Uninstalling an app on Ubuntu 20.04

[NeutronJK 0]

I have an app named "Video Downloader" which no longer works (and is apparently no longer supported).  So I installed "youtube-dl" and stopped using Video Downloader.   But I am unable to uninstall it.  I listed the packages installed via dpkg, apt-get and snap.  It isn't listed.  And if I right-click the app and select "Show Details" to bring up Gnome's Software app, it says "Sorry! There are no details for that application."   Can anyone tell how I can I just make this app stop appearing in Gnome's app list?

[Shahriar Shovon 5]

24 minutes ago, NeutronJK said:

I have an app named "Video Downloader" which no longer works (and is apparently no longer supported).  So I installed "youtube-dl" and stopped using Video Downloader.   But I am unable to uninstall it.  I listed the packages installed via dpkg, apt-get and snap.  It isn't listed.  And if I right-click the app and select "Show Details" to bring up Gnome's Software app, it says "Sorry! There are no details for that application."   Can anyone tell how I can I just make this app stop appearing in Gnome's app list?

Hi Neutron,
You should find a .desktop file for this app in the ~/.local/share/applications/ directory. Just remove the desktop file and restart your computer. The app should no longer show up in the Application Menu.

If you're having any difficulties,  you can post the output of the following command and I can help you.

$ ls -lh ~/.local/share/applications/

[NeutronJK 0]

Shahriar, 
I don't see a file corresponding to the Video Downloader app in that directory.  When I list the contents, I see:
neutronjk@Gaia2:~/.local/share/applications$ ls -lh
total 16K
-rw------- 1 neutronjk neutronjk 324 May  4  2020 chrome-aapocclcgogkmnckokdopfmhonfmgoek-Default.desktop
-rw------- 1 neutronjk neutronjk 330 Oct 24 09:38 chrome-apdfllckaahabafndbhieahigkjlhalf-Default.desktop
-rw------- 1 neutronjk neutronjk 323 Oct 24 09:38 chrome-pjkljhegncpnkpknbcohdijeoejaedia-Default.desktop
-rw-rw-r-- 1 neutronjk neutronjk   0 May  4  2020 mimeapps.list
-rw-rw-r-- 1 neutronjk neutronjk  13 Oct 24 09:38 mimeinfo.cache

After some digging, I found that the Video Downloader app is still supported.  So I downloaded the latest version via snap thinking it would overwrite the old version I had.  It didn't.  Now two apps appear in Gnome's app window (see attached image) - the newly installed one works fine and the second one doesn't work at all.  What I would like to be able to do is identify where the second instance is installed and remove that.

[Shahriar Shovon 5]

8 minutes ago, NeutronJK said:

Shahriar, 
I don't see a file corresponding to the Video Downloader app in that directory.  When I list the contents, I see:
neutronjk@Gaia2:~/.local/share/applications$ ls -lh
total 16K
-rw------- 1 neutronjk neutronjk 324 May  4  2020 chrome-aapocclcgogkmnckokdopfmhonfmgoek-Default.desktop
-rw------- 1 neutronjk neutronjk 330 Oct 24 09:38 chrome-apdfllckaahabafndbhieahigkjlhalf-Default.desktop
-rw------- 1 neutronjk neutronjk 323 Oct 24 09:38 chrome-pjkljhegncpnkpknbcohdijeoejaedia-Default.desktop
-rw-rw-r-- 1 neutronjk neutronjk   0 May  4  2020 mimeapps.list
-rw-rw-r-- 1 neutronjk neutronjk  13 Oct 24 09:38 mimeinfo.cache

After some digging, I found that the Video Downloader app is still supported.  So I downloaded the latest version via snap thinking it would overwrite the old version I had.  It didn't.  Now two apps appear in Gnome's app window (see attached image) - the newly installed one works fine and the second one doesn't work at all.  What I would like to be able to do is identify where the second instance is installed and remove that.

Did you install Video Downloader chrome extension? You can try reading the desktop files and see if it makes any sense.

Also, check the /usr/share/applications directory and see if you can find any relevant file/files. The desktop file should be in one of the directories. 

 

[Shahriar Shovon 5]

You can also try to find the desktop file that contains the string Video Download as follows:

$ grep -r 'Video Download' /usr/share/applications/ ~/.local/share/applications/

 

 

[NeutronJK 0]

I uninstalled the working version of the app, because troubleshooting is too hard with two separate but identically named apps installed.  Then, after some more digging, I found that I had apparently installed the app that had stopped working via flatpak.  I located a file in /var/lib/flatpak called "com.github.unrud.VideoDownloader".  I uninstalled it and rebooted the machine.  Then the broken app was totally uninstalled.   After that, I reinstalled the app.  In the course of doing that, when I ran the flatpak install via terminal, it said:

sudo flatpak install VideoDownloader
Looking for matches…
Found similar ref(s) for ‘VideoDownloader’ in remote ‘flathub’ (system).
Use this remote? [Y/n]: Y
Similar refs found for ‘VideoDownloader’ in remote ‘flathub’ (system):

   1) app/io.github.gustavoperedo.VideoDownloader/x86_64/stable
   2) app/com.github.unrud.VideoDownloader/x86_64/stable

The second one is the binary that isn't working (it's the same one I removed).  So I chose the first app.  It installed and now everything works fine.

I think my problem is that I need to chose one package manager and stick with it.  Installing from downloaded deb files, Ubuntu's software app, snap and flatpak have my head spinning.   Thank you so much for the guidance on this.

 

[Shahriar Shovon 5]

34 minutes ago, NeutronJK said:

I uninstalled the working version of the app, because troubleshooting is too hard with two separate but identically named apps installed.  Then, after some more digging, I found that I had apparently installed the app that had stopped working via flatpak.  I located a file in /var/lib/flatpak called "com.github.unrud.VideoDownloader".  I uninstalled it and rebooted the machine.  Then the broken app was totally uninstalled.   After that, I reinstalled the app.  In the course of doing that, when I ran the flatpak install via terminal, it said:

sudo flatpak install VideoDownloader
Looking for matches…
Found similar ref(s) for ‘VideoDownloader’ in remote ‘flathub’ (system).
Use this remote? [Y/n]: Y
Similar refs found for ‘VideoDownloader’ in remote ‘flathub’ (system):

   1) app/io.github.gustavoperedo.VideoDownloader/x86_64/stable
   2) app/com.github.unrud.VideoDownloader/x86_64/stable

The second one is the binary that isn't working (it's the same one I removed).  So I chose the first app.  It installed and now everything works fine.

I think my problem is that I need to chose one package manager and stick with it.  Installing from downloaded deb files, Ubuntu's software app, snap and flatpak have my head spinning.   Thank you so much for the guidance on this.

 

Hi, I don't think that the problem was caused by using different package managers. Look carefully at the flatpak options for the app you've downloaded. The same app is published by 2 different people (io.github.gustavoperedo and com.github.unrud) . You can install either of them or both of them as they are packaged by different people. It's just one did a better packaging than the other. So, one works and one does not. 

To avoid future problems, stick with the APT and the snap package managers as much as possible on Ubuntu 20.04 LTS. 

You're welcome. 🙂