Skip to content
Maurits edited this page Nov 13, 2024 · 7 revisions

Welcome to the uninstaller wiki!

We are working on the documentation. This is a work in progress

Intro

Installing apps is easy, just run a package. But what about removing/uninstalling the app? Not every developer creates an uninstaller script or removal tool so the idea for uninstaller was born.

What does uninstaller do?

uninstaller.sh removes software including preferences, license info, cache files, etc. It will not remove user data.

Why do you want to uninstall software?

This can be usefull during troubleshooting unstable software: First completely uninstall the software before a reinstallation. Also if you want to automate a removal of software, for example after the migration to a different application. In some cases a software upgrade will fail if an older version is not fully uninstalled.

How does uninstaller work?

Run the uninstaller.sh script with the softwarename as the only required argument. For example

uninstaller.sh firefox

Example output for this command:

% sudo .uninstaller.sh firefox
2024-11-13 21:11:01 Uninstaller started - version 2024-10-31 (build: Thu Oct 31 20:30:20 CET 2024)
2024-11-13 21:11:01 FireFox - Running preflightCommand
2024-11-13 21:11:01 Uninstalling FireFox - LaunchDaemons
2024-11-13 21:11:01 Uninstalling FireFox - LaunchAgents
2024-11-13 21:11:01 Checking for blocking processes...
2024-11-13 21:11:01 Found no blocking process...
2024-11-13 21:11:01 Uninstalling FireFox - Files and Directories
2024-11-13 21:11:01 Removing directory /Applications/Firefox.app...
2024-11-13 21:11:01 Removing file /Users/maurits/Library/Preferences/org.mozilla.firefox.plist
2024-11-13 21:11:01 Removing file /Users/maurits/Library/Caches/Mozilla/updates/Applications/Firefox/macAttributionData
2024-11-13 21:11:01 Removing directory /Users/maurits/Library/Caches/Firefox...
2024-11-13 21:11:02 Removing directory /Users/maurits/Library/Saved Application State/org.mozilla.firefox.savedState...
2024-11-13 21:11:02 Running FireFox - postflightCommand
2024-11-13 21:11:02 Checking for receipt..
Forgot package 'org.mozilla.firefox' on '/'.
2024-11-13 21:11:07 Uninstaller Finished

User interface

There is no user interface from uninstaller.sh by design. It is designed to be triggered from your management tool, typically from the self-service portal. Please send us examples how you implemented the uninstaller.sh in your favorite management tool

Further info

On the 19th of june 2023, Erik Stam and Sander Schram presented about this uninstaller script during the Dutch Macadmin meeting. The PDF of the Uninstaller Presentation.pdf is included in this repo.

Please see the wiki pages on the right for more details

Can i help by adding new software labels?

YES! We encourage everyone to contribute to this project. You can add new labels in a github fork and create a pull request. Or you create an issue and put your code in there so we can add it later.

See the wiki page How can I add my own Titles to the script