Ubuntu – Are (uninstalled) packages listed in the “Local” repository (in Synaptic) after an upgrade

synapticupgrade

I just upgraded a computer from 10.10 to 11.04 using the do-release-upgrade command. (This was the first time I've actually done an upgrade.) I had a few PPA's in my setup, which got removed from my configuration during the upgrade. I've gone back and re-added those PPA's (like Thunderbird stable and Flash 11), and updated and upgraded. Now when I look in Synaptic, I see a lot of "orphaned" (?) packages in the "Local" origin. I can "Mark for Complete Removal" on those packages, but then I can't "Apply" those changes. What's going on here? Is it possible to clean these out to make the system "clean?"

Local Origin in Synaptic

Best Answer

OK, this seems to be the answer:

http://johnlewis.ie/remove-residual-config-files-in-ubuntu-a-one-liner/

aptitude -F %p search '~c' | xargs dpkg -P

I tried putting something together just like this, but based on deborphan, and I might have left my system in a partially borked state. I'll start another question on that.

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