uninstalling software and recovering memory

[Rcayot]

I recently installed some software after updating and upgrading my Pi 4b. After realizing that although the software worked, my DSLR was not completely supported as it would not remote acquire an image.

Anyway, the software folders do not contain an uninstall.sh file. Is there a more generice way tro uninstall this software as outlined here?

https://pimylifeup.com/raspberry-pi-dsl ... a-control/

Thanks for any help.

Roger

[rpdom]

No, there is no generic way to uninstall software that you have built and installed from source.

Ideally there would be a "make uninstall" option provided with the software, but I don't see once from a quick look over the code.

Perhaps raise an issue on that github repo as the maintainer is the person who is most likely to advise correctly.

[rh73]

The software OP installed is gphoto2, which seems to be possible to install per 'apt-get install xyz'. It's just that he followed instructions how to build it from source to get an updated version. I have no idea how apt-get works exactly to be honest, so forgive me if the following suggestion is dumb: assuming the list of installed files is similar, would it be possible to remove it with 'apt-get remove'? Or does apt-get keep track of the exact files it installed itself, and removing thus not possible? Would it be possible to extract a list of affected files with a kind of "dry run" of 'apt-get remove' (piped into a text file) just to check which files it would touch?

[rpdom]

would it be possible to remove it with 'apt-get remove'? Or does apt-get keep track of the exact files it installed itself, and removing thus not possible?

apt keeps track of which packages are installed and what files they use (the package .deb file contains this info). If you install something outside of apt and then ask apt to remove it, it will just say that the package isn't installed.

Even if you tried to use apt to install the package and then remove it, it will complain about the files and probably leave many behind as they are in different locations.

[scruss]

You can likely reverse most of it with:

* comment out the line you added in step 7

* do step 8

* go back to the folder you ran sudo make install in step 6, and try sudo make uninstall

[Rcayot]

Scruss,

Did as you suggested, uninstall ran through a bunch of items but all returned "nothing for uninstall to do" or similar.

Roger

[scruss]

Is there still a gphoto2 command you can enter on the command line? If not, then it did uninstall things.

Not every source package comes with a "make uninstall". I gave what typically works. To find out exactly what works, I'd have to run through the whole install process, and I'm not going that far.

If there's really no uninstall option (it would say something like "No rule to make "uninstall"), do

Code: Select all

make -n install

and go through the output, removing/uninstalling all the files that it installs. It's not always easy to follow, and you may break things. TBH, if there's still enough space, I'd just leave it. More work to remove than the value of the storage.

[Rcayot]

OK, I ran a gphoto2 command that used to work, and not it does not. I also ran the Add/Remove software from the Debian Desktop. I queried gphoto2, saw three packages come up, and removed them.

Didn't get back much if any room on SD card though.

Roger

[scruss]

No, you're not. They're not huge packages. Deleting the gphoto source tree might be the biggest return