Arch Linux

msl

Member

Registered: 2010-12-13

Posts: 22

Files not removed with Pacman Uninstall

Programs can make new files etc. upon run. How do you keep track of where these files go?

I see your user directory is where many (all?) applications store config files. But what about other possible files? Are there other places where they often are stored, except tmp and var?

In Windows you have uninstallers to keep track of left over files. Linux doesn't have a registry, but I was thinking of other files.

vinayv

Member

From: Bangalore, India

Registered: 2008-08-11

Posts: 89

Re: Files not removed with Pacman Uninstall

To quote the Pacman page in Archwiki:

Note: pacman will not remove configurations that the application itself creates (for example .dot files in the home folder).

Configurations (system wide and not current user related) are also stored in /etc. Regarding these config files, this is what the pacman page in Archwiki has to say:

Pacman saves important configuration files when removing certain applications and names them with the extension: .pacsave. To delete these backup files use the -n option

User specific config files, which are created in $HOME are left to the user to clean up

PS: The ArchWiki has a wealth of information. Please read the information there.. You can post here if you still have questions