Score:0

Ubuntu

Removed ppa: where have the packages gone?

Drubbels

12/16/22, 12:48 PM

I tried installing something to make a PlayStation 3 DualShock controller work on my Ubuntu 20.04 machine:

drubbels@drubbels:~$ sudo add-apt-repository ppa:falk-t-j/qtsixa
drubbels@drubbels:~$ sudo apt update
drubbels@drubbels:~$ sudo apt upgrade
drubbels@drubbels:~$ sudo apt install qtsixa

It did not make the controller work, unfortunately, so I chose to uninstall. I did not think to purge the qtsixa package before removing the repository:

drubbels@drubbels:~$ sudo add-apt-repository --remove ppa:falk-t-j/qtsixa

I can no longer uninstall, or even find (using apt list --installed and dpkg --get-selections), qtsixa now (re-adding the repository does not make it reappear).

Was it removed along with the ppa? Or does it now exist invisibly on my machine as some kind of unfindable 'phantom' package?

1 + 3

package-management

apt

dpkg

ppa

repository

nobody

12/16/22, 2:16 PM

when you use ppa-purge to remove a ppa packages will be replaced with the version from ubuntru sources, and if packages are not availlable (from there) will be removed.

N0rbert

12/16/22, 6:11 PM

Does this answer your question? [What can I do if a repository/PPA does not have a Release file?](https://askubuntu.com/questions/866901/what-can-i-do-if-a-repository-ppa-does-not-have-a-release-file)

Drubbels

12/16/22, 11:02 PM

@N0rbert No, at least I don't see how.

Score:3

Ubuntu

sleepyhead

12/16/22, 2:05 PM

If you have installed a package from a PPA, but then removed the PPA, I believe the files remain on the system. You can prove me right/wrong by executing the list statements below.

APT retrieves the packages and DPKG installs them. The packages themselves can be found on launchpad and you can see in the buildlog which files are included in the packages

https://launchpadlibrarian.net/194241587/buildlog_ubuntu-vivid-amd64.qtsixa_1.5.1+git20130130-0~vivid2_UPLOADING.txt.gz

Inside that buildlog, at the bottom, you will see lines that start with chroot which list all the files in the package

chroot-autobuild/build/buildd/sixad_1.5.1+git20130130-0~vivid2_amd64.deb:
drwxr-xr-x root/root         0 2015-01-07 14:18 ./var/lib/sixad/
-rwxr-xr-x root/root     26936 2015-01-07 14:18 ./usr/sbin/sixad-raw
-rwxr-xr-x root/root      6176 2015-01-07 14:18 ./usr/sbin/hidraw-dump
-rwxr-xr-x root/root     23048 2015-01-07 14:18 ./usr/sbin/sixad-bin

If qtsixa is still installed, you should have binaries starting with sixad in /usr/sbin and in /usr/share a directory with qtsixa

ls -la /usr/sbin/sixad*
ls -la /usr/share/qtsixa/

If none of these return anything, the application was removed. otherwise the buildlog contains all the file locations related to qtsixa.

0 + 3

Rinzwind

12/16/22, 2:17 PM

" I believe the files remain on the system." IF there are versions in the repositories that are still active otherwise the software is removed ;-)

Drubbels

12/17/22, 8:50 AM

Hi, I can't find `/usr/share/launchpad-buildd/slavebin/slave-prep`. There is no `launchpad-buildd` in my `/usr/share` folder. But I have looked in `/usr/sbin` and `/usr/share` and there are no `sixad` or `qtsixa` directories there, so I assume everything is alright.

sleepyhead

12/18/22, 10:41 AM

Filipe Coelho built his package in launchpad, so that you could install it on your machine through the PPA as a DEB package, you won't have the build on your machine, but the buildlogs that are online shows the files inside the DEB. for instance /usr/bin/qtsixa If you don't have that file the package has been removed, otherwise this package seems harmless, if you don't use it, it's just clutter.