Monday, November 10, 2014

How to install and uninstall program on Lubuntu

How to install and uninstall program on Lubuntu

Alright, in this article i will show you how to install and uninstall program /software /application on lubuntu. This tutorial is for beginners, so if you are already know then you're not a beginner anymore.

Okay, first of all to install and uninstall (add/remove) software on lubuntu, you got two choices, through command line or using GUI (graphical user interface).

How to install and uninstall using GUI
For graphical (GUI), you can use synaptic package manager same as on ubuntu, on lubuntu you can find it through lubuntu start menu > System Tools > Synaptic Package Manager.



If you don't like using GUI, you can always use the command line, open up the command line/console/terminal by pressing CTRL + ALT + T.

The command to manage software package on lubuntu is called apt (advanced packaging tool).

How to add/install software from the command line
To install an application, simply use apt-get install, and of course you will need to run it as root (use sudo command).
sudo apt-get install [the name of the software]
Example
sudo apt-get install lynx-cur
sudo apt-get install vim

Make sure you know the exact name of the software package, otherwise it won't work, and remember lubuntu is case sensitive, make sure you type correctly.


How to remove/uninstall software from the command line
To remove/uninstall an application, you can use two commands, apt-get remove or apt-get purge, like this:
sudo apt-get remove [the name of the software]
Example:
sudo apt-get remove lynx-cur
sudo apt-get remove vim

And as for apt-get purge, is like this:
sudo apt-get purge [the name of the software]
Example:
sudo apt-get purge lynx-cur
sudo apt-get purge vim

NOTE:
Sometimes you also need to run additional command to remove unused packages:
sudo apt-get autoremove
or
sudo apt autoremove



What's the different between apt-get purge and apt-get remove?
So what's the different between apt-get remove and apt-get purge? well, apt-get remove will removes an installed package, leaving configuration files intact.

While apt-get purge, will completely removes a package and the associated configuration files. That means apt-get purge is more cleaner.

There many other apt command that you can learn, but that would be on different article.

2 comments:

  1. Instructions Not Detailed Enough. Where is the uninstall button in the GUI?

    By command Prompt, when does user initiate the rest of the commands for the uninstall? It prompts for password, but password does not enter. I tried the command line again apt-get purge but do i follow it up with the rest of the commands or do I press enter and enter the next sequence?

    Not Detailed Enough.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. there is no uninstall button, select the package name you want to install/remove and then click on the checkbox or do right click with your mouse.

      on command prompt you need to enter your root password, otherwise won't work, there will be confirmation to continue or not, you can answer with y or n (y means yes, n means no)

      Delete