Cannot remove emacs

ratman1 · 09-14-2012, 10:27 PM

Hi

This may be a strange question, and there is probably a very logical answer for it that I have not yet come across, but here it is.

I installed emacs with a simple

Code:

apt-get install emacs

and after a while decided that I did not need it so I removed it (purged it) with

Code:

apt-get purge emacs

That should have worked, right? Emacs should have been uninstalled and purged of any configurations.

However, just out of curiosity, I did a search for emacs related files with

Code:

find / -name "emacs"

This returned a list of files:

Code:

/usr/local/share/emacs
/usr/bin/emacs
/usr/lib/emacs
/usr/share/emacs
/var/lib/dpkg/alternatives/emacs
/etc/alternatives/emacs
/etc/emacs

Why are those files there if I removed emacs? Also, typing emacs at the terminal starts emacs. I thought I removed it!

My only thoughts are that the package "emacs" is merely a dummy package that further installs the "proper" emacs packages.

Please help, I am getting quite confused as to how to properly remove emacs.

cortman · 09-14-2012, 10:31 PM

Code:

sudo apt-get purge emacs23

?? That is a bit odd.

ratman1 · 09-14-2012, 10:41 PM

That did the trick of removing the emacs program itself, so now it doesn't start when I type emacs at a terminal. Thanks

Code:

>> find / -name "emacs"
/usr/local/share/emacs
/usr/lib/emacs
/usr/share/emacs
/etc/emacs

They are all just directories - should I just delete them? The /usr/share/emacs had a lot of files in it, 2234 in fact. Considering emacs is no longer installed, I am guessing I won't need those files any more.