Score:1

How to remove packages with unknown names

cn flag

I made the grave mistake of running the command sudo apt-get install -y games-minesweeper thinking it would only install one game. It ended up installing like 30 or so games:

installed games

The problem is i can't uninstall these packages since they don't show up in the Ubuntu software app, and running:

sudo apt-get remove games-minesweeper

only returns:

Package 'games-minesweeper' is not installed, so not removed

I've also tried to run sudo apt-get remove <AppName> and it hasn't found any of the games' packages by the name of the application.

I've tried to also run sudo apt-get remove <Debian Package ID> and it hasn't found any of the games' packages by that either.

How do i uninstall these packages, or find out their package name? so i can run sudo apt-get remove

uz flag
Jos
Look in `/var/log/apt/history.log` to find out what exactly was installed.
schrodigerscatcuriosity avatar
au flag
Welcome, [this will shed some light about what is happening](https://askubuntu.com/questions/66257/what-is-the-difference-between-a-meta-package-and-a-package).
javier1zq avatar
cn flag
@Jos Thanks, I've removed all of the packages that got installed when i ran the command
javier1zq avatar
cn flag
@schrodigerscatcuriosity Thank you, i was not aware of this concept and it would have helped prevent this.
Score:0
zw flag

You have to locate their package names by using commands like

dpkg -S $(grep -r Penguins --include=*.desktop /usr/ 2> /dev/null --files-with-matches)

where grep -r Penguins --include=*.desktop /usr/ 2> /dev/null --files-with-matches running recursive search for Penguins in /usr folder and list the names of found *.desktop files. Then dpkg -S … finds corresponding package names for found files.

Penguins… came from ace-of-penguins package. Remove them with

sudo apt-get remove ace-of-penguins
javier1zq avatar
cn flag
I agree with this method, but in my specific situation it was more effective to check `/var/log/apt/history.log` as @Jos mentioned and see what specific packages were installed with the command i ran and remove them.
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