how to uninstall program?

[eugene_6]

recently installed some programs.. in tar zipped files
using make, make install..
(i don't know what they r , just followed install instruction)
by the way, some of them turned out not the programs that i want..
so i want to uninstall it..
can u help me?

thank you!

[Santosh Nair_1]

Unfortunately, the only way to remove program(s) that have been installed in this manner, i.e. make; make install, is to find all the files that make install put and individually remove them. Since the program was not installed using a package manager, e.g. rpm, there is no automated way to remove the program.

You'll probably have to do another make install to find all the files that were installed and then individually remove them.

-Santosh

[eugene_6]

hmm,
if i unpacked gz.tar file under /usr/local/mysql

and i found i installed it in a wrong way,
can i just install again?
or do i have to delete them all and install?
and if i have to delete them before reinstalling, can i just delete : rm -r /usr/local/mysql
?

thank you!

[Santosh Nair_1]

When you say you installed it the wrong way how do you mean?

If you mean that you untarred everything under /usr/local/mysql and then did a make ; make install, then chances are that the software was installed under /usr/local. The /usr/local/mysql directory is only the build area and deleting it would only get rid of the build area, not the software that was actually installed. You can try doing a make -n install which should show what files get installed and where they were installed.

Hope this helps.

-Santosh

[eugene_6]

for the mysql program,
i asked my friend to install it.
next day, i found out that there is an install instruction on the vendor web site, and also some test instruction to see if it's installed properly...
so i tested my installation. seemed like there's an error while testing.
so i dicided to install it again by myself. that was why i asked that question..

there were 3 installation method, binary, source, rpm..
i think he used binary type....(there's no make, make install while using that method) so i assumed i could just delete the /usr/local/mysql..
i hope my assumption was right.

.......
and i know how to install & uninstall rpm pakages
(just use package manager=))

but there r many programs i installed using "make & make install" (i think this is by using source code.. right?)

here's another question.

when i install this way,
first i untar the source code under some directory. and make..make install..

Question 1 :then the files that i untarred are just like files that ms window programs use when they intall?(build area?)
and
Question 2 :actual programs r installed under different directory?(like c:\program files\someprogram)
Question 3 :you said..to get rid of the actual program, try "make -n install" and delete all files copied.. then installation process is just copying? what is the output when i "make and make install"? my guess is, the installation program look at my system , get info & source & object code and then compile & link with the files under build area..
if my guess is right, can u give me one example of what information they need to compile & link?

thank a lot..
Eugene Kim

[Santosh Nair_1 · Accepted solution]

That's a lot of questions, but I'll try to answer them all :-):

1. When you untar the file, its just like unzipping them under Windows...they're not "installed".

2. When you do the make install (after compiling the source), the programs get installed, usually under the /usr/local hierarchy. The windows install programs are more like installing the binaries using a package manager in that there is no compile phase.

3. Your guess is correct. Most public domain software uses something called autoconfig which goes and determines your system's features. These programs go through three stages; 1. the configure stage, where it figures out your systems abilities using autoconfig, 2. the compile stage, where it actually builds the binaries, and 3. the install stage where the binaries get copied to their final destination and permissions are set on the binaries.

autoconfig is a bunch of shell scripts which generate small test programs to see if your system has certain libraries, header files, etc. For example if the program need gnome libraries, then it will make a small test program, try to link and build it with the gnome libraries and report back whether it was sucessful or not.

Hope this helps.

-Santosh

[Marco Paganini]

Hello eugene

A very very good program (I can't live without it) is checkinstall (http://asic-linux.com.mx/~izto/checkinstall-en.html)

This program is an absolute must have for RedHat users. What is does is simple: Whenever you compile a package, instead of the traditional

make
make install

you do

make
checkinstall

Checkinstall will do the 'make install' for you, but with an added bonus: It will record every modification made to the system and generate a 'RPM' file for you! The RPM will be under /usr/src/redhat/RPMS and will already be installed.

This is the cleanest way to compile your own programs and be able to de-install them later (also, you can move the RPM to another system and install it there. A real sweet).

Cheers,
Paga

[Eugen Cocalea]

Hi,

in the future, check if 'make uninstall' option exist, before removing by hand. Not usualy, but many programs have 'make install' and the reverse, 'make uninstall', that will simply delete everything that was added and leave no sign whatsoever that the software was there :)

E.

[jeffery12345]

i have programs that needs to be unstalled. how do i do this?