this might (i hope) be an easy question.. what do people do normally to uninstall programs they've compiled and installed with "make install" as opposed to rpm?

hopefully theres no a TOO difficult/time consuming way to do this?
it seems all too often the latest greatest software app isnt available as an RPM so I'm left to compile and install manually..

any help/suggestions to reading material welcome -- thank you!

You rm the programs.

I've seen, on occasion, some programs will actually have a make uninstall, not many, but some.

"this might (i hope) be an easy question.. what do people do normally to uninstall programs they've compiled and installed with "make install" as opposed to rpm?"

I avoid the problem by useing checkinstall to create a rpm version of the program. After you have installed checkinstall all you have to do is:

./configure
make
checkinstall

and then install the rpm in the normal way.

For programs that you have already installed using make install there is a way to remove them using checkinstall. You go through the procedure of installing the program using checkinstall. When you install the checkinstall created rpm it will install the rpm package on top of the make install package. Then when you use:
rpm -e packagename

the package disappears.

http://freshmeat.net/projects/checkinstall/

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Steve Stites

`checkinstall` is definitely the way to go but if you didn't use it to install the program, you can't use it to remove it can you

What you need to do is, as Technoslave said, `rm` the program files. This can sometimes be easy if they were installed in /usr/local/ and all the files are easily identifiable. Sometimes, though, an install strews files all over the place: libs, binaries, manpages, etc. That can be a hard thing to remove completely.

Usually, though, unless you have a conflict with something you can leave an app where it is and just stop using it. If you are getting a conflict with another installer then delete the files it's conflicting with.

Yes this will clutter your system, which is why you should start with `checkinstall` from now on

PS Big apps like OpenOffice tend to install themselves in a distinct folder that you can just rm.

"`checkinstall` is definitely the way to go but if you didn't use it to install the program, you can't use it to remove it can you"

Yes, you can. I explained how in my post.

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Steve Stites

cooool. will check it out (checkinstall). glad i asked that one! that has been in back of my mind for months. i am testing out exchange4linux and it puts on ton of extra dependant packages so ill try the checkinstall method of uninstalling it thanks all again!!

jailbait > Woops! I only read the beginning of your post (typical mistake).