Uninstalling Realplayer in CentOS 4.3

A_Complete_Idiot · 07-24-2006, 09:42 PM

Can anyone tell me how to delete "Realplayer" from CentOS 4.3? Realplayer doesn't work properly (clicking on any button in the player requires about 20 seconds to execute) and installing it crashed the sound on lots of apps (not all). No matter what I try, I can't get rid of it.

YUM claims it's not installed, even though it is:

Quote:

No Match for argument: realplayer
No Packages marked for removal

# rpm -e realplayer gives only:

Quote:

error: package realplayer is not installed

The Add/Remove Package Tool can't find realplayer, either.

I'm about ready to re-install CentOS just to get rid of Realplayer, but I haven't yet because I can't back up my personal data files. The CD/DVD burner program crashes every time I try to use it:

Quote:

Error writing to CD
There was an error writing to the CD
Unhandled error, aborting

The CD/DVD burning problem also began (apparently) immediately after installing realplayer. I have about 800 MB of personal data I'm about to lose because of this crash.

I know Windows well, but I'm a total idiot when it comes to Unix and Linux. Is it common for programs to bring down parts of the OS like this?

reddazz · 07-25-2006, 04:14 AM

Code:

$rpm -qa | grep -i real

That produces the following output,

Code:

RealPlayer-10.0.7-10

If you get similar results, uninstall RealPlayer by doing

Code:

#rpm -e RealPlayer

A_Complete_Idiot · 07-25-2006, 11:51 AM

Thanks, reddaz, but that didn't work. Here's what happened:

Quote:

[root@localhost drconti]# rpm -qa | grep -i real
RealPlayer-10.0.7.785-20060201
[root@localhost drconti]# rpm -e RealPlayer
ls: /usr/local//share/locale: No such file or directory
[root@localhost drconti]#

Any other ideas?

(RealPlayer really is installed. It even plays things - sort of).

reddazz · 07-25-2006, 01:42 PM

You probably have a borked installation. Reinstall realplayer using "rpm -Uvh --nodeps --force" and then uninstall it using the method I posted above.

A_Complete_Idiot · 07-26-2006, 12:05 AM

Just wanted to thank reddaz and update anyone who was curious about this problem.

Unfortunately, I was unable to uninstall with "rpm -Uvh RealPlayer". CentOS continued to insist "No such file or command". Interestingly, searching for RealPlayer with the file search tool also failed to locate RealPlayer, even though it showed up as a menu item in Gnome under "Applications>Sound and Video" and actually did launch and even (sort of) run. I finally had to bite the bullet and just reformat the hard drive and install another operating system.

It's possible that I screwed things up by installing the wrong rpm file or possibly the wrong codecs for RealPlayer for CentOS 4.3 (I was trying to get it to play mp3s). Xmms had been working until I installed RealPlayer, then it went through the motions as if it were playing songs, but no sound whatsoever. The weird thing about this is that I'm pretty sure RealPlayer destroyed CentOS's CD/DVD burner tool, which also stopped working immediately after I installed RealPlayer. I couldn't find any way to return CentOS to a prior "Set Point" to undo whatever it was I screwed up.

I did try to be very careful to pick the right rpms and dependencies for my installation of RealPlayer, but I really don't understand the package management thing yet. I'll be back after I've had a chance to learn the basic Unix command set.

A_Complete_Idiot · 07-26-2006, 12:15 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by reddazz

You probably have a borked installation. Reinstall realplayer using "rpm -Uvh --nodeps --force" and then uninstall it using the method I posted above.

P.S.: Reddaz, you're British and you use the verb "to bork" ?!? I thought that was an American thing!

From Dictionary.com:

Quote:

Main Entry: Bork
Part of Speech: verb
Definition: to seek to obstruct a political appointment or selection; also, to attack a political opponent viciously
Etymology: from the incident involving Robert Bork, US Supreme Court nominee in 1987
Usage: politics

reddazz · 07-26-2006, 04:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by A_Complete_Idiot

P.S.: Reddaz, you're British and you use the verb "to bork" ?!? I thought that was an American thing!

From Dictionary.com:

I'm not British. I'm African but have lived in Britian on and off for about 8 years.

I didn't know about Robert Bork, so thanks for the info. My use of the word borked is influenced by the meaning in the Urban dictionary (take a look here).