What's the best practice for uninstalling software I installed myself? [Solved]

[cbiweb]

Software that's not in the packager manager, that I had to manually install, what's the procedure to uninstall it?

I'm not seeing any type of uninstall options, so do I simply delete the folders that contain the app?

[pianokeyjoe]

Software that's not in the packager manager, that I had to manually install, what's the procedure to uninstall it?

I'm not seeing any type of uninstall options, so do I simply delete the folders that contain the app?

The best way to install or uninstall software is synaptic package manager(especially for uninstalling software!!). If you only want to install software you have the choice of MX package manager AND synaptic Package manager. If you are more DOS/command line saavy, then apt command is best for installing and removing software. Simply deleting the app folders will break your system.

IF the software you install is a FLATPAK or SNAP or APPIMAGE then usually those you just delete the app and folder and related files, like in Ubuntu. BUT, may be best to use MXpackage manager under flatpak tab to install and remove the software. Linux is not MacOS classic where you can just delete an app by deleting the app folder and related library files.

[Outlander]

When it comes to using apt on the command line, I think it's best to use "apt autoremove" as that will also remove orphaned packages that were pulled as dependencies during install. Be careful when running this, though, as it may remove some recommended packages that you want.

[j2mcgreg]

Software that's not in the packager manager, that I had to manually install, what's the procedure to uninstall it?

I'm not seeing any type of uninstall options, so do I simply delete the folders that contain the app?

Probably

Code: Select all

apt remove package-name

But read this first to be sure:
https://dannyda.com/2021/08/19/whats-th ... linux-etc/

[cbiweb]

Software that's not in the packager manager, that I had to manually install, what's the procedure to uninstall it?

I'm not seeing any type of uninstall options, so do I simply delete the folders that contain the app?

The best way to install or uninstall software is synaptic package manager(especially for uninstalling software!!). If you only want to install software you have the choice of MX package manager AND synaptic Package manager. If you are more DOS/command line saavy, then apt command is best for installing and removing software. Simply deleting the app folders will break your system.

IF the software you install is a FLATPAK or SNAP or APPIMAGE then usually those you just delete the app and folder and related files, like in Ubuntu. BUT, may be best to use MXpackage manager under flatpak tab to install and remove the software. Linux is not MacOS classic where you can just delete an app by deleting the app folder and related library files.

Even though the very first words of my post was "Software that's not in the packager manager...".

[timkb4cq]

It depends on how you installed the particular software.
If you compiled it yourself (./configure && make && make install) then you can try returning to the build folder & running make uninstall. Not all programs include an uninstall make option but it's worth a try.
If you just unpacked a tarball to a location, you can go delete all those files.
If it's some other way, please give details.

[towwire]

You used a deb to install it, then it will be in Synatpic where you can uninstall or the CLI.

Code: Select all

apt remove package-name

[cbiweb]

If you just unpacked a tarball to a location, you can go delete all those files.

That's what I did. So cool, I can just delete them. Thanks!

To Everyone: please be patient with me as I get to know how Linux works, and especially the terminology! I just came from Windows a few days ago.
My long-time Linux user brother just explained to me the difference between "installed" and "unpacked". So now I know, lol.

[towwire]

If you just unpacked a tarball to a location, you can go delete all those files.

That's what I did. So cool, I can just delete them. Thanks!

To Everyone: please be patient with me as I get to know how Linux works, and especially the terminology! I just came from Windows a few days ago.
My long-time Linux user brother just explained to me the difference between "installed" and "unpacked". So now I know, lol.

There one other idem to know and that is even an unpacked program you run can add config files to your home folder (hidden). They need to be deleted manually too.

[cbiweb]

...even an unpacked program you run can add config files to your home folder (hidden). They need to be deleted manually too.

Good to know. Thanks!