uninstalling programs from source

contrasutra · 04-09-2003, 04:35 PM

Is there an easy or automatic way to uninstall a program you compiled from source?

I always want to uninstall a program before reinstalling it, but I dont feel like finding and deleting every directory. Thats the one thing I like about packages, easy to uninstall.

Tinkster · 04-09-2003, 04:43 PM

These days most source-tarballs will
also implement a "make uninstall", which
of course means that you're not supposed
to kill your source-directory after an install :}

Also, there's a few packages out there
that will allow you to keep track of installations,
do a search on the site (since I can't remember
the names of those) ;)

Cheers,
Tink

jailbait · 04-09-2003, 04:53 PM

Some tarballs come with a make command to uninstall themselves, most do not. I
solved this problem by using checkinstall to create RPM packages from tarballs.
You do the compile as normal. Instead of issuing make install you issue
checkinstall. checkinstall does the make install command for you. It also
creates and installs a RPM package. If you want to uninstall the package you
can do so with rpm. You can find checkinstall at:

http://asic-linux.com.mx/~izto/checkinstall/

contrasutra · 04-09-2003, 06:13 PM

Slackware doesnt use RPMs. Ill check for a make uninstall though, Ive been deleting source dirs, oh well.

Wynd · 04-13-2003, 01:33 AM

checkinstall can do Slackware and Debian packages as well as RPMs

makai_wi · 04-29-2003, 12:36 PM

Do you think if I creat an rpm using checkinstall and then install it and uninstall it I can remove already installed software? If I can do I need to have any flags forcing the replacement of files?

jailbait · 04-29-2003, 01:34 PM

Yes, I have used checkinstall to uninstall software originally installed with make install using the method you describe. I don't think that forcing the install is necessary. When you do an rpm -e it will remove whatever is there.

jailbait · 04-29-2003, 01:37 PM

If you do force the install I don't think that it will hurt anything.

banerji · 02-14-2004, 08:15 AM

I had a similar question, but decided to check out this thread first. I recommend RPMs, but "make uninstall" works just find if the source directories are not deleted. However, I don't know about how to uninstall stuff if the source were deleted.

jailbait · 02-14-2004, 09:16 AM

"However, I don't know about how to uninstall stuff if the source were deleted."

If you want to use make uninstall then unpack the tarball agian, cd to the proper directory, and make uninstall.

Or you can unpack the tarball, use checkinstall to install the package as a rpm, then rpm -e to remove the package.

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