Table of Contents
Ubuntu - Packages - Purge a package
Aptitude is preferred, but other approaches can be used if desired.
Using aptitude
Issue the command:
sudo aptitude purge package_name
To purge multiple packages at the same time, separate each package_name with a space.
Use the remove option instead to only remove the package but leave the configuration files. This may or may not be the desired effect, so use with caution.
sudo aptitude remove package_name
Using dpkg
Issue the command:
sudo dpkg --purge package_name
To have dpkg ignore dependencies use this instead:
sudo dpkg --purge --ignore-depends package_name
NOTE: "--ignore-depends" used to be named "--force-depends".
If more than one package needs to be ignored, separate them with commas:
dpkg --purge --ignore-depends=package1,package2 package_name
WARNING: Uninstalling packages using dpkg, in most cases, is NOT recommended.
It is better to use a package manager that handles dependencies to ensure that the system is in a consistent state.
For example using dpkg -r zip will remove the zip package, but any packages that depend on it will still be installed and may no longer function correctly.