Uninstall Program not in AUR: Target not Found

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2

Incidentally, when I do an ls, it finds the program with the exact name. Frustrating.

3

It is not installed - Java applications are usually self-contained.

4

Would that mean I need to uninstall Java, then re-install?

5

You are mistaking how installation (and uninstallation) works:

  • Merely downloading an (archived) application and extracting it does not install it.
  • If you do install that application system-wide, using an installation script provided, then it is installed, but not as a package.
  • pacman is a package manager, for installing and removing packages.

Thus:

  • The target not found message from pacman means there is no package with that name installed. So you can’t use pacman for removing it.
  • If you used a provided installation script for installing, you should also have an uninstallation script to use.
  • If you simply use that application by launching it from its folder, then it is likely not “installed” at all, and you can remove it by deleting that folder.

ls does not find programs, it lists files and folders.
https://www.man7.org/linux/man-pages/man1/ls.1.html

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6

Ok, but that the frustrating part. It is installed because I’ve been using it for the last few days. As I said it crashed, thus the need to uninstall and re-install. Perhaps the crash uninstalled it?

7

Technically, any application can be run without being actually installed on a system.

1 Like
8

Did you install it like this?

This isn’t a package that is installed using pacman/pamac (it doesn’t even exist as a package).

You should seek help from the application developer, as we cannot know what you did/how you did it so you could be

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10

In this case, no error message. It simply froze and when I went to close said program not responding, Upon trying to get in again, it was just a white screen with the menu button at top left hand corner (allowing to resize, etc). It would never go beyond that. But no error message

If the program wasn’t installed, as suggested, perhaps it wasn’t the program that crashed as much was the program crashed Java. Thus I wonder if I need to reinstall java (version 18 BTW)?

11

You need to ask CalenGoo’s support, not us.

1 Like
12

… link to the program - so everyone knows what this is about?

So, how did you “install” that program?

It’s a kind of important question you need to clarify and need to be clear about what that means yourself.

I think you are just starting it from where you put it’s files.

Programs create configuration files, to store the settings that you changed.
Usually in the “hidden” ~/.config directory

Your program likely is not installed (it’s files not copied into system owned folders)
and you surely did not use pacman to “install” it.

… else you would be able to remove it with:
pacman -R $program_name

If you want to get rid of it, just delete the program.
If you want to start with a clean slate - remove the cache and altered configuration files (see above).

13

@maycne.sonahoz
emojis somehow do not talk to me
and when I think they do, I get it right only about 50% of the time :wink:

14

The installation instructions were to install Java, then download the program, unzip it, then click on the executable icon, and voila. Incidentally, I did delete the program, re-unzipped to no avail. I’ll try the folks at Calengoo. I learned some things here today. Thanks for the effort guys

15

so that you can actually run the program …

to which location? likely somewhere in your $HOME directory …

it’s not “installed” - it’s just there and can be executed from where it’s files are

because the configuration files it created (and which might have changed)
while it was running
are still present.

remove those to start over

16

it unzipped to my Downloads folder into a file “CalenGoo-Java14-Linux”. In that file is the executable calengoo.sh

So, how do I delete the config files? (bear in mind, I’m not a novice, but not much more than that)

17

places to look at are:
~/.config
~/.cache
or “hidden” directories with the programs name
like:
~/.CalenGoo ( I made this up - it’s an example …)

18

OK, when I type ~/.calengoo in the terminal, it switches to ~/.calengoo. Maybe we’re making progress? What do I do from there? BTW, thanks so much for your time and consideration

19

remove that directory - but don’t forget to look at the other (at least two) places I mentioned :wink:

and don’t just
re-unzip it (to start over)
remove the directory it was unzipped into
before you do

use a file manager that will show you easily the “hidden” directories - those starting with a . (a dot)
any file manager will do that - if you tell it to do so

a console file manager like mc will do it by default …

20

A little tip: CTRL + H hides and shows dot files/folder at you file manager.

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Ok, first, when I type ~/.config it just switches to that, same for cache. How do I remove the directory, and where do I find the file manager? Again, apologies for the ignorance

22

… what is a file manager?
nahh - I think that is easy enough for you to figure out yourself
sorry

you don’t want to do that indiscriminately - as this will erase all your configurations - not just the one of that particular program