Shake

Spec sheet

Purpose

Shake is a userspace defragmenter for GNU/Linux that can run while the system is in use.Read 5 Oct 2026 · vleu.net

Founded

2008Read 28 Sep 2026 · vleu.net

Maker

The project page names Brice Arnould as the author.Read 4 Oct 2026 · vleu.net

Age behavior

By default, Shake processes files whose last shake time or ctime is older than eight times 31 days and skips files newer than two months; these values can be changed with options.Read 4 Oct 2026 · vleu.net

Extended attributes

The maker recommends mounting the partition with user_xattr; Shake can run without it but is less efficient because it uses extended attributes to store information for incremental use.Read 4 Oct 2026 · vleu.net

File ordering

You can pipe a sorted file list into Shake to defragment files and place files close together in lexical order on disk.Read 5 Oct 2026 · vleu.net

File selection

Shake uses file size, last-shake date or ctime, access-time patterns, and fragment counts in deciding whether files are fragmented enough to process.Read 5 Oct 2026 · vleu.net

File size behavior

By default, files larger than 95 MB are skipped, and the page says this behavior can be changed with `--big-tolerance`.Read 5 Oct 2026 · vleu.net

Filesystem requirement

The maker recommends mounting the partition with user_xattr; Shake can run without it but is less efficient for incremental use.Read 5 Oct 2026 · vleu.net

How it works

It defragments files by rewriting fragmented files.Read 5 Oct 2026 · vleu.net

Install options

The page lists Ubuntu/Debian, Gentoo, and Arch Linux installation options and instructions for building from source.Read 5 Oct 2026 · vleu.net

Installation

The maker lists Ubuntu/Debian, Gentoo, and Arch Linux installation options and instructions for building from source with CMake and libattr development files.Read 4 Oct 2026 · vleu.net

Maker location

The maker's about page says he lives in Evilard, a village close to Berne, Switzerland.Read 4 Oct 2026 · vleu.net

Preview

The `--pretend` and `--verbose` options can show fragmentation without running a defragmentation pass.Read 5 Oct 2026 · vleu.net

Preview mode

Shake can report fragmentation without changing files using the --pretend and --verbose options.Read 4 Oct 2026 · vleu.net

Root access

The usage instructions say to run Shake as root.Read 5 Oct 2026 · vleu.net

Source code

The maker links to a public GitHub repository whose file list includes COPYING and GPL.txt.Read 5 Oct 2026 · github.com

Support contact

The project page lists [email protected] as the author's email address.Read 5 Oct 2026 · vleu.net

Usage

The maker says to run Shake as root on a directory and recommends running it on the whole partition when it is not in use for better results.Read 4 Oct 2026 · vleu.net

Where Specifiction places it

• Disk Defragmentation Software#18 of 206.7