Completely uninstalling ffmpeg

Question

I need help uninstall ffmpeg. The problem is, I can't remember what method I used to install it. But I've already done uninstalling through apt using sudo apt-get remove ffmpeg libav. Thing is, even after this, ffmpeg is still useable:

$ ffmpeg -version
ffmpeg version 0.11.1
built on Jul 26 2013 14:07:44 with gcc 4.7.2
configuration: --enable-gpl --enable-libfaac --enable-libmp3lame --enable-libopencore-amrnb --enable-libopencore-amrwb --enable-libtheora --enable-libvorbis --enable-libx264 --enable-libxvid --enable-nonfree --enable-postproc --enable-version3 --enable-x11grab
libavutil      51. 54.100 / 51. 54.100
libavcodec     54. 23.100 / 54. 23.100
libavformat    54.  6.100 / 54.  6.100
libavdevice    54.  0.100 / 54.  0.100
libavfilter     2. 77.100 /  2. 77.100
libswscale      2.  1.100 /  2.  1.100
libswresample   0. 15.100 /  0. 15.100
libpostproc    52.  0.100 / 52.  0.100

I'm using the ffmpeg version, not the libav one:

$ ffmpeg
ffmpeg version 0.11.1 Copyright (c) 2000-2012 the FFmpeg developers
  built on Jul 26 2013 14:07:44 with gcc 4.7.2
...

I've tried using ffmpeg to convert a short .mp4 video into a .avi video and it still works. The reason I want to uninstall it is so that I can reinstall a newer version that supports the pattern-type option. With my current version, I get:

Unrecognized option 'pattern_type'
Failed to set value 'glob' for option 'pattern_type'

Here's the output of some commands that might help:

$ sudo find / -name 'ffmpeg' -type d
/home/andrew/vlc-2.1.0/contrib/src/ffmpeg
/home/andrew/OpenCV/opencv-2.4.5/3rdparty/ffmpeg
/usr/local/share/ffmpeg


$ which ffmpeg
/usr/local/bin/ffmpeg


$ sudo apt-get remove ffmpeg libav-tools
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree       
Reading state information... Done
Package 'ffmpeg' is not installed, so not removed
Package 'libav-tools' is not installed, so not removed
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 7 not upgraded.

Please assist!

Solution 1

It is rather obvious that you installed ffmpeg not from a package. Then you may simply get rid of it by renaming it,

 sudo mv /usr/local/bin/ffmpeg /usr/local/bin/ffmpeg_old

and you are now free to install the new package.

Solution 2

The command to remove a package and its dependencies in Ubuntu is "apt-get autoremove package"

See the documentation: here

What this command actually removes will depend on how you installed ffmpeg's dependencies. If the dependencies are manually marked then autoremove will leave them alone. If, however, you installed ffmpeg and let it pull in its dependencies without explicitly installing those then autoremove should remove them without fuss.

So, the command you are likely looking for is - at a terminal prompt - "sudo apt-get autoremove ffmpeg"

Solution 3

Locate where FFmpeg file is stored. A common place to store FFmpeg is /usr/local/bin/ffmpeg

If not in that directory type: locate ffmpeg

Then use the rm along with the path it's found

sudo rm /usr/local/bin/ffmpeg

Comments

[headkase]

Also, did you compile ffmpeg from source and install it with "make install"? Because if you did then it is not tracked by apt. In that case that is what would lead to the ffmpeg binary still being on your system after the remove command. If you did do that, then if you still have the make files hanging around you can do "make uninstall" to purge the files apt doesn't know about.

[Andrew]

I've already run sudo apt-get autoremove ffmpeg, but it says Package 'ffmpeg' is not installed, so not removed. I might've installed it from source, but I can't find where the sources are. Is there any command I can use to find it?

[Andrew]

Would it be okay to simply delete it? sudo rm /usr/local/bin/ffmpeg

[MariusMatutiae]

I think so. I generally have no hesitations to do so, but most people preach the "rename and conquer" strategy. With the new ffmpeg in place, all references to the old one (if they exist, which I doubt) will be transferred to the new version, and the old one will become a ghost.

[Andrew]

Thanks! But would you happen to know how to install a version of ffmpeg which will allow me to use the -pattern_type option? I just installed Jon Severinsson's version here. Anyway, I'm trying to use ffmpeg -f image2 -r 10 -pattern_type glob -i '*.jpg' output.mp4, but I'm getting the same error as above.

[MariusMatutiae]

This is an interesting question, why don't you post it separately?

[Andrew]

It's here

[Elisa Cha Cha]

This does not get rid of all of the libraries (/usr/(local)/include/libav*, /usr/(local)/lib/libav*), man pages, examples, pkgconfig files, preset files, etc. If you still have the source directory from compilation run sudo make uninstall in it.

[Andrew]

Seems like my ffmpeg.c is is in a subdirectory in OpenCV. If I delete the ffmpeg stuff, will OpenCV break?

[MariusMatutiae]

find /home/your_name -name 'ffmpeg*' -print

[Andrew]

I found it, I had the source code for ffmpeg v0.11 in my OpenCV sources. I was following a guide for installing OpenCV here. I just ran sudo make install and that removed ffmpeg for me.