Ubuntu – Uninstall package compiled from source

install-from-sourceuninstall

This question extends this one, where the advice is to use checkinstall in the future.
Sound advice, but I wonder if it is possible to just repeat the compile process and then store the list of files to be install the second time around, and then script removal according to the outcome of the list from the second make install?

Or alternatively, if checkinstall is used to install the same package, will the files overwrite the ones from the first build and accordingly, be removable by the package manager?

Best Answer

Yes, if there is no make uninstall, make install can help finding installed files.

Running make install again and capturing the output gives you the list of installed files, as part of the log output, where you could use it 'manually' or extract it.
If you no longer have the build directory, it should also work when you start over from downloading the source again, ideally the same version.

To capture normal and error output, and see it while running, use:

sudo make install 2>&1 | tee makeinstall.log

I see no reason the same should not work with checkinstall.

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