You are not logged in.

#1 2005-04-26 21:04:37

kcy29581
Member
From: CA
Registered: 2004-12-23
Posts: 231

how to fully remove programs?

hi all,

I've just installed realplayer from their site, and I just thought: how do I remove it? If I ever need to uninstall any program I haven't installed via pacman fully, and the corresponding installer does not have an "uninstall" option, what do I do?

Does this mean that the problem with Windows folders cluttering and filling with junk still hapens in linux? The perfect solution would be to remove everything related to the program fully, even the symlinks if any.

Help appreciated!


There is no spoon in Arch...

Offline

#2 2005-04-26 21:07:24

khazdar
Member
From: ohio
Registered: 2003-11-06
Posts: 123

Re: how to fully remove programs?

some programs have un-installers in their bin dir. look there. maybe do a locate for RealPlayer and just manually delete folders.

Offline

#3 2005-04-26 21:08:43

phrakture
Arch Overlord
From: behind you
Registered: 2003-10-29
Posts: 7,879
Website

Re: how to fully remove programs?

well, it depends on how it was installed - that's part of why alot of Arch users will turn anything into a pacman package, no matter how simple (i.e. gmrun is one binary and I made a package for that...) - because pacman helps you remove it...

if it's done by a Makefile (i.e. make install), there's usually a "make uninstall" or something of the sort, to get rid of it all... I'd assume realplayer has their own installer.... you'd have to check with them... *shrug*

Offline

#4 2005-04-26 21:11:48

kcy29581
Member
From: CA
Registered: 2004-12-23
Posts: 231

Re: how to fully remove programs?

I ask the question with the premise that there is NO uninstaller.

The manually deleting folders is very... hopefull. Not every folder is named after the program, so intuition is needed there.

If this is the only solution then I'll have to reinstall Arch every (insert number here) months just as I do with Windows when it clutters up. Surely there must be a better solution! Not even an equivalent (good one! wink) of Add/Remove Software?

Here's to hoping


There is no spoon in Arch...

Offline

#5 2005-04-26 21:13:24

kcy29581
Member
From: CA
Registered: 2004-12-23
Posts: 231

Re: how to fully remove programs?

phrak,

I'll see if I can dig up anything from the realplayer guys/gals. If I find anything I'll post here for future wisdom

[EDIT]

btw, is there a way to find out all the files related to realplayer? like, a list so I could delete files one by one if it comes to that? Just searching for relevant folders is a bit of hit & miss.


There is no spoon in Arch...

Offline

#6 2005-04-26 21:15:00

phrakture
Arch Overlord
From: behind you
Registered: 2003-10-29
Posts: 7,879
Website

Re: how to fully remove programs?

yeah, the equivalent of Add/Remove programs is pacman... that's the definition of "package management" - think about it this way... installing RealPlayer the way you did is much like unzipping a file to C:Program Files - it's not going to show up in "Add/Remove Programs" - hell, alot of programs don't show up there.

Just use pacman to control things like that and there's no need (check out ABS if you haven't already - it's dirt simple)

Offline

#7 2005-04-26 21:20:30

kcy29581
Member
From: CA
Registered: 2004-12-23
Posts: 231

Re: how to fully remove programs?

I think I'll do just that phrak. When you said about unzipping stuff in Program Files I thought "d'oh! I'm an idiot! breaking my own system..."  :oops:

I'll read up on ABS right now. Should be dead simple as the file itself doesn't have dependancies as it's an installer (*.bin file). Am I right there?

Cheers. You're a top man big_smile


There is no spoon in Arch...

Offline

#8 2005-04-26 21:31:24

T-Dawg
Forum Fellow
From: Charlotte, NC
Registered: 2005-01-29
Posts: 2,736

Re: how to fully remove programs?

This is just a thought but maybe you could try doing a PKGBUILD then make the package without installing (makepkg -c), extract it in a folder somewhere and observe the folders and the contents in them. I think that would at least give you an idea of where things would be.

Offline

#9 2005-04-26 21:33:45

kcy29581
Member
From: CA
Registered: 2004-12-23
Posts: 231

Re: how to fully remove programs?

I just actually Googled for this and found that there's an install.log file in the RealPlayer directory! (d'oh!) It lists all the extracted files etc, so I think that'll be my ticket when I need it.

Nice idea Penguin! Thanks


There is no spoon in Arch...

Offline

#10 2005-04-26 21:34:42

phrakture
Arch Overlord
From: behind you
Registered: 2003-10-29
Posts: 7,879
Website

Re: how to fully remove programs?

a bin installer might be different - the most importan option for abs is the ability to install it where you want... i.e. real-installer --prefix=/home/me/temp-dir

can you do that? never looked at the real installer

Offline

#11 2005-04-26 21:46:42

kcy29581
Member
From: CA
Registered: 2004-12-23
Posts: 231

Re: how to fully remove programs?

well, the real installer asks you where to install during the installation itself. Is that what you mean? If I use ABS will the only difference be that I can fully uninstall the program or is there more involved, and it will still do all the *.bin's steps?


There is no spoon in Arch...

Offline

#12 2005-04-26 22:01:09

i3839
Member
Registered: 2004-02-04
Posts: 1,185

Re: how to fully remove programs?

I use a /usr/local where I have full permissions to and just install thing as myself instead of root. Then you're sure it puts everything in the place you want and don't have to be afraid of it placing files somewhere behind your back. Thought it's a habit from before I used Arch...

Offline

#13 2005-04-27 00:36:52

fetreney2000
Member
From: Malaysia
Registered: 2005-02-01
Posts: 81

Re: how to fully remove programs?

kcy29581 wrote:

well, the real installer asks you where to install during the installation itself. Is that what you mean? If I use ABS will the only difference be that I can fully uninstall the program or is there more involved, and it will still do all the *.bin's steps?

The different is the software will be manage by pacman so you can easily wipe out any file created when installing the software. This mean you will not have to delete all the files manually, just type pacman -Rcns $pkgname and all the installed files will be deleted (except maybe some configuration files in your home directory).

Offline

#14 2005-04-27 02:04:53

T-Dawg
Forum Fellow
From: Charlotte, NC
Registered: 2005-01-29
Posts: 2,736

Re: how to fully remove programs?

Hey fetreney2000
Is that cat supposed to be flipping us off? I can't tell if I'm seeing a middle claw or a spot on his nose....

Offline

#15 2005-04-27 08:21:13

fetreney2000
Member
From: Malaysia
Registered: 2005-02-01
Posts: 81

Re: how to fully remove programs?

The cat just giving us all its middle finger :twisted: lol

Offline

#16 2005-04-27 13:31:17

jerem
Member
From: France
Registered: 2005-01-15
Posts: 310

Re: how to fully remove programs?

Use installwatch(Slackware third-party tool) and redo the install. You'll get a list of the files created and altered.

Offline

Board footer

Powered by FluxBB