Different type of package removal in Linux explained with examples. Learn package removal or un-install on yum or apt based system.
This article is part of YUM series. Other articles in this series can be found at below links :
- Package installation in Linux (YUM & APT)
- Package upgrade in RHEL
- Yum automatic updates
- How to download package using YUM or APT
We will be seeing how to uninstall package from YUM and APT based Linux systems. Package removal also knows as erasing package from system.
Package removal on YUM based system :
Removing package using yum
On YUM based system like Red Hat or Cent OS, package can be removed by supplying erase or remove argument to yum command along with package name. For example to remove telnet, we will use yum remove telnet
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 | # yum remove telnet Loaded plugins: amazon-id, rhui-lb, search-disabled-repos Resolving Dependencies --> Running transaction check ---> Package telnet.x86_64 1:0.17-60.el7 will be erased --> Finished Dependency Resolution Dependencies Resolved ============================================================================================================================================================= Package Arch Version Repository Size ============================================================================================================================================================= Removing: telnet x86_64 1:0.17-60.el7 @rhui-REGION-rhel-server-releases 113 k Transaction Summary ============================================================================================================================================================= Remove 1 Package Installed size: 113 k Is this ok [y/N]: y Downloading packages: Running transaction check Running transaction test Transaction test succeeded Running transaction Erasing : 1:telnet-0.17-60.el7.x86_64 1/1 Verifying : 1:telnet-0.17-60.el7.x86_64 1/1 Removed: telnet.x86_64 1:0.17-60.el7 Complete! |
Above output will be same even if you use yum erase telnet command. Before removing it will print package details to be removed on screen and ask for confirmation to avoid unwanted removals.
Removing package using rpm command
Same task can be achieved by using rpm command with erase (-e) option.
1 2 3 4 5 6 | # rpm -evh telnet Preparing... ################################# [100%] Cleaning up / removing... 1:telnet-1:0.17-60.el7 ################################# [100%] |
In above example we used -e (erase), -v (verbose) and -h (print has marks) along with name of package.
Package removal on APT based system :
Removing package using apt-get
On APT based systems like Ubuntu or Debian, package can be removed with apt-get remove <package_name> command. Note that like YUM this command dont support ‘erase’ option.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 | # apt-get remove telnet Reading package lists... Done Building dependency tree Reading state information... Done The following packages will be REMOVED: telnet 0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 1 to remove and 60 not upgraded. After this operation, 182 kB disk space will be freed. Do you want to continue? [Y/n] y (Reading database ... 81678 files and directories currently installed.) Removing telnet (0.17-40) ... Processing triggers for man-db (2.7.5-1) ... |
apt-get to asks for confirmation before removing package from system.
Removing package using dpkg
With debian package manager command i.e. dpkg, this can be done using –remove argument.
1 2 3 4 5 6 | # dpkg --remove telnet (Reading database ... 81678 files and directories currently installed.) Removing telnet (0.17-40) ... Processing triggers for man-db (2.7.5-1) ... |
See above output as it removes telnet.
Observe that dpkg or rpm commands dont ask for user confirmation before removing package.
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