Remove Fluff Files After Joomla Updates
What is fluff??? – Unneeded files that Joomla distributes that you can safely remove from your site.
Remove the joomla fluff after each update
Lots of people asked us to remove “Fluff files” automatically on upgrading Joomla – well, you can now opt in for this on the Settings Tab of your Manage Site pages in your account at https://mysites.guru. If you’re on Joomla 5.4+, you should also check whether automated core updates are enabled on your sites, since those can trigger updates (and leave fluff behind) without anyone touching the admin panel.
Removing these files won’t damage your site - it just tidies up your webspace. There’s no risk in leaving them, but removing them is good practice.
You can check the status of these files at any time on the Snapshot Tab.
After a snapshot is taken in mySites.guru, we display the number of files that are found in the snapshot results page
The “Learn More” button explains the check and the technical details. The “Investigate” button deletes the fluff files from your site.
The files which we will remove are:
/.appveyor.yml/.drone.yml/.editorconfig/.git-blame-ignore-revs/.gitignore/.php-cs-fixer.dist.php/.travis.yml/build.xml/CHANGELOG.php/CODE_OF_CONDUCT.md/configuration.php-dist/CONTRIBUTING.md/COPYRIGHT.php/CREDITS.php/cypress.config.dist.js/htaccess.txt/INSTALL.php/joomla.xml/LICENSE.php/LICENSE.txt/LICENSES.php/package.json/package-lock.json/phpunit.xml.dist/phpunit-pgsql.xml.dist/README.md/README.txt/renovate.json/robots.txt.dist/ruleset.xml/travisci-phpunit.xml/web.config.txt/images/banners/osmbanner1.png/images/banners/osmbanner2.png/images/banners/shop-ad-books.jpg/images/banners/shop-ad.jpg/images/banners/white.png/images/headers/blue-flower.jpg/images/headers/maple.jpg/images/headers/raindrops.jpg/images/headers/walden-pond.jpg/images/headers/windows.jpg/images/joomla_black.gif/images/joomla_black.png/images/joomla_green.gif/images/joomla_logo_black.jpg/images/powered_by.png/images/sampledata/fruitshop/apple.jpg/images/sampledata/fruitshop/bananas_2.jpg/images/sampledata/fruitshop/fruits.gif/images/sampledata/fruitshop/tamarind.jpg/images/sampledata/parks/animals/180px_koala_ag1.jpg/images/sampledata/parks/animals/180px_wobbegong.jpg/images/sampledata/parks/animals/200px_phyllopteryx_taeniolatus1.jpg/images/sampledata/parks/animals/220px_spottedquoll_2005_seanmcclean.jpg/images/sampledata/parks/animals/789px_spottedquoll_2005_seanmcclean.jpg/images/sampledata/parks/animals/800px_koala_ag1.jpg/images/sampledata/parks/animals/800px_phyllopteryx_taeniolatus1.jpg/images/sampledata/parks/animals/800px_wobbegong.jpg/images/sampledata/parks/banner_cradle.jpg/images/sampledata/parks/landscape/120px_pinnacles_western_australia.jpg/images/sampledata/parks/landscape/120px_rainforest_bluemountainsnsw.jpg/images/sampledata/parks/landscape/180px_ormiston_pound.jpg/images/sampledata/parks/landscape/250px_cradle_mountain_seen_from_barn_bluff.jpg/images/sampledata/parks/landscape/727px_rainforest_bluemountainsnsw.jpg/images/sampledata/parks/landscape/800px_cradle_mountain_seen_from_barn_bluff.jpg/images/sampledata/parks/landscape/800px_ormiston_pound.jpg/images/sampledata/parks/landscape/800px_pinnacles_western_australia.jpg/images/sampledata/parks/parks.gifPlease note, just because we call the License file fluff, doesnt mean we believe the license Joomla is distributed under is fluff – just to be clear 🙂 The GPL recommends that the text of the license is distributed with the Open Source of the product, but you don’t need it there cluttering up your webspace.
We did try to get the Joomla project to see sense, but failed 😉
Can You View Fluff File Status Across All Joomla Sites?
The Ultimate Toolset at mySites.guru allows you to view how many fluff files are on each Joomla site at a glance also. like this:
View the fluff files in Joomla across many sites
Does mySites.guru Check Technical Requirements Too?
Planning an upgrade? mySites.guru can check whether your sites meet the technical requirements for Joomla 5 and Joomla 6 before you hit the update button - across all your connected sites at once.
What About Hidden Files?
Speaking of tidying up your webspace - fluff files aren’t the only things hiding in plain sight. Hackers plant dot-prefixed hidden files and folders that most file managers never show you. The mySites.guru audit surfaces them all in seconds.
Post-update cleanup is part of our guide to managing updates at scale.
