Purging PPA's

Linux Support
1

I have a load of PPA’s that need purging but I don’t know which ones. Is there a way I can get a list of the PPA’s I need to purge somehow?

2

To get them in the format you need for ppa-purge … here’s a script you can run:

gedit ~/installed-ppa-list.sh

When an empty fie opens, make it read:-

#! /bin/sh 
# listppa Script to get all the PPA installed on a system ready to share for reininstall
for APT in `find /etc/apt/ -name *.list`; do
    grep -o "^deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/[a-z0-9\-]\+/[a-z0-9\-]\+" $APT | while read ENTRY ; do
        USER=`echo $ENTRY | cut -d/ -f4`
        PPA=`echo $ENTRY | cut -d/ -f5`
        echo ppa:$USER/$PPA
    done
done

SAVE the file and close gedit

run:

chmod +x ~/installed-ppa-list.sh

then

cd ~

then

./installed-ppa-list.sh

that should return the ist you’re after.

3

Done it and I get pooky2483@pooky2483-ubuntu12:~$ gedit ~/installed-ppa-list.sh

ppa:jeffreyratcliffe/ubuntu
ppa:transmissionbt/ppa
ppa:atareao/atareao
ppa:plushuang-tw/uget-stable
ppa:webupd8team/rhythmbox
ppa:gnaservicesinc/gnaservicesinc
ppa:dns/gnu
ppa:jconti/recent-notifications
ppa:screenlets/ppa
ppa:ubuntu-wine/ppa
ppa:awauck/digikam-latest
ppa:webupd8team/y-ppa-manager
ppa:samba-team/ppa
ppa:musicbrainz-developers/stable
ppa:libreoffice/ppa
ppa:banshee-team/ppa
ppa:jeffreyratcliffe/ppa
ppa:tualatrix/ppa
ppa:webupd8team/themes
ppa:shutter/ppa
ppa:nemh/gambas3
ppa:ubuntu-x-swat/x-updates
ppa:stellarium/stellarium-releases
ppa:stebbins/handbrake-releases
ppa:otto-kesselgulasch/gimp
ppa:ferramroberto/precise
ppa:webupd8team/java
ppa:i-nex-development-team/stable

So, how do I know which ones to purge?

4

you don’t … not without working out what’s been installed from each of them … which won’t be easy

You could purge them all, and cross your fingers that takes you back to default … but IMHO that could be risky.

Your call, but I still reckon a OS reinstall is probably a safer bet.

5

Gonna have to leave it for now s that Hd I mentioned before was dead so I can’t do anything yet, until I can get hold of a new Hd.