Stacer - A feature rich and easy to use system monitoring and optimization tool for Linux systems
It does not matter which operating system one uses, routine optimization and maintenance is an essential and inevitable part of the user experience to get the maximum possible performance out of a system. There are many different ways of going about it and they differ from one operating system to another. But as an end user, it is often appreciated if such system maintenance and performance optimizations can be performed using a single application rather than digging in to the many different areas of the operating system.
I have never used a Mac, hence I am not familiar with any such system optimizer for the Mac OS. When I use Windows, I tend to use CCleaner (Advanced System Care in the past) for my system optimization purposes. On Linux, it has been BleachBit until I stumbled upon a tool called Stacer.
What is Stacer and what can it do?
Stacer, as described on its website, is an open source system maintenance and optimization utility that does what BleachBit does and much more. You can manage many aspects of your Linux system using Stacer. I know that many hardcore Linux users would not entertain the idea of using a tool for the things they usually do via the Terminal. I prefer to use the Terminal when I have to and whenever it makes me do things faster. Other than that, I am okay with using a software with a GUI which makes my life easier and Stacer is a tool that will make your life easier, especially if you are new to Linux.
Stacer can do and show a multitude of things among which are managing start-up applications, cleaning the system of logs and emptying the recycle bin, searching for any file, monitoring and managing currently running services, monitoring and killing running processes, package uninstaller, resource monitor and finally, managing (adding/removing) APT repositories.
How to install (and uninstall) it?
Installing Stacer can be done in many different ways. As mentioned in its website, you can add a PPA repository and then install Stacer from that. The advantage is, updating the application thereafter happens automatically when you update the system. On the flip side, PPAs work only with Ubuntu based distributions, so if you are not running one, then you will have to look at other installation options.
$ sudo add-apt-repository ppa:oguzhaninan/stacer
$ sudo apt update
$ sudo apt install stacer
Using the default repository
I am running Linux Mint 20 and there is no need to add the PPA repository because Stacer was already available in the default package repository. If you want to know whether that’s the case with you, try the following.
$ sudo apt search stacer
If Stacer was found, then
$ sudo apt install stacer
$ sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade
I would suggest this as the first option as this would work with all Debian based systems including its Ubuntu based derivatives.
If you are running Fedora, run in Terminal
$ sudo dnf search stacer
and if Stacer was found, run
$ sudo dnf install stacer
$ sudo dnf upgrade
Using the .deb or .rpm package files
Sometimes, the default package repositories have an older version of software. This is because, either you are not on the newest release of the distribution which contains the newest packages, or the package itself was not updated by the distribution. In such cases, I always prefer to install the package files directly if possible (when PPA is not an option).
With Stacer, you can navigate to its GitHub (https://github.com/oguzhaninan/Stacer/releases) page and download the .deb or .rpm files based on your distribution. Once downloaded, you have again two options. If your distribution has a graphical package installer (GDebi in Linux Mint), you can double click on the downloaded files and install them. Otherwise, open a Terminal and run the following commands.
First, navigate to the Downloads folder.
$ cd ~/Downloads/
For installing on Debian based distributions, run
$ sudo dpkg -i <correct_file_name>.deb
On Fedora, run
$ sudo dnf install -y <correct_file_name>.rpm
Using the universal AppImage file
Recently, Snap and Flatpaks are all the craze and the AppImage format has not received any attention but nonetheless, it is by far my favourite and also the option that I mostly prefer. The reason being, all the necessary dependencies are neatly packaged into a single portable file and you can carry on a USB and run it on almost all distributions without needing to install.
Download the .AppImage from the same GitHub (https://github.com/oguzhaninan/Stacer/releases) page. Before running, you need to make the file executable. You can either right click on the downloaded file, navigate to properties and make it executable, or open a Terminal and run these commands.
$ chmod a+x <correct_file_name>.AppImage
$ ./<correct_file_name>.AppImage
Uninstalling Stacer
You can navigate to the graphical software manager or package manager of your distribution, locate Stacer and remove/uninstall it. If you prefer, you can use the Terminal and run the following commands.
On Debian based distributions,
$ sudo apt remove stacer
On Fedora,
$ sudo dnf remove stacer
To remove the added PPA repository, run
$ sudo add-apt-repository — remove ppa:oguzhaninan/stacer
What are its features and how to use them?
Now that we have it installed, let us talk about its features in a little more detailed way. In my opinion, Stacer consists of eight important features not considering the default dashboard which is presented to you at launch.
Dashboard
The default Dashboard at launch provides you with a three meters showing the CPU, memory and disk space usage, short system info and download and upload speeds. There is also a taskbar indicator showing you that Stacer is running.
Startup Apps
The Startup Apps feature is practical when it comes to managing apps that the system launches at boot without digging through settings to manage these apps. There is also the possibility to turn off or on certain apps that are already available in the list in addition to adding new apps to the list. If you have an app installed, just add the terminal command for it in the Command section or if it is an AppImage, add the location of it.
System Cleaner
The System Cleaner is handy tool if you know what you are doing. There is a word of caution on Stacer’s website on deleting App Caches which could affect the application load times and other essential system log files. Emptying your recycle bin should not cause issues though.
Search
The Search tab looks like a powerful tool with the ability to search for any file or folder under a given directory with other customization options. But I could not get it to work and it anyway mentions that its currently under BETA.
Services
The Services tab enables to you to monitor system services that are currently running, start/stop and identify which services are running now and which services were started at boot. Again, be sure of the services that you are stopping because stopping the wrong service could make you system unstable.
Processes
With the Processes tab, you can monitor all the currently running processes and there is handy button below to kill any process. The default view provides you with sufficient information where you can sort based on the process or CPU/memory usage. To be honest, I find the System Monitor on Linux Mint more comprehensive.
Uninstaller
The Uninstaller is another handy tool to search for installed packages and uninstall them with one click. There is also the option to select multiple packages and uninstall them in one go. According to Stacer’s GitHub release page, the new version also allows you to uninstall snap packages.
Resources
The Resource Monitor tab is more detailed compared to the default System Monitor on Linux Mint. It includes CPU, Memory, Network, Disk read/write usage and history curves and a pie-chart of disk usage along with its partitions.
APT Repository Manager
The APT Repositories is another handy tool to search for the installed repositories, modify them if needed and delete them if not wanted. You can also keep them on the system but turn them off so that your update and upgrade commands don’t see it. I do not use it much, because Linux Mint already has a built in repository manager.
Settings
There is also a settings tab for modifying a few things about how Stacer works, a feedback section and a Donate button should you choose to.
Conclusion
If you ask me if Stacer is a must have, my answer would be no. Because, it is neither a magic pill to make your system run amazingly nor does Stacer claims to be. Stacer’s feature set is already available at your disposal using your distributions built in tools and/or some terminal commands. What Stacer does splendidly is to collect the tools/features required to run your system efficiently under a single roof so that it is not daunting for a new user. At the same time, new users must strive to learn (I am learning too) the necessary terminal commands to perform such operations if they are interested to learn Linux and apps like Stacer should not deter one from doing so.
What do you think? Will you give Stacer a spin? Please feel free to let me know your thoughts and suggestions.
