diff --git a/bin/sau b/bin/sau
index 6a0605f..8990527 100755
--- a/bin/sau
+++ b/bin/sau
@@ -40,6 +40,16 @@ def main():
             time.sleep(1)
             os.system('/sbin/reboot')
 
+def _conf_level_to_logging_level(conf_level):
+    if conf_level.lower() == 'debug':
+        return logging.DEBUG
+    if conf_level.lower() == 'info':
+        return logging.INFO
+    if conf_level.lower() == 'warning':
+        return logging.WARNING
+    if conf_level.lower() == 'error':
+        return logging.error
+    return logging.DEBUG
     
 if __name__ == '__main__':
     sau.config = configparser.SafeConfigParser()
@@ -58,16 +68,18 @@ if __name__ == '__main__':
     log = logging.getLogger(sau.LOGNAME) 
     log.setLevel(logging.DEBUG)
 
+    conf_level = _conf_level_to_logging_level(conf.get('default', 'stderr_loglevel', fallback="debug"))
     handler = logging.StreamHandler()
     formatter = logging.Formatter(fmt='%(asctime)s %(levelname)s: %(message)s')
     handler.setFormatter(formatter)
-    handler.setLevel(logging.DEBUG)
+    handler.setLevel(conf_level)
     log.addHandler(handler)
 
 
+    conf_level = _conf_level_to_logging_level(conf.get('default', 'syslog_loglevel', fallback="debug"))
     handler = logging.handlers.SysLogHandler(address=syslog_socket)
     formatter = logging.Formatter(fmt='{}[%(process)s] %(message)s'.format(sau.LOGNAME))
     handler.setFormatter(formatter)
-    handler.setLevel(logging.INFO)
+    handler.setLevel(conf_level)
     log.addHandler(handler)
     sys.exit(main())
diff --git a/config.cfg b/config.cfg
index c3b1843..ab53309 100644
--- a/config.cfg
+++ b/config.cfg
@@ -16,10 +16,23 @@ min_version_diff=2
 # not close all deleted files (any platform)
 do_reboot=no
 
+# FreeBSD system update (freebsd-update fetch install, not freebsd-update upgrade)
 do_system_upgrade=yes
+
+# upgrade packages
 do_package_upgrade=yes
+
+# restart services affected by previous upgrades
 do_service_restart=yes
 
+# do depclean on Gentoo
+do_depclean=yes
+
+# to only write to stderr when something unexpected happens or manual action is required
+# set stderr_loglevel to warning
+stderr_loglevel=debug
+syslog_loglevel=info
+
 
 # The packages section contains <package>=<version_diff> pairs to override the
 # default min_version_diff. Note that package naming may differ depending on
diff --git a/sau/gentoo.py b/sau/gentoo.py
index 903c4d4..61a2080 100644
--- a/sau/gentoo.py
+++ b/sau/gentoo.py
@@ -255,3 +255,25 @@ def pkg_upgrade():
         for line in out.splitlines():
             if line.startswith(' * '):
                 log.warning(line)
+
+    if conf.getboolean('default', 'do_depclean', fallback=False):
+        cmd = [ EMERGE_PATH, '--color', 'n', '-q', '--depclean' ]
+        log.debug('Executing "{}"'.format(' '.join(cmd)))
+        proc = subprocess.Popen(
+                cmd,
+                stdout = subprocess.PIPE,
+                stderr = subprocess.PIPE)
+        out, err = proc.communicate()
+        out = out.decode('utf-8')
+        err = err.decode('utf-8')
+        if proc.returncode != 0 or err:
+            log.error('depclean returned {}'.format(proc.returncode))
+            for line in out.splitlines():
+                log.error('stdout: {}'.format(line))
+            for line in err.splitlines():
+                log.error('stderr: {}'.format(line))
+        else:
+            log.info('depclean complete')
+            for line in out.splitlines():
+                if line.startswith(' * '):
+                    log.warning(line)