How do I COMPLETELY remove a program in Mint6?
 

I somehow managed to ruin my favorite browser, Opera. I managed to remove some of the tools somehow and its not functioning properly. I want to start from scratch with it and no matter how many times I remove it from synaptic or software manager It installs the same. I need to get into the repositories or something and completely remove it from my OS and download and install it from scratch because the synaptic is not completely removing it.

Anybody have any ideas I can try?:Pengy:

g'day Indy,

I suggest synaptic and right click "complete remove package". As you have worked out however, the original package file is still sitting there as it was downloaded in the first place and each time you try to do a fresh install it simply reopens the same package. This is great if you want to save download time.

There are a couple of tricks I use to delete these lurking files. I am NOT a guru but I feel your pain and would like to suggest this:

1) Completely remove as suggested in Synaptic, then....
2) Follow the cleanup processes suggested in this link.
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?&t=140920
3. Alternatively, go to terminal and type "locate Opera" and it will show you all the files related to Opera. Delete them one by one using a nautilus in root mode. Its a crude way to do it, but it works. I might add that it could break your system if the files you delete is somehow important to the broader OS functions.

Some guru might chip in with a simpler solution.

I wish there were some tool to do this other than the above.

Regards
John

Running, with root privileges,
should get rid of the local package cache, thus forcing apt to download the packages instead of using a local copy (that doesn't exist anymore). Removing a package might leave some files behind (for example configuration files, so if you reinstall the same package, you haven't lost your configuration), but if you use 'purge' instead of 'remove', that should do the trick:
It should be the same as
If you still have problems after this, make sure it's not because of something else than the Opera package..

If you get a hold of the .deb package and download it manually, you could also just
in the directory where the package is in, to force installation of that specific package file.

Thanks Bouncer, I knew there would be a proper way to do this.

John

Thanks for the replys. I believe this will work but I am unable to run commands as root. How do I become root in Mint?

I am the admin, but I guess that does not matter? Anyway If you can tell me how to become root in the terminal I should be O.K.

Thanks.

You simply enter sudo before the command. You can lock on your root privileges by entering sudo su But be vewy vewy careful!

Just a bit more,

then it will ask you to type your root password. Hit enter and it will do the rest. ;)


Regards
John

I want you to know that this worked and I was able to download Opera again BUT....It installed in the same place I left off. Aghhhhh! Whatever.....I give.

Its really not that big of deal, I can use firefox just as well but I like Opera for some strange reason.

I may even reinstall my system from scratch because thats the kind of person I am. (learn from my mistakes) That should get me back to square one. I have everything backed up at all times, so no biggie there.

Thanks.

Indy,

that sounds like your config files might need deleting. I'm guessing they might be in something like your home directory as a hidden folder called ./opera. Save these files somewhere (using a different folder name) and delete the folder and do a reinstall of Opera. See if that fixes it. Once you have Opera the way you like it you might be able to grab your bookmarks etc. from the saved ./opera folder

Regards
John

Thanks, Where would I go in my filesystem to delete these troublesome files? I opened my "filesystem" and searched "Opera" and a bunch of opera related files became available but I'm unsure which ones to delete? Should I delete them all then re-download Opera and go from there, or what?

Thanks for the help!

Indy,

I'm reluctant to say to delete all of the files in the ./opera folder as some of them are likely to be your bookmarks. If these are not important to you though, (along with other personal settings), then after uninstalling Opera through Synaptic, I recommend deleting the whole ./opera folder. When you reinstall, it will recreate the folder with fresh error free settings.

Another alternative is to go to the Opera forum (I am assuming there is one) and ask there what file names contain the bookmarks(you might be able to do this your self by simply trying to open them with gedit). Save these and then delete the ./opera folder. Once the new folder is loaded under the new install, save the newly installed bookmark folder (with another name) and replace it with your old one (using the Opera official name). Assuming this is not the offending file, this should fix your problem.

Either of these will do the job, depending on how precious your bookmarks are to you. If it were me, I would take the first option and start my bookmarks again.

Best of luck
John

any file that starts with a dot(.) is a hidden file. type
to see also the hidden ./opera in your /home/<user> directory

Hi Jrecortel,

Kumusta,

Thanks for jumping in and helping.

Salamat.

John

walang anuman ;)

indy, you have to enter the commands like this,
then do
then do
then, go to our home folder, hit ctrl+h to show hidden files, and delete your .opera folder there, that will remove the settings you had, and start from scratch again.