How to uninstall a non .dmg or.pkg application

[#1]

Hello,

I would like to know how to uninstall a .app file. It is an old EFI Print Server Application called EFI Job Monitor XF.app. It is not a .DMG or .PKG that I created and I am not real familiar with scripting. Thanks!

Neal C. Smith IV

[#2]

What if it is a folder in the application file and it has the .app file and others in it?

[#3]

The tricky part is knowing if everything is self-contained within the application bundle, or if bits exist elsewhere. Many programs will create at least a preference (.plist) file. Others will put things into Application Support or their own subfolders within Library (user- and/or root-lvel). Some will include agents/daemons in StartupItems (deprecated)/LaunchAgents/LaunchDaemons. Others leave binaries and scripts in /usr/local and configuration files in /etc. If you've got the installer, you may be able to dig into it to get an idea of what gets dropped where during installation. (You may also be able to index it to create an uninstall policy.) You can also try using Composer or another tool like FSEventer to log what the installer is doing and reverse engineer from there. Otherwise it can be a bit of hunting around.

If it turns out to be a manual uninstall, you can usually script that in order to run it via policy or Remote. Something along the lines of

#!/bin/bash

rm –Rf <path to first file file/folder>
rm –Rf <path to second file/folder>

exit

will remove the specified files/folders. Just make sure you're careful about the paths (test!) and don't delete the wrong file(s) by accident.

-Charlie

-------------------------------------
Charlie Smith
Desktop Engineer
Information Services Department (ISD)
MIT Lincoln Laboratory
244 Wood St. Lexington, MA 02420
Phone: 781.981.0854
E-mail: charlie.smith at ll.mit.edu
-------------------------------------

[daworley]

On one computer that has that offending application, install Composer and do a snapshot package around the deletion of the salient files.

Now to get tricky: Does that application show up in the JSS Inventory? If so, make a smart group around that inventory item, and then scope the deletion package to that smart group.

[CasperSally]

Use composer and create a PKG or DMG of the app (just drag it to left side of the window should do it)?

[#6]

rm -rf "/path/to/Application.app"

If it's just the .app file, that command will remove it (replace /path/to/Application.app with the actual path, of course)

[CasperSally]

My mistake, I thought you were asking how to install, not uninstall.

[#8]

I would add that it would be very useful to surround the paths with quotes, to keep various characters from messing up your removal.