I have run into some issues with apt-get -
When trying to install php5, it always installs version 5.2.10.
So I downloaded the package and compiled and installed from source.
This does not remove/overwrite the old package and instead installs the package somewhere else.
Now I have two versions - cli 5.3.2 and cgi 5.2.10 and two different copies.
So I went on to remove the old one - apt-get remove php5 --purge
But nothing is purged. Both the builds are still there and localhost still shows php version 5.2.10 using phpinfo(). Cli still shows php version 5.3.2
So I go and remove all php files manually /etc/php5, some under /usr/local, some under /usr/share etc.
localhost still shows php 5.2.10
Please note that I had restarted apache everytime I did something.

In the end I decided to remove apache too and compile both php and apache from sources so I can get can php v 5.3.2 on localhost
I removed apache2 using apt-get remove
localhost still worked. Restarted apache, localhost still worked.

Well, it would be great if someone can tell me:
1. what exactly does apt-get remove do? and what is the --purge option for?
2. what is the default installation directory for apt-get?
3. what is the default installation directory for installation from source?
4. Which one is the place where actual installed file "should" reside (normally, as per linux design)?
4. what would we need to do to tell apache of the new version of php?
5. can I get the latest version of php by editing apt sources.lst file?
6. Will there be a third kind of installation if I use some other method like dpkg?

any help is much appreciated!
thanks,
sushil

If I were you I would start again with a clean install. Aptitude update and aptitude upgrade to bring everything up-to-date, then aptitude install php5 should give you version 5.3.2 in Ubuntu 10.4.

To vaguely answer your questions, purge is to remove configuration files. There is no set installation directory, files for different purposes are put into their corresponding folders (for documentation, executable files etc).

Hey jsteel
thanks for your reply.
>>If I were you I would start again with a clean install.
I completely agree with your suggestion. But the problem is that I have not been able to uninstall the earlier version of apache, and I am not sure how to go about going that. Even after removing it using
apt-get remove
it still works perfectly!
So before I re-install, it I want to make sure that earlier version is removed.
Can you help me with how to uninstall apache fully? I intend to reinstall it using source.