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I have a custom package installed on my Ubuntu 10.10, and trying to remove it, I got:

$ sudo dpkg -r package
sub-process script post-installation installed returne an error state 127

(the message returned from the command was translated from portuguese(br).

So, I noted that on the installation script of this package, what it did was create an entry on my startup, create a folder on /opt and create a user.

I removed all it created. But now, I just want to remove it from dpkg list, because I want to make my linux like if I never installed this package.

How can I do this?

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2 Answers 2

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65

You may need to manually remove the package using:

sudo dpkg --purge --force-all package

Replace package with the name of the package.

Do note: its recommended to report a bug if the package is not yours or is unknown to you what the script does.

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0
41

trying to remove xmail with dpkg --purge --force-all xmail failed because the pre-removal script was exiting with a failure attempting to stop the xmail daemon. I found the solution here:

specifically, I edited /var/lib/dpkg/info/xmail.prerm and changed || exit $! to || true

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  • 1
    I don't understand the downvote. the other solution doesn't cover all cases, and this provides some help for the remainder.
    – jcomeau_ictx
    Apr 7, 2016 at 13:47
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    If I have to guess, you answer "failed because the pre-removal script", this questions is about the "post-installation" script. You aren't answering the currently asked question.
    – Braiam
    Apr 7, 2016 at 23:34
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    I had a problem with the pre-removal script and this helped me.
    – Bogdan Calmac
    Dec 8, 2017 at 19:32
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    As one can expect, if editing *.prerm files is too tedious, you can delete them as well - uninstallation process works with them missing
    – psukys
    Jan 24, 2018 at 10:30
  • thanks, didn't know that! that's worth a separate answer, if you want to do so.
    – jcomeau_ictx
    Jan 25, 2018 at 4:04

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