19

I want to permanently prevent Ubuntu 12.10 from creating a "recently used" file list. This list seems to be stored in the file:

/home/user/.local/share/recently-used.xbel

I have tried deleting this file, but it keeps being recreated every time I start a new login session. I need to know how to prevent this file from being recreated.

Eliah Kagan
  • 119,640
Jason
  • 457

7 Answers7

15

To disable the list for GTK 3 based applications follow these steps:

rm ~/.local/share/recently-used.xbel

If THERE ISN'T a "~/.config/gtk-3.0/settings.ini", then

mkdir -p ~/.config/gtk-3.0
    echo -e "[Settings]\ngtk-recent-files-max-age=0\ngtk-recent-files-limit=0" > ~/.config/gtk-3.0/settings.ini

If THERE IS a "~/.config/gtk-3.0/settings.ini", then

echo -e "\ngtk-recent-files-max-age=0\ngtk-recent-files-limit=0" >> ~/.config/gtk-3.0/settings.ini

(note the ">>" vs the ">" difference ; ">>" appends to a file while a single ">" completely overwrites it, without backup, if it already exists)

And in either case:

rm ~/.local/share/recently-used.xbel

To disable the list for GTK 2 based applications follow this step:

echo gtk-recent-files-max-age=0 >> ~/.gtkrc-2.0

These steps are better than changing permissions on the file as they prevent error messages from being shown when launching GTK based applications that rely on the file.

Detailed information can be found here - https://alexcabal.com/disabling-gnomes-recently-used-file-list-the-better-way/

Community
  • 1
kingmilo
  • 10,784
6

I've found that fiddling with the recently-used.xbel file has no effect (at least on Ubuntu 17.04+). You can delete it, clear it, /dev/null it, set it immutable, shoot it in any way and it won't work. For example Nautilus has a "Recently used" section hardwired into the side panel - and it's not deletable by any means and survives the .xbel file being wiped.

On GNOME / Ubuntu do this (which worked for me):

  1. Open a terminal and start gnome
$ gnome-control-center

  1. Navigate to the "Privacy Group" and click on "Privacy" enter image description here

  2. Click on "Usage & History" and on the following dialog set the "Recently Used" toggle to OFF.

Right when you do this, you can see the "Recently used" list in Nautilus going empty. (This also wipes the .xbel file - check it out.) Done.

isync
  • 664
3

As before, whatever you do, it's always there. But you can make it immutable so it stops logging and stays empty. Command: sudo chattr +i ~/.local/share/recently-used.xbel .The system, and you as well, will not be able to do anything with it, until you change +i(immutable). This is the reverse command to restart logging back again: sudo chattr -i ~/.local/share/recently-used.xbel .(only if you want recently-used functioning again for some reason). I've had success clearing logs out by moving the folder to /dev/shm and shutdown computer. The folder comes back, empty.

Candu
  • 307
3

Why not just disable recently-used files through gsettings?

gsettings set org.gnome.desktop.privacy remember-recent-files false
gsettings set org.gnome.desktop.privacy remember-app-usage false
gsettings set org.gnome.desktop.privacy recent-files-max-age 0

This should work; If not please reply and point out any errors!

Note!

  • As Thio and Stephe pointed out in their comments, this solution might not work that well for other versions in Ubuntu.
Jane
  • 1,085
1

So far this file gets recreated even if you chown it to root or make it immutable. Even if you set the max-age settings to 0, it still remembers directories.

I have implemented a workaround that clears this file every 5 minutes. It's a very nasty workaround: create a cron entry that clears the file frequently:

crontab -e

# clear gtk recently used list every 5 minutes
*/5 *   *   *   *   echo "" > .local/share/recently-used.xbel

Certain applications still default to the recently used list, but this satisfies your question to permanently prevent Ubuntu 12.10 from creating a "recently used" file list.

invert
  • 731
0

Testing this on RHEL9.2 (Gnome 40) I found an option in Gnome:Settings (near the power button)

"Privacy:File History & Wastebasket"

There's a button to disable history and another button to clear history. I used both, and 'recently-used.xbel' has collapsed down to "nothing", and the annoying "recent" link has gone from the nautilus.

Before this, I had a user who would open a file from "recent" and then not know where the file actually was in the filesystem.

Gerry Hickman
  • 1
-1

Assuming it's only that file that you want to prevent from being written, you could try changing its permissions so it cannot be accessed.

First, delete the file. Then, create a new, blank one. Then, customize its permissions.

cd ~/.local/share
rm recently-used.xbel
touch recently-used.xbel
chmod 000 recently-used.xbel

If you want, you can even change its ownership so no program running as your user can change its permissions and write to it:

sudo chown root:root recently-used.xbel

Some programs might issue errors (with or without that final customization).

Eliah Kagan
  • 119,640