RPM uninstall issue.....

[Petros Koutoupis]

I am not having this problem currently but I have had it a couple of times in the past and the reason why I write this is because a fellow employee is having this issue. When I try to install an rpm and it does not install properly (sometimes it does though) using the rpm -i [filename] command....I was unable to uninstall them when using rpm -e [filename]. I would get a message saying something along the lines of 'This package has not been installed'; but when I go back to install it, it tells me something like 'This packages is already installed'. Anybody else have a resolution to this issue. Thank you in advance.

[techieMoe]

The problem is more than likely because when you try to uninstall an RPM, (for instance foobar1.2.3.rpm) you are trying to use the full name of the RPM. You do not do this when removing a package. For instance:

rpm -i foobar1.2.3.rpm

and

rpm -e foobar

If you're not sure what your system calls an installed package once it's installed, you can look at the installed package names with rpm -q, if I'm not mistaken.

[Petros Koutoupis]

I do thank you for the quick response....but this is not the issue. I have installed and uninstalled many rpm(s) in my day and this situation has only happened to me twice. So it is not a question of syntax. It may be along the lines of forcing the package off...am I overlooking certain flags in the man pages or is there something else that I should know?

[sirclif]

once installed the rpm package will not be refered to by the filename. so, for instance, i have gqview installed on my machine that i installed from a file named gqview-2.0.0-1.i386.rpm. to install it i ran:

> rpm -i gqview-2.0.0-1.i386.rpm

if i want to remove the package, i cant do

> rpm -e gqview-2.0.0-1.i386.rpm

because that is not the package name, instead its just:

> rpm -e gqview

you can see if a package is installed by using the -q option.

>rpm -q gqview
gqview-2.0.0-1

if the package is installed the package name and version number are printed, if not, it will say the package is not installed. generally the package name is the same as the rpm filename without the version number and rpm extension. however, you can get information from the .rpm file, includeing the package name, with the flags -q (query the rpm), -i (print some information about the rpm) and -p (use an rpm file rather than looking for an installed package) so...

>rpm -qip gqview-2.0.0-1.i386.rpm

would print out some information about the rpm file, includeing what the package name is. you can then use this to uninstall the package.

hope this wasn't too much information...

[techieMoe]

I do thank you for the quick response....but this is not the issue. I have installed and uninstalled many rpm(s) in my day and this situation has only happened to me twice. So it is not a question of syntax. It may be along the lines of forcing the package off...am I overlooking certain flags in the man pages or is there something else that I should know?

You can force an install with -f, I'd have to look at the man page again to see if you can force a remove. But then again if your syntax is off it won't matter, since you can't force uninstall a package that your system doesn't think exists.

[sirclif]

sorry, i was replying while you responed to the first suggestion.

if it is telling you that the package is not installed, then i don't think it would know what to do if you gave it a force flag. If the problem is that it says some other package depends on the one your trying to remove, you can give it a flag to disregaurd any dependencies.

that said, if you just want to remove the package from our computer, you could just delete all the files the rpm installs. you can find that with the -l option.

>rpm -qlp gqview-2.0.0-1.i386.rpm

will list all the files the rpm installs

you then will have the problem of telling the rpm package database that a package has been uninstalled, which im not familiar with doing, but i've heard people doing it.

[Petros Koutoupis]

once installed the rpm package will not be refered to by the filename. so, for instance, i have gqview installed on my machine that i installed from a file named gqview-2.0.0-1.i386.rpm. to install it i ran:
> rpm -i gqview-2.0.0-1.i386.rpm
if i want to remove the package, i cant do
> rpm -e gqview-2.0.0-1.i386.rpm
because that is not the package name, instead its just:
> rpm -e gqview
you can see if a package is installed by using the -q option.
>rpm -q gqview
gqview-2.0.0-1

As I said...syntax is not the issue. I have that down no problem and when I throw the -q option....it shows me the package(s). But uninstalling them was a different story....I would write rpm -e foobar with NO rpm extension and unfortunately never worked (on those two cases or so). As I said in the first post...it would tell me that the packages was never installed. I should have clarified a little more in the beginning.

You can force an install with -f, I'd have to look at the man page again to see if you can force a remove. But then again if your syntax is off it won't matter, since you can't force uninstall a package that your system doesn't think exists.

Unfortunately there is no force flag that I see and f is:

-f, --file FILE
Query package owning FILE.

Also....

that said, if you just want to remove the package from our computer, you could just delete all the files the rpm installs. you can find that with the -l option.

>rpm -qlp gqview-2.0.0-1.i386.rpm

That is what I have been doing...locating and deleting manually. I was just hoping for someone else experiencing this problem to help me find an easier way for a situation like this. Once again...I thank you all for the help.

[techieMoe]

Unfortunately there is no force flag that I see and f is:

       -f, --file FILE
              Query package owning FILE.

Sorry, the proper option is --force, not -f. Different utility.

[Petros Koutoupis]

Aaahhh I overlooked it. Sometimes I have a tendency of paging down real quick when looking through manuals or docs...focusing on key things. And even using the search command.....I just didn't think about it. I concentrated on /-f.
Thank you once again.

[sirclif]

well, if it has just randomly happend once or twice over the last several years, i am at a loss as to what may cause it. it could be that the person that built the rpm forgot to include something.