How to uninstall .deb binaries?

[Linuz]

Hi all,

I own an all-in-one Epson ET-3760 prinnter/scanner.

The printer is already connected to my local network and my desktop machine running linux mint 19.3 cinnamon is connected to the router directly via ethernet.

The simple scan app that comes pre-installed with Linux Mint did not recognize any scanners directly connected to my PC or on my network. It looks like I need to acquire the driver files from EPSON directly, which include some binary blobs, because EPSON doesn't want to release free software drivers for their devices, unfortunately

Found the drivers for my system here by typing "ET-3760"

It says there I can download the "Scanner Driver" version 6.6.2.4 for Linux, which is an "all-in-one package" released July 1, 2021 as of the time of creating this thread here on the forum.

The 64-bit version I downloaded is called "epson-inkjet-printer-escpr2_1.1.38-1lsb3.2_amd64.deb"

If I install this .deb binary file, which includes proprietary software, how easily can I remove it? Can that be done using the GUI or terminal? Would I need to keep the original .deb file around in my downloads folder if I wish to remove everything it installed later?

Thank you!

[Moonstone Man]

how easily can I remove it?

Easily.

Can that be done using the GUI or terminal?

You should be able to locate it and remove it in synaptic's GUI.

Would I need to keep the original .deb file around in my downloads folder if I wish to remove everything it installed later?

Only if you intend to reinstall it. If you don't wish to use it again, logic dictates that it can be deleted. If you keep an application installed via a .deb package, logic dictates that one ought to consider saving it so you don't have to go searching for it again.

[djph]

If I install this .deb binary file, which includes proprietary software, how easily can I remove it? Can that be done using the GUI or terminal? Would I need to keep the original .deb file around in my downloads folder if I wish to remove everything it installed later?

Quite easily, as pointed out by Kadaicha Man
In the even that it's not in Synaptic, you can use dpkg -r [installed package name] from the terminal.

[Hoser Rob]

All the tools used to install a .deb (I almost always just right click and select open with gdebi) are just front ends for apt. So as mentioned it's not any dfferent from installing the packages you installed from the software manager or synaptic or in the terminal with apt-get.

[Termy]

...

Remember the case. You mean APT, as apt(8) is itself a command-line front-end to APT, where APT is a series of command-line tools like apt-get(8) and apt-cache(8). I think gdebi(1) is just a front-end to dpkg(8), as installing a local package doesn't at all need APT.

You can think of it as layers of an onion, from core to surface:

dpkg(8) and associated tools
APT tools
front-ends like apt(8) and aptitude(8)
graphical front-ends like Synaptic Package Manager
graphical front-end Software Centers

However, that's not to say that your Software Manager, for example, is based on Synaptic Package Manager, or that Synaptic Package Manager is based on apt(8), as that wouldn't make sense, but it does work well with the onion analogy, if you think of it as layers of abstraction. What makes the most sense, is for tools to use the associated libraries or dpkg(8) and associated tools and/or APT for its core functionality, whether graphical or textual.

I write some APT-ish tools myself, such as apt-history(1) and apt-undo-install; they primarily or solely use APT. Sometimes it's just the library files (IE: the DebianLinux PERL module for image_list()), sometimes it's just the executables themselves (IE: apt-get), and other times it might be a mixture of the two.