When dealing with software installed through the classic ./configure && make && make install process, uninstallation becomes a manual process since no package manager (like RPM or Yum) tracks these files. This is particularly common with libraries like OCILIB that are compiled from source.
Most well-behaved Makefiles include an uninstall target. Try:
# cd /path/to/oci/source # make uninstall
If this works, you're done. But when (as in our case) this target doesn't exist, we need manual approaches.
The smart approach is to record file installations during make install. For future installations, consider:
# make install DESTDIR=/tmp/oci-install # find /tmp/oci-install -type f > oci_files.txt # cp -r /tmp/oci-install/* /
This gives you an uninstall manifest. For current cases, we'll need to reconstruct this.
Based on standard Unix conventions and OCILIB's documentation, these are the typical locations to check:
# Common locations to remove: rm -f /usr/local/lib/libocilib* rm -f /usr/local/include/ocilib.h rm -f /usr/local/bin/oci_* # Also check these Oracle-specific paths: rm -f /usr/lib/oracle/11.2/client64/lib/libocilib*
For future source installations, use installwatch to track file operations:
# yum install ltrace # installwatch -o install.log make install
This creates a log of all installed files for easy removal later.
Before uninstalling, check what depends on OCILIB:
# ldd /usr/bin/your_program | grep ocilib # updatedb # locate libocilib
This helps avoid breaking dependent applications.
After uninstallation, verify with:
# updatedb # locate ocilib | grep -v source # ldconfig -p | grep ocilib
These commands should return empty results if uninstallation was successful.
When installing the new version, consider using checkinstall instead of make install:
# yum install checkinstall # ./configure [your options] # make # checkinstall
This creates an RPM package that can be cleanly uninstalled later.
When dealing with software compiled from source using the standard ./configure, make, make install sequence, you're left without package manager tracking. Unlike RPM or DEB packages, these installations don't register with yum/rpm, making uninstallation non-trivial.
The most reliable method is to examine the Makefile for uninstall targets. For OCILIB specifically:
# Navigate to original source directory cd /path/to/ocilib-source # Check for uninstall target make -n install # Shows what files were installed make -n uninstall # If available
If no uninstall target exists, you'll need to manually track installed files:
# Common installation locations to check find /usr/local/lib -name "*ocilib*" find /usr/local/include -name "ocilib*" # Typical library paths ls -l /usr/local/lib/libocilib*
Since OCILIB links with Oracle libraries, you may want to verify linkage:
ldd /usr/local/lib/libocilib.so | grep oracle
For a typical OCILIB installation:
# Remove libraries sudo rm -f /usr/local/lib/libocilib.* # Remove headers sudo rm -rf /usr/local/include/ocilib # Remove pkg-config files if present sudo rm -f /usr/local/lib/pkgconfig/ocilib.pc # Clean up documentation sudo rm -rf /usr/local/share/doc/ocilib
Consider using checkinstall instead of make install for better tracking:
sudo yum install checkinstall ./configure make sudo checkinstall
After uninstallation, verify no traces remain:
updatedb locate ocilib | grep -v "source.*ocilib"