Arch Linux

Jotunn

Member

Registered: 2023-04-29

Posts: 69

[solved] How to uninstall an app thoroughly?

I'm sure there is plenty of documentation out there about this but for some reason I'm just not having any luck finding or understanding a concise answer to this question.

As an example:

sudo pacman -S discord

I launch the app, sign in, etc.

sudo pacman -R discord

Then turn around and install again

sudo pacman -S discord

Launch it and it logs me right back in will all my settings adjusted and whatnot like nothing ever happened.

What is the proper procedure to follow if I want to remove every last trace of an application from my system?

Last edited by Jotunn (2024-03-29 02:27:33)

Awebb

Member

Registered: 2010-05-06

Posts: 6,688

Re: [solved] How to uninstall an app thoroughly?

Most applications store their settings somewhere in your home folder. Search .config and .local/share, for example.

Trilby

Inspector Parrot

Registered: 2011-11-29

Posts: 30,459

Website

Re: [solved] How to uninstall an app thoroughly?

While Awebb's answer is exactly what you need for this case, there are other cases where packaged configuration files can be kept on the system after removing the package (and they'd be used again if reinstalled).  To be sure these go, it's generally recommend to include the 'n' flag along with '-R' anytime you are removing a package (unless you specifically want such configs to be left in place).  In fact, I personally recommend `pacman -Rsn <package>` as the default way to remove a package.

Last edited by Trilby (2024-03-28 22:53:20)

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"UNIX is simple and coherent" - Dennis Ritchie; "GNU's Not Unix" - Richard Stallman

Jotunn

Member

Registered: 2023-04-29

Posts: 69

Re: [solved] How to uninstall an app thoroughly?

Understood. Thank you both!