add/remove programs GUI? Am I missing something?

[Tom_ZeCat]

I downloaded an Ubuntu/Debian package to install a screenwriting program named Trelby. I wanted to uninstall it and googled how to do it, figuring Trelby would have a command line way to do it. I didn't have any luck finding such a way to uninstall. However, some sites talked about an add/remove programs GUI available in Kubuntu from the Desktop. I didn't find it there. I also looked in Computer ==> System Settings, which is the logical place for it, IMO. I did not find it there either.

I was finally able to uninstall it with the Muon Package Manager, something which surprised me since I didn't install it via Muon.

Am I missing something? Does Kubuntu have an add/remove programs GUI similiar to the one in the Windows Control Panel?

[Snowhog]

No. Any .deb package that is installed, even if installed via the command line for with Gdebi (the .deb installer that gets used when double-clicking on a downloaded .deb package via the browser) gets recorded in Muon. The graphical way of installing/uninstalling packages is with Muon (the default Package Manager).

[Tom_ZeCat]

Okay, thanks, so I found it. Is it the same in straight Ubuntu? I'm only curious because I might get into Linux software development. I used to write free software (meaning monitarily free, not GNU) for Windows with MS Visual BASIC 6. You would write a program that runs when compiled as an executble, but then bundle it into an install package that included all file dependencies and that created for the user both had an option to uninstall under the Programs folder and via the Add/Remove in the Control Panel. It was an involved enough process that most developers used third-party software just to create their install packages.

What I've noticed thus far of Linux install packages so far all of them I've seen are TINY and install very QUICKLY! Then the application itself uses up very few system resources. This is blowing my mind especially after having developed software for Windows.

[claydoh]

Okay, thanks, so I found it. Is it the same in straight Ubuntu? I'm only curious because I might get into Linux software development. I used to write free software (meaning monitarily free, not GNU) for Windows with MS Visual BASIC 6. You would write a program that runs when compiled as an executble, but then bundle it into an install package that included all file dependencies and that created for the user both had an option to uninstall under the Programs folder and via the Add/Remove in the Control Panel. It was an involved enough process that most developers used third-party software just to create their install packages.

Creating deb packages is not difficult on the surface, but can be rather complicated overall, but this work makes the dependency resolving and other package management tasks easy in the end.

What I've noticed thus far of Linux install packages so far all of them I've seen are TINY and install very QUICKLY! Then the application itself uses up very few system resources. This is blowing my mind especially after having developed software for Windows.

This is quite a bit due to the way packages are created, compiled and built against the libraries that already exist on one's system, or those in the official repos. The downside is that packages generally do not work (easily) across distros, and often across different versions of the same distro.

[Tom_ZeCat]

Creating deb packages is not difficult on the surface, but can be rather complicated overall, but this work makes the dependency resolving and other package management tasks easy in the end.

This is quite a bit due to the way packages are created, compiled and built against the libraries that already exist on one's system, or those in the official repos. The downside is that packages generally do not work (easily) across distros, and often across different versions of the same distro.

Visual BASIC did some of that. I would pack all its dependency files in with the installer and then set it to check the user's computer to see if it already had them. If it did, then it would not install them. If not, then it would. Sometimes I ran across compatibility issues when a computer would have those dependency files, but a different version, for example, if the person had installed an app written in an earlier version of VB. So then you could check the version and upgrade those dependency files and all would be fine ... IF Microsoft handled backward compatibility perfectly with them. Otherwise, your app would work and the older VB app would be broken.

I later moved on to REALbasic (now known as Xojo) which was a lot like VB, but didn't mess around with dependency files by default. It just compiled everything it needed into one executable. It basically made all apps portable. You could just stick the exe file on a Windows machine and it would run. The install packages were way simpler. Just put that file in a folder, make the program icons, and uninstaller. I grew to prefer working that way because I knew my app would never screw up another app on the person's PC.