killobsolete() {
	# files directly in ~ formerly used, now obsolete
	# subdirs of ~ checked automatically
	local suspected=".emacs"

	# init tempfiles we need to run diff on
	local found="/tmp/.myshell_found"
	local pulled="/tmp/.myshell_pulled"

	# detect files found locally
	for i in $(gunzip -c cfg.tar.gz | tar -tf -); do
		echo $(dirname "$i");
	done | grep -v '^.$' | sort | uniq | xargs find | sort | uniq | \
		grep -v ".myshell/.*_local*" > "$found"

	# detect suspected files
	for f in $(find $suspected 2>/dev/null); do
		echo "$f" >> "$found";
	done

	# sort found list
	cat "$found" | sort | uniq > "$found.x" ; mv "$found.x" "$found"

	# list files pulled from upstream
	for i in $(gunzip -c cfg.tar.gz | tar -tf -); do
		echo "$i";
		echo $(dirname "$i");
	done | grep -v '^.$' | sed "s|\/$||g" | sort | uniq > "$pulled"

	# list obsolete files
	local num=$(diff "$pulled" "$found" | grep '>' | cut -b3- | wc -l)
	if [ $num -gt 0 ]; then
		echo -e "${cyellow} ++ files found to be obsolete${creset}";
		diff "$pulled" "$found" | grep '>' | cut -b3-;

		# prompt for deletion
		echo -e "${cyellow} ++ kill obsolete? [yN]${creset}"
		read ans
		if [[ "$ans" == "y" ]]; then
			for i in $(diff "$pulled" "$found" | grep '>' | cut -b3-); do
				if [ -d "$i" ]; then
					rm -rf "$i"
				else
					rm -f "$i"
				fi
			done
		fi
	fi

	# dispose of tempfiles
	rm -f "$pulled" "$found"
}