gnustep folder permanently delete [SOLVED]

[ckonn]

hi,

today i saw in my user directory a new folder called 'GNUstep'. i was very surprised because there was no such folder until now. i have opened it. there were 2 other folders, both empty. i have deleted ''GNUstep' folder and closed my user directory.

after this i have opened the user folder and the 'GNUstep' was there again. ... and again, and again ...

how can i delete this 'GNUstep' folder permanently?

thanks in advance

[xenopeek]

I assume it's being created by a GNUstep program you're using. Could that be the case? Try searching in Synaptic whether you have any gnustep packages installed, or from the terminal with command:
dpkg -l | grep gnustep

[ckonn]

the output from
dpkg -l | grep gnustep
is

Code: Select all

ii  gnustep-base-common                                         1.24.0-1ubuntu3                                     all          GNUstep Base library - common files
ii  gnustep-base-runtime                                        1.24.0-1ubuntu3                                     amd64        GNUstep Base library - daemons and tools
ii  gnustep-common                                              2.6.2-2.1ubuntu1                                    amd64        Common files for the core GNUstep environment
ii  gnustep-gui-common                                          0.22.0-1ubuntu2                                     all          GNUstep GUI Library - common files
ii  gnustep-gui-runtime                                         0.22.0-1ubuntu2                                     amd64        GNUstep GUI Library - runtime files
ii  libgnustep-base1.24                                         1.24.0-1ubuntu3                                     amd64        GNUstep Base library
ii  libgnustep-gui0.22                                          0.22.0-1ubuntu2                                     amd64        GNUstep GUI Library

what will happen if i delete all these packages?

[xenopeek]

These are just libraries and likely were installed for a program that uses them. Easiest way to see which is by simulating removal of these libraries; any programs that depend on them would be removed as well. It's just a simulation, it won't actually do anything — just lets you know what it would do if you ran the command without simulate.

Try running this simulate command from the terminal:
apt-get --simulate purge gnustep*

Share its output here if you want help figuring out.

[ckonn]

the output from
apt-get --simulate purge gnustep*
is

Code: Select all

Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree       
Reading state information... Done
Note, selecting 'gnustep-make' for regex 'gnustep*'
Note, selecting 'gnustep-common' for regex 'gnustep*'
Note, selecting 'gnustep-dl2' for regex 'gnustep*'
Note, selecting 'libgnustep-base1.24-dbg' for regex 'gnustep*'
Note, selecting 'gnustep-dl2-sqlite-adaptor' for regex 'gnustep*'
Note, selecting 'gnustep-back0.22-art' for regex 'gnustep*'
Note, selecting 'gnustep-base-common' for regex 'gnustep*'
Note, selecting 'gnustep-devel' for regex 'gnustep*'
Note, selecting 'gnustep-gui-common' for regex 'gnustep*'
Note, selecting 'gnustep-back0.22' for regex 'gnustep*'
Note, selecting 'gnustep-back-common' for regex 'gnustep*'
Note, selecting 'libgnustep-dl2-0d' for regex 'gnustep*'
Note, selecting 'libgnustep-base1.20-dbg' for regex 'gnustep*'
Note, selecting 'gnustep-gui-doc' for regex 'gnustep*'
Note, selecting 'gnustep-fslayout-fhs' for regex 'gnustep*'
Note, selecting 'gnustep-core-devel' for regex 'gnustep*'
Note, selecting 'libgnustep-gui0.20-dbg' for regex 'gnustep*'
Note, selecting 'gnustep-gpbs' for regex 'gnustep*'
Note, selecting 'libgnustep-base-dev' for regex 'gnustep*'
Note, selecting 'libgnustep-gui-dev' for regex 'gnustep*'
Note, selecting 'gnustep-core-doc' for regex 'gnustep*'
Note, selecting 'gnustep-base-doc' for regex 'gnustep*'
Note, selecting 'gnustep-examples' for regex 'gnustep*'
Note, selecting 'libgnustep-base1.22-dbg' for regex 'gnustep*'
Note, selecting 'gnustep-gui-runtime' for regex 'gnustep*'
Note, selecting 'libgnustep-base1.24' for regex 'gnustep*'
Note, selecting 'gnustep-icons' for regex 'gnustep*'
Note, selecting 'gnustep-make-doc' for regex 'gnustep*'
Note, selecting 'libgnustep-gui0.22-dbg' for regex 'gnustep*'
Note, selecting 'gnustep' for regex 'gnustep*'
Note, selecting 'gnustep-back0.22-cairo' for regex 'gnustep*'
Note, selecting 'libgnustep-dl2-0' for regex 'gnustep*'
Note, selecting 'gnustep-dl2-postgresql-adaptor' for regex 'gnustep*'
Note, selecting 'libgnustep-dl2-dev' for regex 'gnustep*'
Note, selecting 'libgnustep-gui0.22' for regex 'gnustep*'
Note, selecting 'gnustep-base-examples' for regex 'gnustep*'
Note, selecting 'gnustep-back-dbg' for regex 'gnustep*'
Note, selecting 'gnustep-games' for regex 'gnustep*'
Note, selecting 'libgnustep-gui0.18-dbg' for regex 'gnustep*'
Note, selecting 'gnustep-base-runtime' for regex 'gnustep*'
Note, selecting 'addresses-goodies-for-gnustep' for regex 'gnustep*'
Note, selecting 'gnustep-back0.22-alt' for regex 'gnustep*'
Note, selecting 'gnustep-common' instead of 'gnustep-fslayout-fhs'
Package 'libgnustep-base1.20-dbg' is not installed, so not removed
Package 'libgnustep-base1.22-dbg' is not installed, so not removed
Package 'libgnustep-dl2-0' is not installed, so not removed
Package 'libgnustep-gui0.18-dbg' is not installed, so not removed
Package 'libgnustep-gui0.20-dbg' is not installed, so not removed
Package 'addresses-goodies-for-gnustep' is not installed, so not removed
Package 'gnustep' is not installed, so not removed
Package 'gnustep-back-common' is not installed, so not removed
Package 'gnustep-back-dbg' is not installed, so not removed
Package 'gnustep-back0.22' is not installed, so not removed
Package 'gnustep-back0.22-art' is not installed, so not removed
Package 'gnustep-back0.22-cairo' is not installed, so not removed
Package 'gnustep-base-doc' is not installed, so not removed
Package 'gnustep-base-examples' is not installed, so not removed
Package 'gnustep-core-devel' is not installed, so not removed
Package 'gnustep-core-doc' is not installed, so not removed
Package 'gnustep-devel' is not installed, so not removed
Package 'gnustep-dl2' is not installed, so not removed
Package 'gnustep-dl2-postgresql-adaptor' is not installed, so not removed
Package 'gnustep-dl2-sqlite-adaptor' is not installed, so not removed
Package 'gnustep-examples' is not installed, so not removed
Package 'gnustep-games' is not installed, so not removed
Package 'gnustep-gpbs' is not installed, so not removed
Package 'gnustep-gui-doc' is not installed, so not removed
Package 'gnustep-icons' is not installed, so not removed
Package 'gnustep-make' is not installed, so not removed
Package 'gnustep-make-doc' is not installed, so not removed
Package 'libgnustep-base-dev' is not installed, so not removed
Package 'libgnustep-base1.24-dbg' is not installed, so not removed
Package 'libgnustep-dl2-0d' is not installed, so not removed
Package 'libgnustep-dl2-dev' is not installed, so not removed
Package 'libgnustep-gui-dev' is not installed, so not removed
Package 'libgnustep-gui0.22-dbg' is not installed, so not removed
The following package was automatically installed and is no longer required:
  libao4
Use 'apt-get autoremove' to remove it.
The following packages will be REMOVED
  gnustep-base-common* gnustep-base-runtime* gnustep-common*
  gnustep-gui-common* gnustep-gui-runtime* libgnustep-base1.24*
  libgnustep-gui0.22*
0 to upgrade, 0 to newly install, 7 to remove and 1 not to upgrade.
Purg gnustep-gui-runtime [0.22.0-1ubuntu2]
Purg libgnustep-gui0.22 [0.22.0-1ubuntu2]
Purg gnustep-base-runtime [1.24.0-1ubuntu3]
Purg libgnustep-base1.24 [1.24.0-1ubuntu3]
Purg gnustep-gui-common [0.22.0-1ubuntu2]
Purg gnustep-base-common [1.24.0-1ubuntu3]
Purg gnustep-common [2.6.2-2.1ubuntu1]
  

