Renovate CE/EE: Limitations of the Current Worker Cleanup Approach

[Gabriel-Ladzaretti]

The Problem

The current worker cleanup uses the find command and a reference file created at container startup to remove artifacts created by the install-tool and the managers it wraps. however, this can break its functionality, as some of its files maintain state, leaving it in an unstable condition.

Proposed Solution

Since the install-tool manages both state and its own fs artifacts (e,g. symlinks), cleanup should be delegated to it and not performed by the worker. until addressed upstream, the current method remains functional but incomplete.

Upstream issue for tracking

• feature request: Integrate cleanup into the install-tool containerbase/base#4362

[rarkins]

I think we need to remove the current "per file" (based on timestamp) approach to file system clean-ups because it can result in incomplete caches or installations, which can be breaking. Instead, clean-up routines need to be either be:

• application-aware (e.g. delete all but the active version of each tool), or
• entire folders (e.g. delete the entire package manager cache)

I assume that the second one would have the best "bang for buck" when it comes to amount of size saved versus complexity of implementing.

We could add a new global config to the Renovate CLI like clearCache which means "clean up the cache at the end of the run" (maybe with multiple values for the multiple caches we have). Then CE/EE could have its own logic (e.g. cron-based) and adds that setting periodically to worker jobs.