Re: how to remove a package ?

[Lee Braiden <jel@tundra.ath.cx>]

On Wednesday 11 May 2005 19:32, belahcene wrote:
> I tried to instal a package ( openoffice 2.0 beta ) , it failed for
> incomplete resource, so I want to remove, because I can't install
> anyting it always gives me the error tied with this package.
> I tried  apt-get remove, it says that it can't find the package. The apt
> system is broken,  how to fix it, and force the removing of the package ?
> thank you very much
> bela

Are you *sure* you have the package name correct?  Try

   apt-cache search openoffice

and, if that fails:

   apt-cache search oo

To see if you can find the package under a different name from what you 
expect.  You'll have to have it exactly right, or apt-get won't recognise it.

If you are *sure*, then you can try the following.  However:

*BIG DISCLAIMER*:  If you screw up with this, or if you're doing this 
unnecessarily and break stuff, I won't be held responsible.  State the 
problem more clearly, with exact error messages etc., and we'll be more sure 
of what you should do to fix it.

That said, you might try:

  dpkg -L packagename

to get a list of the files it installed.  If that fails, try

  cat /var/lib/dpkg/info/packagename.list

If that too fails, you'll just have to manually uninstall it by deleting the 
relevant files.  One way to get that list of files is to look at the files in 
the package itself (apt-get -d packagename, then look in /var/cache/apt for 
the package.  If you know anyone with the *same* package, you can use 
their /var/lib/dpkg/info/packagename.list file.

Another option might be to make a fake entry for the package 
in /var/lib/dpkg/status, then try apt-get --purge remove again.

-- 
Lee.

Please send replies to the list, not to my email address.