How to remove a Gentoo package

Removing a package on Gentoo should start with Portage's dependency graph, not a force unmerge. A package may be selected by the world set, pulled in by another selected package, or needed by the current profile, and removing the wrong atom can leave a toolchain, login path, desktop, or service missing after the next cleanup.

Portage stores manually selected packages in /var/lib/portage/world. emerge –deselect removes a package atom from that selected set, and emerge –depclean calculates whether the package can be unmerged without breaking the remaining selected, system, and profile sets.

Use a full category/package atom, such as app-text/tree, when removing software. Run a pretend check before the destructive step, and keep a package with emerge –noreplace if the depclean list shows something that should remain installed for local workflows.

1. Open a terminal on the Gentoo system with sudo privileges.
2. Check the installed state of the package.

   $ emerge --search app-text/tree
   [ Results for search key : app-text/tree ]
   Searching...
    
   *  app-text/tree
         Latest version available: 2.2.1
         Latest version installed: 2.2.1
         Size of files: 56 KiB
         Homepage:      https://oldmanprogrammer.net/source.php?dir=projects/tree
         Description:   Lists directories recursively, and produces an indented listing of files
         License:       GPL-2
    
   [ Applications found : 1 ]

   Replace app-text/tree with the full package atom for the package to remove. If emerge –search shows [ Not Installed ], there is no installed package for that atom to remove.

3. Remove the package from the selected package set.

   $ sudo emerge --deselect app-text/tree

   –deselect changes selection state; it does not unmerge package files by itself.

4. Preview removal of the target package.

   $ sudo emerge --pretend --verbose --depclean app-text/tree
   Calculating dependencies... done!
    
   >>> These are the packages that would be unmerged:
    
    app-text/tree
       selected: 2.2.1
      protected: none
        omitted: none
    
   All selected packages: =app-text/tree-2.2.1

   Stop if depclean proposes removing packages that provide boot, network, login, compiler, kernel, or desktop functionality that should stay installed.

5. Unmerge the target package after the preview is correct.

   $ sudo emerge --ask --verbose --depclean app-text/tree
   Calculating dependencies... done!
    
   >>> These are the packages that would be unmerged:
    
    app-text/tree
       selected: 2.2.1
      protected: none
        omitted: none
    
   Would you like to unmerge these packages? [Yes/No]

   Answer No when the selected list includes packages you still use. Add a package back to the world set with sudo emerge –noreplace category/package before rerunning depclean.

6. Preview dependency cleanup after the target package is gone.

   $ sudo emerge --pretend --depclean
   Calculating dependencies... done!
   >>> No packages selected for removal by depclean
   >>> To see reverse dependencies, use --verbose

   Run this check without a package atom to find dependencies that became orphaned after the target package was removed.

7. Remove orphaned dependencies only when the preview list is safe.

   $ sudo emerge --ask --depclean

   Broad depclean can remove any installed package that is no longer reachable from the world, system, or profile sets. Review every package before approving the unmerge.

   Related: How to update a Gentoo world set

8. Rebuild preserved-library consumers if Portage reports preserved libraries after removal.

   $ sudo emerge --ask @preserved-rebuild

   @preserved-rebuild rebuilds packages that still link against libraries preserved after an unmerge.

9. Verify that the package is no longer installed.

   $ emerge --search app-text/tree
   [ Results for search key : app-text/tree ]
   Searching...
    
   *  app-text/tree
         Latest version available: 2.2.1
         Latest version installed: [ Not Installed ]
         Size of files: 56 KiB
         Homepage:      https://oldmanprogrammer.net/source.php?dir=projects/tree
         Description:   Lists directories recursively, and produces an indented listing of files
         License:       GPL-2
    
   [ Applications found : 1 ]