How can I uninstall a deb package under Xenialpup ?

[illidan.modeler]

I have been a Ubuntu user for 10 years. I am trying out Xenialpup recently.

After a successful installation, I installed an opera browser deb with package installer (a tool with simple GUI, I did not notice its name), which was launched by double clicking on the deb file icon. When I tried to uninstall it, I found an empty list in puppy package manager in the dialog brought up by the "uninstall" button.

I also tried dpkg utility as apt was not available. dpkg reported missing of database files.

Simply, how could I possibly uninstall an installed deb package?

[musher0]

Hello "illidan.modeler".

Open a console and type "ppm". Or find it in the menu and click on it.

At the top you will see a rectangle with the word "ininstall".

Click on that.

A panel opens to the left with a list of all the packages you have installed with the
Puppy Package Manager (aka ppm).

If your opera *.deb was the last package you have installed, scroll down to the bottom
of the list. Highlight it and click the "uninstall" button at the bottom of the panel.

Wait a few seconds and that should be it. The name of the package disappears from the
install / uninstall list as confirmation that it has been removed.

(You can also click on the name field at the top of the install/uninstall panel to get an
alphabetical listing instead of a list by install time.)

IHTH.

[mikeslr]

Hi illidan.modeler,

Follow musher0's advice about using Puppy Package Manager to uninstall. If you have any doubts whether just uninstalling a "deb" has completely uninstalled all the files it contained, and the dependencies which were automatically installed along with it, look in /root/.packages for a file with the application's name. Note the "./dot" before 'packages'. It's a hidden folder. Click rox's Eye, or "show hidden files". The files within .packages are text files which will open in your text editor. Each contains a list of every file installed, and its location. [Probably unnecessary for Opera].

You may have discovered, that Opera, installed directly from Opera's Website or otherwise available as a .deb created for Ubuntu Xenial Xerus, didn't run under Xenialpup. That's because Puppies run as "root/administrator" while Opera --all web-browsers-- not built to run under Puppy refuse to be run by other than as a "permission limited user". You'll find in the Additional Software Section various browsers which have been reconfigured either to be run by "root", or more recently, "as Spot", a limited user built into Puppies. With some searching, you may also find discussions on how to reconfigure "Chrome-based browsers", such as Opera to run as root. Those discussions ended in about November 2017, when changes in Chrome-based-browsers rendered them useless. Hence, the change to running as Spot.

mikesLr

[musher0]

Hello again, nick21.

My answer focused on removing *.deb archives generally using the Puppy Package
Manager, but did not answer your "opera removal" problem. (I'm sorry about that.)

I downloaded the 64-bit opera-54 browser, unpacked it with UExtract and then ran
< tree -fi --no-report > from inside the directory UExtract had created. I got the attached
list of files.

If you cannot find the opera browser *.deb archive listed in the ppm, you can reclaim
most of the Puppy space by opening a console and typing:

Code: Select all

cd /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu
rm -f -R opera

or go to directory /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu with your file manager and erase directory
"opera". (Be careful not to erase anything else.) Then also erase (now dead) link "opera"
at /usr/bin to avoid any confusion.

You'll be left with opera icons plus very minor or decorative files scattered in secondary
directories, but you should get most of your space back.

IHTH.