KDirStat 2.5.2 review

KDirStat is a graphical disk usage utility, very much like the Unix "du" command. KDirStat project displays a directory tree both

License: GPL (GNU General Public License) File size: 323K Developer: Stefan Hundhammer

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KDirStat is a graphical disk usage utility, very much like the Unix "du" command.

KDirStat project displays a directory tree both in classical tree format (like Konqueror, but with accumulated tree sizes, shown as MB / GB and as percentage bars) and in "treemap" format like SequoiaView.

In addition to that, KDirStat provides cleanup facilities to reclaim disk space - both predefined and customizable.

Here are some key features of "KDirStat":
Display Features

Graphical and numeric display of used disk space
Files kept apart from directories in separate items to prevent cluttering the display
All numbers displayed human readable - e.g., 34.4 MB instead of 36116381 Bytes
Different colors in the directory tree display to keep the different tree levels visually apart
Display of latest change time within an entire directory tree - you can easily see what object was changed last and when.

Treemap Display

Treemap as alternate (auxiliary) view of a directory tree
Easily find large in a directory tree: You see the entire tree at once. Large rectangles are large files - you can see them even if they are hidden somewhere deep within the tree.
Treemap view slaved to the tree (list) view: Click on a file in the treemap, and it is selected in the tree view - and vice versa.
Treemap tiles are colored by file type - all images in cyan, all audio tracks (MP3 etc.) in yellow, executables in magenta etc.; you can see from the color what a treemap rectangle is.
Many treemap variants available:
Plain treemap
Squarified treemap (no thin elongated rectangles)
Cushion treemap
Colored treemap
All combinations of the above
Fast implementation: Treemap built in fractions of a second (on quite ordinary machines: Athlon-550 class)
Treemap subwindow can be resized as the user prefers
Treemap can be switched off with a single keypress (F9)
Context menu with cleanup actions etc.
Zoom the treemap in/out treemap with double click (left/right)
Many treemap configuration options

Directory Reading

Stays on one file system by default - reads mounted file systems only on request.
You don't care about a mounted /usr file system if the root file system is full and you need to find out why in a hurry, nor do you want to scan everybody's home directory on the NFS server when your local disk is full.
Network transparency: Scan FTP or Samba directories - or whatever else protocols KDE support.
PacMan animation while directories are being read. OK, this is not exactly essential, but it's fun.

Cleaning up

Predefined cleanup actions: Easily delete a file or a directory tree, move it to the KDE trash bin, compress it to a .tar.bz2 archive or simply open a shell or a Konqueror window there.
User-defined cleanup actions: Add your own cleanup commands or edit the existing ones.
"Send mail to owner" report facility: Send a mail requesting the owner of a large directory tree to please clean up unused files.

Misc

Feedback mail facility: Rate the program and tell the authors your opinion about it.

What's New in 2.4.4 Release:
Sparse files and hard links are now properly supported.

What's New in 2.5.2 Release:
Can now read and write directory contents from cache files generated by (supplied) Perl script, e.g. in cron job over night