common use cases.

## SEE ALSO

[bupstash(1)](/bupstash/1.md), [bupstash-repository(7)](/bupstash-repository/7.md)