Uninstalling Software in Debian Server

To uninstall a software on Debian server, run

apt remove PKG_NAME

Example

To all installed software with specific name, run

dpkg-query -l PKG_NAME

Example

root@lab:~# dpkg-query -l 'nginx*'
Desired=Unknown/Install/Remove/Purge/Hold
| Status=Not/Inst/Conf-files/Unpacked/halF-conf/Half-inst/trig-aWait/Trig-pend
|/ Err?=(none)/Reinst-required (Status,Err: uppercase=bad)
||/ Name           Version          Architecture Description
+++-==============-================-============-=========================================================
ii  nginx          1.14.2-2+deb10u3 all          small, powerful, scalable web/proxy server
ii  nginx-common   1.14.2-2+deb10u3 all          small, powerful, scalable web/proxy server - common files
un  nginx-doc                        (no description available)
un  nginx-extras                     (no description available)
ii  nginx-full     1.14.2-2+deb10u3 amd64        nginx web/proxy server (standard version)
un  nginx-light                      (no description available)
root@lab:~#

In above list, packages start with

ii = installed
un = currently not installed on the server

When you uninstall a package, it won’t remove all config files, such packages list as uninsalled (un). To completely delete a package, its config file and data, use

apt remove --purge PKG_NAME

Example

apt remove --purge apache2

After removing a software package, you may need to run apt autoremove to remove any unused dependency.

apt autoremove