diff --git a/bin/delpkg b/bin/delpkg
index 60c7a0e..5c07648 100644
--- a/bin/delpkg
+++ b/bin/delpkg
@@ -1,20 +1,25 @@
 #!/usr/bin/env python
 """ Delete packages from a repository.
+
 Functions:
-    move_pkgfiles(repo, files=None)
-    repo_add(repo, opts, filelist)
-    clear_cachedir(repo)
+==========
+    del_pkgfiles(cachedir, pkgs)
+    repo_remove(db, pkgs, opts=None)
 """
 
 import argparse
 import logging
-import pathlib
 import subprocess
 import sys
 
 import packaging_scripts.pacmanconf as pacmanconf
 import packaging_scripts.pkgfiles as pkgfiles
 
+# ========== Constants ==========
+REPO_REMOVE_CMD = '/usr/bin/repo-remove'
+DB_EXT = 'db.tar.xz'
+
+# ========== Logging setup ==========
 console_formatter = logging.Formatter('==> %(level)s %(message)s')
 syslog = logging.getLogger(__name__)
 syslog.setLevel(logging.DEBUG)
@@ -31,43 +36,47 @@ syslog.addHandler(stdout_handler)
 syslog.addHandler(stderr_handler)
 
 
-def del_pkgfiles(repo, pkgs):
+# ========== Functions ==========
+def del_pkgfiles(cachedir, pkgs):
     """ Remove package files from the repository directory.
-    Parameters:
-        repo: the repository to delete from
-        pkgs: a list of packages to remove
+
+    :param cachedir: directory to operate on
+    :type cachedir: str, bytes, or path-like object
+    :param pkgs: names of packages to remove
+    :type pkgs: any container object
     """
     syslog.info('Removing package files from cachedir')
-    cachedir = pathlib.Path(f'/var/cache/pacman/{repo}')
     syslog.debug(f"Cache directory: {cachedir}")
     syslog.debug(f"Packages: {pkgs}")
 
     for pkg in pkgs:
-        for pkgfile in cachedir.glob(f"{pkg}*.pkg.tar.xz*"):
+        for pkgfile in pkgfiles.get_pkgfiles(directory=cachedir,
+                                             signatures=True):
             pkgfile.unlink()
             syslog.info(f"Removed {pkgfile}")
 
 
-def repo_remove(repo, pkgs, opts=None):
+def repo_remove(db, pkgs, opts=None):
     """ Run repo-remove.
-    Parameters:
-        repo: the repository to remove from
-        pkgs: the names of the packages to remove
-        opts: the list of options to pass to repo-remove
-    Raises:
-        subprocess.CalledProcessError if repo-add failed
+
+    :param repo: the repository to remove from
+    :type repo: str
+    :param pkgs: the names of the packages to remove
+    :type pkgs: any iterable
+    :param opts: extra options to pass to repo-remove
+    :type opts: list
+    :raises: subprocess.CalledProcessError if repo-remove failed
     """
     syslog.info('Removing packages from database')
     syslog.debug(f"Options: {opts}")
     syslog.debug(f"Packages: {pkgs}")
-    db = pathlib.Path(f"/var/cache/pacman/{repo}/{repo}.db.tar.xz")
 
-    cmd = ['repo-remove']
+    cmd = [REPO_REMOVE_CMD]
 
     if opts is not None:
         cmd.extend(opts)
 
-    cmd.append(str(db))
+    cmd.append(db)
     cmd.extend(pkgs)
     syslog.debug(f"Final repo-remove command: {cmd}")
 
@@ -83,22 +92,8 @@ def repo_remove(repo, pkgs, opts=None):
     syslog.info('Finished removing packages from database')
 
 
-def clean_cachedir(repo):
-    """ Run paccache """
-    syslog.info('Running paccache')
-    subprocess.run(['paccache',
-                    '--remove',
-                    '--verbose',
-                    '--keep=1',
-                    f"--cachedir=/var/cache/pacman/{repo}"])
-    syslog.info('Finished running paccache')
-
-
 if __name__ == '__main__':
     parser = argparse.ArgumentParser()
-    parser.add_argument('-c', '--clean-cachedir',
-                        action='store_true',
-                        help='use paccache to clean the cache directory')
     parser.add_argument('-s', '--sign',
                         dest='opts',
                         action='append_const',
@@ -120,14 +115,15 @@ if __name__ == '__main__':
     repo = args.repository
     pkgs = args.packages
     opts = args.opts
-    clean = args.clean_cachedir
+
+    cachedir = f"/var/cache/pacman/{repo}"
+    # this assumes that the db file for the repo
+    # has the same name as that repo
+    db = f"{cachedir}/{repo}/.{DB_EXT}"
 
     if args.verbose:
         stdout_handler.setLevel(logging.DEBUG)
 
-    if not pathlib.Path(f"/var/cache/pacman/{args.repository}").is_dir():
-        syslog.critical(f"Not a repository: {repo}")
-
     del_pkgfiles(repo, pkgs)
 
     try:
@@ -135,6 +131,3 @@ if __name__ == '__main__':
     except subprocess.CalledProcessError as e:
         syslog.error(e)
         exit(2)
-
-    if clean:
-        clean_cachedir(repo)