We are pleased to announce the release of Synex 13 u6, an update focused on system maintenance and management. The main component of this version is synex-cleaner, an application developed specifically for Synex that addresses system maintenance with a balanced approach: complete enough to be useful, conservative enough to be safe.
synex-cleaner: system maintenance with judgment
The development of synex-cleaner responded to a specific need: provide system cleaning tools without falling into the extremes of “aggressive cleaners” that promise to free gigabytes by deleting data the system needs, or manual scripts that require detailed technical knowledge.
The tool operates under a fundamental principle: predictable maintenance with centralized policies. It is not a generalist cleaner that scans the entire system looking for what to delete. It is a tool that acts on specific system locations with configurable criteria.
Dual architecture: GUI and CLI
synex-cleaner is implemented in two complementary layers:
The graphical interface (GTK4 with libadwaita) provides visual access to cleaning capabilities, analysis of estimated recoverable space per task, and system policy management. The design follows GNOME HIG guidelines, integrating naturally into modern desktop environments.
The CLI backend allows execution from terminal or scripts, with JSON output for integration with other tools. This same backend is used by the graphical interface, ensuring behavioral consistency regardless of the invocation method.
Maintenance tasks (Stage 1)
The current version implements system-level cleanup:
APT cache: Cleanup of downloaded .deb packages, with two configurable modes (conservative autoclean or complete clean). Removal of orphaned packages through autoremove, with purge option to free residual configurations.
Journald: System log management through persistent policy (time retention and maximum disk usage size) and immediate vacuum to apply limits. The policy is implemented as drop-in configuration in /etc/systemd/journald.conf.d/, applying permanently even after system updates.
Coredumps: Cleanup of old memory dumps in /var/lib/systemd/coredump/, with configurable retention by days. The implementation uses file-based cleanup instead of coredumpctl due to flag incompatibilities between versions.
Rotated logs: Deletion of old rotated log files (.1, .2, .gz) in /var/log and subdirectories, preserving active logs and respecting configurable retention periods.
Automation with systemd
synex-cleaner includes scheduling capability through systemd timer. The user can enable daily or weekly automatic execution, with the Persistent=true option that ensures execution even if the system was off at the scheduled time.
The graphical interface allows managing this scheduling without manually editing configuration files. Changes are applied by creating systemd overrides in the appropriate locations, maintaining persistent configuration across updates.
Centralized policies
All system policies are stored in /etc/synex-cleaner/synex-cleaner.conf, a configuration file in key=value format that centralizes retention parameters, operation modes, and automation preferences.
The graphical interface exposes the most relevant policies (journald, coredumps, rotated logs) allowing adjustments without manual file editing. Changes are applied immediately where appropriate (for example, restarting systemd-journald after modifying its policy).
Future development: Stage 2
The roadmap includes expansion toward user-level cleanup in Stage 2:
- Flatpak: Unused runtimes and orphaned references
- XDG cache: Thumbnails, recent files, application caches
- Trash: Deleted file management
This stage will operate without elevated privileges, acting on user directories. The design deliberately excludes browser profiles due to the complexity of managing active session data without corruption.
Updated management tools
synex-center is updated to include synex-cleaner in its set of maintenance tools, consolidating system management applications in a single access point.
synex-firmware-helper: improved detection
Version 1.0.2 introduces significant corrections in firmware update detection:
The helper now exclusively uses stable JSON output from fwupdmgr instead of parsing human-readable output, eliminating fragility to format changes in future fwupd versions. This modification improves compatibility with devices that report updates in non-standard ways and fixes the update flow when device identifiers are missing or not parsed correctly.
The interface adopts forced dark mode, disabling automatic theme detection to ensure visual consistency across all desktop environments.
synex-nvidia-helper-gui: updated driver
Version 1.0.3 updates the production NVIDIA driver to the latest version of the 580 branch, available in the helper’s standard installation section.
The context of previous versions includes improvements in DKMS headers installation (1.0.2) to ensure correct kernel module compilation, and Wayland support enablement in GNOME when using legacy installation mode via .run file (1.0.1).
Note on LUKS v2 in Synex 13 u5
The Synex 13 u5 announcement explained the new partitioning scheme with separate /boot on ext4, mentioning that GRUB cannot read ZFS natively. While this is correct, there was an omission: the partitioning scheme was also redesigned to support LUKS v2.
Synex 13 u5 migrated from LUKS v1 to LUKS v2 in the Calamares installer. LUKS v2 introduces significant improvements in security (PBKDF2 replaced by Argon2) and flexibility (multiple key slots, resilient metadata), but GRUB cannot directly unlock LUKS v2 partitions.
The implemented solution is the same as for ZFS: /boot resides on a separate, unencrypted ext4 partition, while the root partition can use LUKS v2 with any filesystem. The initramfs (which does support LUKS v2) unlocks the encrypted partition during boot, before mounting the root system.
This architecture provides modern security (LUKS v2 + Argon2) while maintaining GRUB compatibility for initial boot. Users who installed with LUKS encryption in u5 are using LUKS v2, regardless of the chosen filesystem.
System updates
This version includes all cumulative package updates available in Debian Trixie repositories up to the build date. Security patches and bug fixes subsequent to version u5 are incorporated, along with the updated kernel corresponding to the amd64 architecture.
Availability and download
Synex 13 u6 is available for immediate download in its six desktop editions: KDE Plasma, GNOME, XFCE, MATE, LXDE, and IceWM. As always, we recommend verifying checksums of downloaded images before creating the installation media.
Users of previous Synex 13 versions can update their system through the standard package manager. synex-cleaner will be automatically installed when first run from synex-center.
Final words
As always, we invite you to join discussions at forum.synex.ar, report any issues you encounter, and share your experiences with Synex 13 u6.
Download Synex 13 u6 from here.