[xenopeek]

It appears nothing currently installed needs these libraries. You can go ahead and remove them. You do that with this command:
sudo apt-get purge gnustep*

[ckonn]

part of the output from sudo apt-get purge gnustep*
...

Code: Select all

(Reading database ... 336342 files and directories currently installed.)
Removing gnustep-gui-runtime (0.22.0-1ubuntu2) ...
Removing libgnustep-gui0.22 (0.22.0-1ubuntu2) ...
Purging configuration files for libgnustep-gui0.22 (0.22.0-1ubuntu2) ...
Removing gnustep-base-runtime (1.24.0-1ubuntu3) ...
Stopping GNUstep distributed object mapper: start-stop-daemon: unable to stat /usr/bin/gdomap (No such file or directory)
invoke-rc.d: initscript gdomap, action "stop" failed.
dpkg: error processing package gnustep-base-runtime (--purge):
 subprocess installed pre-removal script returned error exit status 2
Starting GNUstep distributed object mapper: start-stop-daemon: unable to stat /usr/bin/gdomap (No such file or directory)
invoke-rc.d: initscript gdomap, action "start" failed.
dpkg: error while cleaning up:
 subprocess installed post-installation script returned error exit status 2
Removing libgnustep-base1.24 (1.24.0-1ubuntu3) ...
Purging configuration files for libgnustep-base1.24 (1.24.0-1ubuntu3) ...
Removing gnustep-gui-common (0.22.0-1ubuntu2) ...
Removing gnustep-base-common (1.24.0-1ubuntu3) ...
Purging configuration files for gnustep-base-common (1.24.0-1ubuntu3) ...
Removing gnustep-common (2.6.2-2.1ubuntu1) ...
Purging configuration files for gnustep-common (2.6.2-2.1ubuntu1) ...
dpkg: warning: while removing gnustep-common, directory '/etc/GNUstep' not empty so not removed
Processing triggers for libc-bin (2.19-0ubuntu6.14) ...
Processing triggers for man-db (2.6.7.1-1ubuntu1) ...
Errors were encountered while processing:
 gnustep-base-runtime
E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)
  

i hope this 'Errors were encountered while processing:' is nothing to worry about.

[xenopeek]

One final command to delete the configuration directory it apparently didn't want to remove:
sudo rm -rf /etc/GNUstep/

The other errors looks harmless.

[ckonn]

the folder 'GNUstep' does not appear anymore in my user directory.

thanks a lot!

[xenopeek]

It doesn't answer why it got installed in the first place. But at least it's solved